Musical improvisation can heighten the joy of music making, increase self-confidence, develop creativity, improve aural skills, reduce performance anxiety, relieve stress, and strengthen community in all ages and abilities. In choral music, improvisation is traditionally linked to specific arenas: scat-singing, Gospel solos, harmonizing folk songs, and aleatoric sections of notated repertoire. However, crossing these boundaries […]
Sample Page
Employing Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Choral Classroom
Educators are teaching an increasingly diverse student population whose cultural backgrounds differ from their own. These differences may result in challenges in engaging with students and in finding ways of teaching that are culturally relevant. This session explores culturally responsive pedagogy and the ways in which teachers incorporate this pedagogy to create a more inclusive […]
Elements of Folklore in Balkan Choral Music: Analysis and Performance Practice
Secular music from Eastern Europe has been steadily growing in popularity among high school and college-level choral groups. Its intrinsic characteristics like asymmetrical meter, modal melodies, rich textures,and specific vocal production give the music from the Balkan Peninsula a unique quality and character that breathes spirit and vigor. In this presentation, the clinician will examine […]
Dialogue and Participation in the Choral Performance of Sacred Harp Music
Mounting interest in folk and world music has led to increased choral performance of Sacred Harp—or shape note—repertoire.Sacred Harp is a communal musical practice that originated in the singing schools of colonial New England and is still active today. Lack of awareness in the choral community regarding Sacred Harp and its wide-spread accessibility for participatory […]
Dare to Be Powerful
Girls and women deserve all the opportunities and respect afforded to boys and men, yet the face of gender bias and misogyny persists in all areas of life: in the workplace,at school, in arts, culture, politics,and most virulently, in social media. This session explores how the women’s choir rehearsal room, so often a nurturing oasis, […]
Body Mapping in the Choral Rehearsal
Good posture is crucial to good singing and good conducting. While posture has generally been taught by demonstration (which appeals to visual learners), recent work in Body Mapping by Barbara Conable gives alternate methods for all of us to have better access to a comprehensive understanding of our bodies and kinesthetic awareness of ourselves in […]
