O objetivo principal deste trabalho é estudar os processos de desenvolvimento da escuta melódica de adultos, sem formação musical, integrados a coros vocacionais, com o intuito de poder melhorar a performance vocal do grupo. Tendo como objeto o processo de formação do Coral Oficina Comunicantus, grupo integrado ao Comunicantus: Laboratório Coral do Departamento de Música da Escola de Comunicações e Artes da Universidade de São Paulo. Nosso método de coleta de dados foi baseado nas observações dos ensaios e nas análises das avaliações (relatórios) feitas pelos monitores integrados ao Comunicantus: Laboratório Coral, através dos quais procuramos vislumbrar as necessidades de aprendizagem dos coralistas do coro supracitado. Por se tratar de uma pesquisa ora de observação ora interativa, atuamos combinando tais ações e orientando o desenvolvimento das habilidades inerentes à escuta melódica em aspectos pré-definidos. Durante o processo investigativo, utilizamos como método referencial de análise, dos conteúdos musicais, os trabalhos do Prof. Dr. Marco Antonio da Silva Ramos e do Prof. Paulo Rubens Morais Costa e, por outro lado, a produção bibliográfica de educadores como César Coll e Teresa Mauri, que atuaram na reforma escolar espanhola, de forma a subsidiar nossas escolhas pedagógicas e didáticas para atuar junto aos coralistas. Como resultado desse processo, pudemos desenvolver algumas atividades que contribuíram para a resolução de certas necessidades de aprendizagem momentâneas deste grupo e também suscitaram a criação de outras que foram utilizadas oportunamente, após o término do prazo definido de observação e interação a que este trabalho se refere. / This dissertation aims mainly at studying the processes of development of melodic hearing by adults who do not have any musical formation and yet join vocational choirs in order to improve the vocal performance of the group. Its object is the process of formation of the Educational Lab-Choir Comunicantus, which belongs to the Comunicantus Choral Office of the Department of Music of the School of Communication and Arts of the University of São Paulo. The method of data collection was based on rehearsal observations and on the analysis of evaluations (reports) made by student trainees integrated in the Comunicantus Choir Office, through which we trie to identify the gaps in learning of the choir singers. As the research is partly made up of observations and partly interactive, action was taken so as to combine these actions and give advice on the development of skills innate to melodic hearing in predefined aspects. Along the process of investigation, the Referencial de Análises of the musical contents by Professor D. Marco Antonio da Silva Ramos and Professor Paulo Rubens Morais Costa were used as a method. On the other hand, the works by educators as César Coll and Teresa Mauri, who worked in the Spanish school reform, were used to provide pedagogical and didactic choices for us to act with the choral singers. As a result of this process, some activities were developed that contributed to offer solution to some specific learning needs of this group and also made possible the creation of others that were used, whenever suitable, after the period of observation and interaction.

The problem of this study was the inconsistency between perceptions of secondary choral music educators and college and university choral music professors pertaining to needed leadership and administrative training in undergraduate music teacher education programs. The main purpose of this study was to attempt to develop a list of recommendations pertaining to necessary leadership and administrative tasks of music education majors. Two subpurposes of this study were: to help university and college school officials evaluate the present curriculum and adjust it to help meet the needs of their music education graduates; and to help expand the limited literature base concerning administrative and leadership tasks that are required of bachelor of music education degree graduates. This descriptive study was conducted to attempt to identify administrative and leadership tasks necessary for secondary choral music educators. A four point Likert-type scale was used to identify the importance level of administrative and leadership tasks of secondary choral music educators. A preliminary questionnaire was developed and mailed to a selected panel. After changes were made based on respondents suggestions, two pilot studies were conducted. The results were tested for reliability and validity. It was then sent to 899 secondary choral music educators (25.0% of the population) and to all 131 college and university choral music educators within the Southern Division of the Music Educators National Conference. The conclusions of this study were based on 486 responses from secondary choral music educators and 63 college and university choral music educators. No significant difference existed between the two groups. Developing rapport with parents and conducting fund-raisers were the only two tasks that obtained absolute significant differences. This analysis provided the rationale that 49 of the 51 tasks are basically valued at the same level of importance by secondary choral music educators and college and university choral music educators. All of the tasks, except for attending school board meetings and employing special service personnel received a majority percentage level from both groups for inclusion in a music teacher education program. Recommendations were based on the analyses that the majority of tasks were important and should be included in a teacher education program.

