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The purpose of the work is to determine the foundations of meaning-making by the conducting gesture of the regent and choirmaster according to the specifics of choir management in the church-applied and concert-art spheres of identifying the specified specialisation, based on knowledge about the possibilities in this regard of the luminaries of the Odesa choral school in the persons of K. Pihrov, D. Zahretskyi, L. Butenko and other well-known representatives. The methodological basis is the intonation approach of the school of B. Asafyev in Ukraine, comparative-hermeneutic and cultural prolongations of intonation in the works of D. Androsova, T. Verkina, O. Kozarenko, I. Kotliarevsky, I. Liashenko, Liu Binjan, O. Markova, O. Muravska, O. Sokolova, H. Shpak, V. Shulhina, with the use of scientific and research methods: art history-analytical, descriptive-historical, cultural-regionalist, religious studies, intellectualbiographical definition. The scientific novelty of the work is determined by the fact that, for the first time in Ukraine and abroad, the executive discoveries of the named great representatives of the Odesa choral school became the subject of analysis in the specifics of the understanding of individual techniques, stylistic findings, the separation of the regent component of the choir master's heritage according to the function of the semantic core of the executive expressiveness of choir management. Conclusions. For the first time in Ukrainian musicology, a distinguishing feature has been clearly drawn between the regent and choirmaster general principles of choral conducting, taking into account the applied nature of the former, but that which marks the genesis and attribution of choral vocals as a special meaning of expressing the ideal guidelines of the human worldview, while the artistic significance nourishes the choirmaster's work both in the temple and in concert-theatrical spheres. The "instrumental" levers of the choir master's activity as the adjustment of the "instrument" of the choral multi-level rhythmic sound are also highlighted - and the vocal-"speech" layer in particular. The first of them relies on the conductor's minimal gesticulations, while the second requires a certain plastic expressiveness of hand movements, but bypassing the self-importance of that "hand ballet", which under certain conditions interferes with the intonation accuracy of sound expression. For the first time, the question was raised about the intonation performance of the conductor's sound presentation at the level of training and performance of the choir master. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the historical context and significance of the choral composition "Lament for the Stolen" premiered in 1938. Topics include the background of composer Sophie Drinker and her criteria for repertoire selection, the tragic kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's infant son as a catalyst for the composition, and the premiere and reception of the work.

The article offers information on the experiences of Meg Stohlmann, director of choral and vocal studies at Gonzaga University, who participated in the International Conductors Exchange Program (ICEP) in Germany. Topics include the life-changing nature of the exchange program, the forging of meaningful connections with colleagues from the United States and Germany, and the lasting friendships and professional relationships established through the program.

The article offers information on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in choral education, focusing on creating flexible approaches that increase access and learning for all students. Topics include the origin and development of UDL, its principles rooted in Universal Design, and how UDL aligns with the structure of the brain to support engagement and learning.

The article highlights the unique experience of directing choirs at the Perkins School for the Blind, emphasizing the practical techniques developed over decades of working in this distinct environment. Topics covered include the school's supportive music program catering to a diverse student body, the audition process focusing onpitch accuracy, and innovative rehearsal techniques that incorporate music theory concepts through rote teaching and vocal warmups.

This paper first presents the O2O teaching strategy for choral conducting and analyzes specific methods and processes for teaching choral conducting using the O2O model. Then, the TFAHP choral conducting teaching evaluation model was constructed, and the judgment matrix was used to calculate the comprehensive degree of fuzzy value of the evaluation criteria and to compare the importance value between the indicators. Lastly, the impact of teaching was evaluated using indicators such as grades, comprehensive performance, and learning emotions. The mean value of the achievement of all knowledge modules is much higher than the mean value before teaching, and the average value of the achievement of each knowledge module is between 0.6-0.85, and the P value of each knowledge module is lower than 0.01, which is an extremely significant difference, indicating that the teaching effect is significant. The innovative development of music education is promoted, and this study greatly impacts choral conducting education.

The article focuses on philanthropic and fundraising suggestions for American Choral Directors Association student chapters, emphasizing the importance of blending musical experiences with community impact. Topics discussed include setting fundraising goals, financial considerations, and diverse strategies such as concerts, choir festivals, educator workshops, singing telegrams, GoFundMe campaigns, scholarships, grants, university support, and volunteer opportunities.

The article focuses on the importance of considering the singer's experience in choral rehearsals, emphasizing the impact on conductor effectiveness and ensemble quality. Topics discussed include efficient rehearsal techniques for vocal health, repertoire selection based on vocal demands, and the significance of gestures, vocal modeling, and auditions in fostering a holistic approach to choral singing.

