Choral Rehearsal Research Articles

Planning the Perfect Choral Rehearsal

Planning the Perfect Choral Rehearsal

Enhancing Learning in the Choral Rehearsal

Enhancing Learning in the Choral Rehearsal

Making Choral Rehearsing Seductive: Implications for Practice and Choral Education

What makes a successful choral rehearsal and performance? What are the essential skills and characteristics of the conductor / teacher? Such intriguing questions have been the subject of a number of research studies, but few have used description of the encounter to gain insight into the area. This article outlines research into effective choral conducting by exploring aspects of the choral phenomenon. Five contrasting musical encounters, from Finland, USA and UK, between the conductor/teacher and singers are described. The conductors' strategies and rehearsal styles are analysed and some conclusions and implications are drawn in order to develop ways in which such activity might be encouraged and enhanced within schools, churches and the wider community.

The Effect of Observation Focus on Evaluations of Choral Rehearsal Excerpts

Seven rehearsal excerpts demonstrating research-identified teaching characteristics were presented to university music majors ( N = 176) for ratings. Subjects watched either a videotape focused on the teacher or another focused on students. Numerical ratings from 1 to 10 were assigned by subjects to 10 categories of student and teacher behavior: time use, musicianship, accuracy of presentation, student attentiveness, student performance quality, enthusiasm, intensity, pacing, personality, and overall effectiveness. Results demonstrated that subjects gave their highest ratings when viewing the teacher and lowest ratings when viewing students. The highest-rated excerpt contained a hw percentage of student off-task behavior (6.53%), a high percentage of approvals (71%), moderate eye contact (2730%), many activity changes (27), a high percentage of student response time (66%), and rapid pacing, as indicated by an average length of both teacher and student activities of 5-6 seconds.

Motivation in the Choral Rehearsal

Motivation in the Choral Rehearsal

Performance Achievement and Analysis of Teaching during Choral Rehearsals

Eighty-three rehearsals and four final performances of two high schools' beginning and advanced choruses were videotaped to identify rehearsal behaviors and to evaluate performance achievement in relation to performance preparation. Teacher academic and social instruction, student nonperformance response, rated (5-point scale) performance response with and without teacher verbal assistance, and teacher feedback were observed. Variables were measured in real time and converted to percentages of rehearsal time. Additionally, frequencies of teaching sequences were identified for each rehearsal. Review of improvements in the quality of performance for each school indicated a similarity in proximity to the final performance between beginning and advanced choruses. Considering this observation, variables were calculated for means between points of achievement. Findings indicate that (a) teachers pace improvement unrelated to ensemble maturity, (b) time spent in teacher verbalization may not relate to performance success, (c) teacher assistance during student practice decreases with student improvement, and (d) instructions decrease with student improvement.

The Evaluation of Teaching in Choral Rehearsals

Seven rehearsal excerpts demonstrating research-identified teaching skills were presented to university music majors ( N = 89) for ratings and comments. The excerpts focused on the conductor/teacher and were selected from previously taped choral rehearsals of two contrasting pieces across one complete semester. Numerical ratings from 1 to 10 were assigned by subjects to 10 categories of student and teacher behavior: time use, musicianship, accuracy of presentation, student attentiveness, student performance quality, enthusiasm, intensity, pacing, personality, and overall effectiveness. Comparisons of the characteristics of the highest-rated excerpt with the highest-rated showed that the highest-rated excerpt contained less off-task student behavior, a higher percentage of approvals, more eye contact, more activity changes, and that the average length of both teacher and student activities was from 5-6 seconds. Subjects' comments revealed that the highest-rated excerpt received the most positive comments and the lowest-rated received the most negative comments. For the highest-rated excerpt, the most positive comments were for student attentiveness, enthusiasm, pacing, and overall teaching effectiveness; and for the lowest-rated, the most negative comments were for student attentiveness, pacing, and overall teaching effectiveness.

The Unaccompanied Choral Rehearsal

The Unaccompanied Choral Rehearsal

Flexible acoustics for two purpose-built organ recital halls

It is rare today for any purpose-built music performance spaces to be commissioned, be they opera houses, concert halls, organ recital halls, etc. In order for any performance venue to be truly successful today, it must have flexibility included in its design, allowing the space to function well for the wide range of performance types that will inevitably be scheduled. The same can be said for purpose-built pipe-organ recital halls. While the highest design priority might be organ music, all but the most esoteric of these rooms will also be required to support far more than pipe-organ music. This paper will discuss two ‘‘purpose-built’’ pipe-organ recital halls with flexible acoustics devices which allow these spaces to function well for uses other than pipe-organ recitals. North Hall at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, is now used primarily as a pipe-organ recital hall for a new Holtkamp tracker organ. This hall also continues to function as a rehearsal room for large ensembles. The University of Northern Iowa is building a multi-purpose 125-seat organ recital hall and choral rehearsal room. This hybrid space uses additional partially coupled volumes to better support a new Hellmuth Wolff tracker organ.