No description available.

The Florentine Jew Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968), garnered international acclaim as a composer and performer in the 1920s and 1930s. He studied composition with Ildebrando Pizzetti and became associated with the International Society for Contemporary Music. Castelnuovo-Tedesco received particular attention for his operas, winning the Concorso Lirico Nazionale in 1925 for La Mandragola, and his concertos, with prominent performances by Jascha Heifetz and Andrés Segovia. During the 1930s, Castelnuovo-Tedesco and his family were negatively affected by the Fascist government’s racial laws restricting the rights of Italian Jews. In 1938, after public performances of his music were canceled and his children were forbidden from attending public school, Castelnuovo-Tedesco and his wife Clara decided to immigrate to the United States. They sailed for the U.S. in 1939, settled in Beverly Hills, and gained citizenship in 1946. In 1949, at the end of that turbulent decade, Castelnuovo-Tedesco completed his first oratorio, The Book of Ruth. This study features a new edition of The Book of Ruth, the first complete publication of the work in full score. The edition is accompanied by a musical analysis that examines melody, harmony, rhythm, text setting, vocal texture, orchestration, and formal design in The Book of Ruth, comparing it with his other works. Furthermore, selected passages from Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s autobiography, newly translated into English, provide insight into the eventful decade preceding the work’s composition and uncover several personal connections that exist between Castelnuovo-Tedesco and the story of The Book of Ruth.

The thesis aimed to assess the philosophies of Stephen Leek, in regard to the education for an Australian choral tradition. In order to address Stephen Leek's philosophies, a study of Australia's existing choral tradition and its history was conducted. This was followed by a general overview of music education in Australia post 1960. In light of these findings, Leek's educational philosophies were discussed, with specific influences, including biographical information. Leek's educational work Voiceworks was found to encapsulate his ideas. The program is creative-based, and aims to facilitate the discovery of new artistic concepts, and foster acceptance and interest in contemporary Australian choral music. Using the voice as the sole instrument, students can perform the pieces from Voiceworks, or use the ideas for further creativity in their own compositions. The program is based on experimentation, discovery, structuring, formulating, rehearsal, performance and discussion. Leek advocates that these stages are the quickest and most effective way of facilitating the learning of contemporary music techniques. In the evaluation of Leek's philosophies, case studies using a lesson from Voiceworks, were conducted with two Year 7 music classes in two different government coeducational schools. The findings revealed that Voiceworks can be a successful resource in the education for an Australian choral tradition. However, it was also found that excitement, enthusiasm and enjoyment are the key to its success, and hence excellent teaching is required in its presentation.

Thesis (D.M.A.)--Boston University, 2005. / "The focus of this dissertation is the sacred choral compositions of three of the composers active in the St. Petersburg Society for Jewish Folk Music ... Lazare Saminsky, Joseph Achron, and Moses Milner"--p. v. "Included in the appendices [p. 72-329] are new editions of Unsane Tojkef by Moses Milner, the Sabbath Evening Service and Sabbath Morning Service by Lazare Saminsky and the Evening Service for the Sabbath by Joseph Achron"--p. vi. Includes bibliographical references (p. 330-332). Also available on the Internet.