The article focuses on strategies for enhancing the choral rehearsal experience, emphasizing the importance of efficiency, effectiveness, and enjoyment. Topics discussed include repertoire selection criteria, balancing difficulty levels, theming concerts, creating rehearsal plans, and utilizing technology and internal leadership.

An interview with Donald Nally, conductor of the chamber choir The Crossing based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is presented. Nally describes his process as a choral conductor when working with new music. He discusses the importance of building enough lead time when working with composers in order to achieve goals as the artistic director and conductor and to help them realize their artistic vision. He offers advice to people who might be interested in developing a choral organization.

The article provides guidance for choral conductors on how to approach the first rehearsal of a new work. It emphasizes the importance of comprehensive score study, using piano or recordings to learn the music, consulting scholarly editions, and understanding elements such as phrasing, dynamics, and translations. The article aims to help conductors plan and conduct a productive initial rehearsal by being well-prepared and mindful of techniques.

Copyright of Revista MAD is the property of Revista MAD and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article previews the choral performances to be held at the American Choral Directors Association's (ACDA) National Conference during February 22-25, 2023 in Cincinnati, Ohio including Insight Choirs, GenOUT's Choral Community, and Tacoma Refugee Choir.

The purpose of this study was to explore participants' value ratings of specific methods course topics in the choral teaching preparedness of non-choral music education majors . Forty-four university/college level choral methods instructors, identified through the College Music Society membership list, participated in the survey . Participants rated 16 choral methods topics using a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 = Not Very Important; 7 = Very Important) in their importance to non-choral music education majors' choral teaching preparedness . Participants identified choral rehearsal techniques, vocal techniques, and choral repertoire as the three most important topics . Participants also identified choral student recruitment and retention, choral conducting techniques, choral student recruitment and retention, and choral class administrative tasks as the three least important topics . The findings of this study may provide undergraduate choral methods instructors information on developing effective course experiences in the preparation of non-choral music education majors for future classroom choral instruction . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Professional Art Education is the property of H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article describes the history of foundation of musical education at Khabarovsk State Institute of Arts and Culture. The activity of two departments – of choral conducting and the folk choral art and of orchestral conducting and the folk instruments is viewed. The richmusical and pedagogical experience in training of highly skilled specialists in the sphere ofarts and culture is presented.

The article presents an interview with Sharon A. Hansen is Emerita s and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee. She discussed her and how has it influenced her approach. She discussed the impetus for founding the "On The Voice" article series in the Choral Journal. She described the challenges she encountered with "On The Voice".

Curious as to why conducting gesture are both acknowledged and ignored by choral singers, this article investigates the enigmatic nature of the act of conducting. Education and research are biased toward gestural aspects of the choral conductor role. At the same time, research shows that gestural skills rank strikingly low compared with other musical skills and interpersonal skills. This study endeavors to unpack this enigma, based on 40 interviews with choral singers and conductors in Norway and Sweden. Taking a phenomenological approach, analysis of the fieldwork reveals that singers are more aware of gesture when something out of the ordinary happens, is unclear, or is even particularly appealing. The enigmatic role of gesture is partly due to conceptual ambiguity—gestures are signals that conductors "do" as well as embody the integral conductor "being." Moreover, four "enigma busting" contextual dimensions were found: complexity of the music, the irreplaceability of gestures in the specific situation, singers' receptiveness to gestures, and the gestural proficiency of the conductor. The article points at some implications for education as well as future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs on the Lift Every Voice Concert Program Sponsored by the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and the American Choral Directors Association that was held on April 22, 2022. It mentions it is a mentoring program for talented young choral conductors from under-represented groups, and the week included private conducting lessons, conducting classes, and participation.

