On How We Choose Repertoire...
Over this summer, I expended a typical amount of time reflecting on my own teaching practices and of course, how I might make improvements for both my music education students and the gentlemen who sing in my collegiate glee club. In particular, I have been immersed in thought regarding repertoire selection—for my cho- ral ensemble, for my music education students who will soon enough be in the schools practic- ing this profession and of course for those who are already out there working on behalf of the musical education of our youth. Repertoire is certainly the heart of choral music education in- struction and I feel strongly that the profession should expend more attention to how the music we choose can provide sequential music learn- ing experiences for our students.
In an attempt to address the above concerns, I perused related professional literature and was able to identify three key and useful studies that might afford additional clarity and direction for how repertoire is currently and might be chosen in the future. For each of these three studies I will provide extended summaries. The first two describe repertoire selections of choral music educators, including how teachers search for and find repertoire, what factors affect reper- toire choices and what genres of music are actu- ally being selected for study and performance. The insights these authors extend to us are in- teresting and provide guidance as to what addi- tional information we might need to provide the the best possible musical learning experiences. The third study builds on the first two (and oth- ers much like them) in developing a rubric that facilitates assessment of repertoire. Finally, I will describe how we might apply the findings of these scholarly endeavors in choosing music partially based on conceptual merit; that is, to what extent can music be selected on the basis of salient rhythmic and tonal patterns that facili- tate deeper musical understanding.
In the first selected study Reames (2001) exam- ined Virginia high school directors’ opinions on 1) the best sources for seeking and finding rep- ertoire and 2) what constitutes appropriate rep-
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Chuck Norris
ertoire for beginning high school choirs. The respondents to her extensive survey revealed in rank order the top five sources for finding ap- propriate literature: 1) live performances, 2) choral reading sessions, 3) personal libraries, 4) recordings, and 5) recommendations from col- leagues. Interesting to me (of course) was that the last ranked source was music from college methods courses—more on this, later.
The same study also indicates that of the 214 choral directors surveyed, 68% programmed 20% or more of music from the twentieth centu- ry but that very small percentages of music were selected from the Romantic, Classical, Baroque and Renaissance eras. Of particular note is that experienced teachers tend to program more Ba- roque music. In fact, these teachers found Ba- roque music to be particularly appealing to stu- dents in beginning choirs.
An additional concern of this study was de- termining whether directors use aesthetic and technical criteria differently with their more advanced choirs. In the end, these teachers, both experienced and inexperienced, made no distinctions in how they used aesthetic (related to how music is crafted and elicits aesthetic re- sponse) and technical (related to singers’ abili- ties and levels of musicianship) criteria in se- lecting music. One final finding was that the music chosen by this study’s population did not frequently appear on recommended lists.
Forbes (2001) examined the general selection practices of high school choral directors in the southeastern United States. Small, albeit sig- nificant correlations were observed between the number of students enrolled in a program and the number of classical, folksong and jazz compositions a conductor chose for a school’s most advanced choral ensemble (the larger the enrollment, the more these types of composi- tions were chosen). Another significant positive relationship was noted with number of years ex- perience and tendency to choose classical mu- sic—choice of classical compositions increases with teaching experience. Interestingly, for the
Choral
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