Teachers are considered professional voice users because they depend on the regular and uninterrupted use of the voice. The nature of teaching requires more extensive use of the voice than other professions. Therefore, teachers are faced with a greater risk of developing voice problems. In addition to using the voice to present content to students, teachers must also manage the classroom and student behavior. All of these activities have potential to compromise vocal integrity. The purpose of this study was to examine the vocal health of selected middle school and high school choral directors. Specifically, it explored relationships between vocal health condition as determined by the modified Voice Handicap Index (VHI) and self-report vocal health rating and (a) age, (b) gender, (c) years of teaching, (d) level of teaching, (e) vocal health education, and (f) fundamental frequency and intensity ranges of the voice as indicated by the voice range profile (VRP). This study also sought to determine the relationship between VRP, and age, gender, years of teaching, and level of teaching. Results indicate choral directors' vocal intensity range is significantly smaller than the trained and untrained populations, choral directors' minimum vocal intensity is significantly higher than the trained and untrained populations, and choral directors are able to produce significantly fewer semitones resulting in a smaller vocal frequency range than trained and untrained populations.

Composer Joseph Willcox Jenkins (b. 1928), longtime professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylania (since 1961) and the first arranger for the United States Army Chorus (1956-1959), has composed and arranged a prolific amount of choral music, much of which has remained unpublished. After presenting a brief biography of Jenkins, this essay examines a sample of seven of his choral works, with analyses and scores of each. Catalogs of the choral compositions to which he assigned opus numbers and his U.S. Army Chorus arrangements follow, along with a classified list of remaining choral works and arrangements. The document concludes with the transcription of a conversation between Jenkins and the author about his career and music. It is hoped that this resource for choral musicians will encourage a more widespread knowledge of Jenkins’ choral music, providing increased possibilities for performance and further study.

As choir masters, many organists have the responsibility of hiring and working with paid singers as well as a dedicated group of volunteer singers ranging in experience from novice to advanced. The similarities of the human voice to the pipe-organ are numerous. Using these similarities and scientific analysis of the two instruments, organists can familiarize themselves with the tuning system of the human voice. Like the pipe organ, the human voice is capable of wide variety of sounds, qualities, textures, pitches and levels of volume. Unlike an organ pipe, the voice is not a fixed resonator. The voice is the most flexible of all musical instruments. Instructing an ensemble of singers to shape their sound simultaneously is the beginning of “tuning your choral pipes.” It will be important to establish terminology with your singers in order to successfully communicate with them despite their varying levels of ability and pronunciation differences. Becoming familiar with the mechanics of the voice and an alphabet of pure vowel sounds can help organist-choir masters achieve a greater degree of success when working with singers. The stops, pipes and expression pedal of the human voice are defined by the laryngeal muscles as they relate to registration, the vocal tract shape as defined by the vowel, and the amount of volume created by the air pressure. This guide for organists covers these topics and contains exercises for the reader to apply during choral rehearsals.

This study explored the development of musical self-efficacy and musical self-image in 35 young adolescents choral musicians engaged in a vocal improvisation program. A mixed methods methodology was employed. Quantitative measures were conducted through a survey instrument developed for this study based on a five-fold theoretical structure of efficacy development. Using a sequential explanatory design, quantitative data was followed by interviews, written reflections, and participant and teacher/researcher field notes. Participants were engaged in daily vocal improvisation activities for 16 weeks. Four transitions points in the study demarcated data collection segments. Transitions consisted of two participant observations and two improvisation concert performances. Findings indicate significant increases in two efficacy source factors: mastery experience and peer vicarious experience. Vocal improvisation facilitated mastery experience perceptions of vocal development through vocal range expansion. Interactive peer vicarious experiences were found to be an important source of efficacy information and an essential feature of musical self-efficacy development. The musical self-efficacy journey was found to be one of ebb and flow as participants struggled to negotiate the musical and social challenges of vocal improvisation. Findings from this study suggest differences in the ways girls and boys negotiated the musical and social challenges of vocal improvisation. Despite the inherent struggles of participants to negotiate these challenges, vocal improvisation provided a rich environment for the study of musical self-efficacy and musical self-image development. Musical self-image was revealed through multifaceted perceptions of musical/creative growth, participant self-regulatory actions and the values participants ascribed to the improvisation experience. Study findings include teacher/researcher reflections on the experience of teaching vocal improvisation in a middle school choral classroom. These reflections include an analysis of teacher identity tensions related to the creative development of students and the performance expectations of the teacher and the musical community.