In current college music education, choral conducting is a required course for students. The course implementation aims to cultivate excellent and high-quality choral conductors. The requirements for choral conducting teaching in college music education under the new media environment have been further improved. First, this study gives the value of applying new media technology in choral conducting teaching in colleges and universities. Then, based on the key point that choral conductors' expression of music mainly relies on gestural language, an action recognition model in college choral conducting teaching is proposed. The model is designed with an adaptive deep graph convolution model, and a spatio-temporal convolution submodel with a small number of parameters is created using group convolution. After the trained teacher model is obtained, the spatio-temporal convolutional submodel with fewer parameters is trained using the knowledge distillation method combined with data augmentation techniques. The final action recognition fusion model is obtained using the linear fusion method. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model can recognize the movements in college choral conducting teaching with higher performance than other existing models, which provides effective guidance for college choral conducting teaching in the new media environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate choral directors' experiences as they navigate Whiteness through their own personal philosophies and practices related to repertoire selection and how those lived experiences may or may not impact their students. Twelve practicing choral directors from middle school through university settings were interviewed. Three important themes arose during analysis including the presence of dysconscious racism with episodes of white fragility, the presence and absence of ethical caring, and the development of a critical consciousness along a spectrum based on experiences. Implications for music educators are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate undergraduate choral conducting students' conducting practice approaches, time allocation, and beliefs. A secondary purpose was to examine conducting instructors' pedagogy and beliefs about their students' practice approaches. Undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory choral conducting class (N = 126) and their instructors (N = 12) responded to separate questionnaires. Students and instructors agreed that technical skills came more naturally than expressive skills, and students reported practicing technical skills more often than expressive skills. Although instructors and students agreed to the frequent use of "singing or humming musical lines" as a practice strategy, they did not align regarding the importance of using video recordings within practice sessions. Based on our results, we recommend that instructors explicitly share their practice expectations with students and introduce an incremental approach to developing expressive conducting skills earlier in the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on narratives on six choral conductors' unfolding careers, the article investigates significant moments in professional trajectories – turning points – and how these shaped ongoing practices. The empirical material comprises interviews with conductors that represent different pre-conducting platforms – musicologist, music therapist, music educator, instrumentalist, singer, and church musician. Narratives present both an ontological view of experience – lived life is told life – and a methodology where the narrative analysis is the researchers' integral retelling of fragments and episodes provided by the informants. The article draws on sensemaking theory to understand how the conductors attend to certain experiences, whether painful or pleasurable, and make their ongoing practice meaningful by modifying course of action as well as identity. A common theme is how they unexpectedly were thrown into the conductor position in their youth. Formal conductor education seems to take a highly ambiguous position in their developments, for some productive – and for some, even disruptive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current conditions of the COVID-19 global pandemic have led to a search for new ways to conduct educational activities in the field of culture and art. The specifics of teaching conducting and choral disciplines were no exception. The need for the transformation of educational activities into an online format has led to the search for pedagogical and digital techniques that would meet the standards for the provision of educational services at the high school level. It is much easier to broadcast lecture and lecture-practical group disciplines in an online format, but individual practical classes require a search for the most effective means, where modern technological equipment combined with the pedagogical skills of the teacher will create a learning space appropriate for higher education. The theoretical analysis and empirical research proved that the online format of music education is quite effective, provided that the modernization and transformation of the educational system is carried out in the context of the transformation of educational material into a convenient format, an accessible and comfortable space of messengers and social networks for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the term "transcendence" appears in discourse regarding contemporary choral music. Topics include considered that it is often used with its related adjectival forms of "transcendent" and "transcendental" as an examination of these usages reveals that the term is seldom intended in its technical philosophical or theological definition in this discourse.

The article discusses 2022 American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Southern Region Conference held in Chicago, Illinois from February 16-19, 2022. Topics discussed include performance of Greensboro Chamber Singers from University of North Carolina, performance of choral ensemble Bel Canto Co. and Children's Festival Chorus performance.

Copyright of Epistemus. Journal of Music, Cognition & Culture Research is the property of Facultad de Psicologia Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Choral singing is one of the most widespread musical activities, and choral conductors work in a variety of social settings that involve every imaginable type of choir and musical genre. The conductor role draws on a number of skills and competencies that are partly acquired through education but, equally importantly, through experience. Choral conductors shape their practice in highly individual fashions as amalgamations of background, formal education, career development and working situation. The present qualitative study seeks to uncover how choral conductor practices arise and unfold, by using Etienne Wenger's theory of communities of practice and situated learning as the key analytical framework. The study elucidates the choral conducting practice as an ongoing educational project and theorises the dimensions of variety in choral conductors' trajectories. The study situates the conducting practice in a Western choral tradition, based on interviews with a diverse sample of 20 conductors in Norway. The theoretical framework proved to be highly appropriate; however, applying it to the choral conducting practice requires the explicit positioning with regard to the academic debates on the theory's development following Wenger's original conceptualisation. The study therefore contributes to knowledge development in three ways – (1) by shedding new light on the theory, (2) by proposing a sub-structure to the main theory for its application to choral conducting and (3) by tracing some initial implications for choral conducting education. One of the key findings is that a conductor's background continues to impact competence and identity throughout a conductor's work-life, while practice seems to be predominant over formal education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]