This comprehensive book is intended for choirs at all skill levels, and covers a wide range of subjects, including: rehearsal preparation and planning, how to listen, conducting gesture as a rehearsal technique, the accompanist and the rehearsal, how to teach artistic phrasing, rehearsal accountability, and the spirit of the rehearsal. The volume also deals with approaches to teaching rhythm, using recording technology as part of the rehearsal, introducing your choir to IPA, incorporating Dalcroze and Laban into the rehearsal, and the count singing system of Robert Shaw.

For the first time in a single volume, this book provides choral directors with a comprehensive guide to score analytical techniques used by the world's leading choral conductors and innovators. Topics covered include: Score analysis by Julius Herford; Score study through colorization by Margaret Hillis; Vocal technique analysis system of Frauke Haasemann; Score analysis based upon the note-grouping theories of Marcel Tabiteau as espoused by James Thurmond; Analysis and guide to Renaissance metric flexibility; Laban Movement score analysis; Choosing literature for your choir; A voice teacher's advice to choral directors concerning their rehearsal process. This text is a groundbreaking resource for choral conductors at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Guided by James Jordan's expert advice on the most efficient use of these 22 modal exercises, you will have the ideal resource for introducing your singers to aeolian, dorian, lydian, mixolydian and phrygian modes. This book and CD will be a key component in improving the musicianship and vocalism of your choir!

Lynne Gackle, Associate Professor of Ensembles and Assistant Choral Director at Baylor University, has long been an advocate for the power of singing as a catalyst for positive change and self-actualization in adolescent girls. Her landmark text is a synthesis of these ideas, reflecting her unmatched expertise on the working of the female voice and a lifetime of experience and research. Serving to enlighten and encourage teachers and choral directors of these students, "Finding Ophelia's Voice, Opening Ophelia's Heart" addresses the symptoms of vocal change in the female voice, along with physiological factors that affect it. Appropriate choral literature, recordings, and other educational materials are also presented. The included DVD, which may be used as a teaching tool in the classroom, provides demonstrations of the phases of vocal maturation, voice classification, vocal techniques, and other pedagogical strategies, all with the help of an all-girl choir (ages 12-16) under the direction of Dr. Gackle.

This supplementary text for the choral rehearsal provides exercises that teach fundamental concepts to choral singers. Dr. Rentz has drawn on her years of experience as a choral director and clinician to create these exercises, which are arranged progressively in difficulty, allowing all grade levels to benefit from the collection. The book is divided into four sections: Pitches and Intervals; Tempo and Meter; Symbols and Structure; and Text and Phrasing. Each exercise covers concepts within the context of an actual octavo.

Gather together any group of music educators and in no time the stories will be flying! This practical book contains some of the best tales from the trenches-sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant but always truthful and helpful. Covering subjects beyond those that were addressed in your formal education, this invaluable resource will leave you and your choral program energized, refreshed and renewed. Topics include: Motivating Students; Establishing Priorities; Incorporating Listening; Using Rounds in the Rehearsal; Legal Issues in Today's Classroom; Producing Exceptional Musical Theater; Planning, Programming and Performing Concerts and much more. Also included are sample letters and forms as well as an appendix of inspirational quotes.

The creator of the popular video series "Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance" has written a comprehensive companion resource book that covers the basics of choreography and staging. Featuring a step-by-step approach and dozens of helpful photos, this powerful teaching tool will help you and your groups develop the know-how to add professional "pizzazz" to your musical performances. Topics covered include: 1. The Basics Come First; 2. Putting It All Together; 3. Staging The Concert; 4. Movement And Staging For The Young Choir. If you do not already have this incredible resource, you definitely should!

The madrigal is an essential genre in the choral art and capable choirs have always looked to this medium for inspiration and musical expression. Here is a practical and informative volume on the English madrigal that every choral director can adapt for their choir, or for an individual piece in the choral rehearsal. Like so many of the madrigals it discusses, the book is the collaboration between an accomplished musician (Belan) and an expert devoted to English prose (Calabrese). The analysis of two cornerstone works; Fair Phyllis (Farmer) and The Silver Swan (Gibbons) are particularly insightful. Very well done!

Choral conductors in any situation will be aided greatly by the solution-oriented techniques in this practical book by noted choral conductor John Yarrington. A "must read" for conductors searching for new rehearsal strategies, motivational techniques and personal inspiration, this short volume includes specific procedures for addressing text considerations, improving conducting gestures, and developing ensemble skills, tonal beauty and musicality. Dr. Yarrington also provides a systematic approach to the preparation and performance of many different works. Music excerpts with recommended score markings accompany specific information about how to study, present, perfect, and perform each piece with appropriate tone, style and expressiveness.

The life of legendary choral conductor and clinician Dr. Eph Ehly is a life lived in passionate dedication to living to learn, learning to teach, and teaching to learn how to live. With this memoir, he opens a window into that remarkable life and the steadfast personal and professional philosophies that guide it. Dr. Ehly has crafted the fictional Dr. Edward Hoegger (Hogey), a retired choral conductor and composite of himself and his Papa, to impart his lifetime of wisdom and expertise. And it is through the engrossing story of Hogey's summer spent at The Ranch with his grandchildren, Matthew and Becky, and the interwoven reflections on four decades of teaching, that we are led on a path of self-discovery. As you journey with Hogey, you will find yourself invigorated and saddened, entertained and challenged, laughing and crying, and, ultimately, reminded of what truly matters in a life - not just the life of a choral conductor/educator, nor even the life of any music educator, but the life of one who strives for balance, contentment and joy in all aspects of that life.