Empirical Description of the Pace of Music Instruction

The present study was designed to assess novice teachers* perceptions of timing in music instruction and to identify the aspects of timing that are associated with positive perceptions of instructional pacing. We selected eight 1-3-minute excerpts from teaching-practicum videotapes of four novice teachers teaching in a choral rehearsal, a band rehearsal, and two elementary music classrooms. Each teacher appeared in two excerpts that differed with regard to the pace of instruction depicted in each. Novice teachers (N = 44) viewed the videotaped excerpts and evaluated the pace of instruction along six semantic differential scales: fast—slow; appropriate—inappropriate; tense—relaxed; smooth-uneven; too fast-too slow; good-bad. Subjects discriminated among the faster and slower examples on five of the six evaluation dimensions, and among teachers on all six dimensions. Subjects rated the pace of instruction more positively when the rates of student performance episodes and teacher activity episodes were higher rather than lower, and when the mean durations of teacher and student activity were shorter rather than longer. These variables may function as operational measures of the pace of instruction in music performance.

Composition in the Choral Rehearsal

Composition in the Choral Rehearsal

Carefully Crafting the Choral Rehearsal

Carefully Crafting the Choral Rehearsal

Time Use, Rehearsal Activity, and Student Off-Task Behavior during the Initial Minutes of High School Choral Rehearsals

In this study, the use of rehearsal time during the initial minutes (i.e., the warm-up time) of 33 high school choral rehearsals was examined. Student attentiveness was also investigated during initial rehearsal activities. Trained observers used interval observation techniques in collecting attentiveness, rehearsal activity, and time usage data. Interobserver agreement averaged .93 for off-task, .88 for activity coding, and .85 for rehearsal timing. Conductors averaged 43.45 elapsed seconds prior to the first verbal statement to begin and 14 minutes 19 seconds prior to rehearsal of literature. Time allotted to rehearsal activities was the following: sight-reading, 22.23%; vocal warm-up, 9.63%; getting ready, 6.75%; physical warm-up, 3.37%; literature instruction, 1.84%; and other activity, 1.46%. Off-task percentages were: getting ready, 26.14%; physical warm-up, 18.48%; other, 16.53%; literature instruction, 16.27%; vocal warm-up, 15.07%; and sight-reading, 9.22%. Results indicated that the highest percentages of off-task behavior occurred during activities requiring less singing and active participation. Off-task behavior seemed to be a function of the nature of the activity.

Nonperformance Time Use in High School Choral Rehearsals: A Follow-up Study

Nonperformance Time Use in High School Choral Rehearsals: A Follow-up Study

Reaching New Peaks in Choral Rehearsal

Reaching New Peaks in Choral Rehearsal

Nonperformance Time Use in Middle and Junior High School Choral Rehearsals

Nonperformance Time Use in Middle and Junior High School Choral Rehearsals

Three Rs for Vocal Skill Development in the Choral Rehearsal

Directors can hone students' vocal skills through an awareness of what it feels like to sing correctly. Gary B. Wilson uses respiration, relaxation, and registration to nurture young singers.

Choral Director's Rehearsal and Performance Guide

Choral Director's Rehearsal and Performance Guide

Choral Music Teacher Rehearsal Behaviors: An Essay on Knowing What We Do

Choral Music Teacher Rehearsal Behaviors: An Essay on Knowing What We Do

Rehearsal Organizational Structures Used by Successful High School Choral Directors

Methodology textbooks disagree as to the most effective type of organizational structure to be used in choral rehearsal. Previous research, while supporting the use of rehearsal structure, added little support to any of the advocated designs. The author of this study sought to determine the type of rehearsal organizational structure used by successful Ohio high school choral directors. Relationships between rehearsal structure and either teaching style or student attitude were investigated. Results indicated that one rehearsal organizational structure was used predominantly. Results also indicated that a positive attitude toward chorus surfaced among students of all directors included in the sample, regardless of rehearsal structure used. In addition, some commonalities were found in perceived teaching style. Implications for both teacher training and choral rehearsal design are discussed.