Aim of the research: This essay describes what can happen between the singers in a choral voice and how the individuals differ in taking initiative and acting in leading roles. Method: I have done qualitative interview studies with conductors and singers, and also recording studies. The recording sessions have been done in following choir rehearsals in a Swedish upper secondary school, and with a simultaneous video recording to be able to also take notice on eventual visual signs between the singers. With close up headworn microphones and by multi track recordings it have been possible through an analyzing program to watch graphically exactly how each individual sings and to compare the singers with each other. The recordings and analyses have been done using Cubase5 and Variaudio with printouts of the same sequence of the music the single voices in the same choral voice. Results: My informants all speak of formal and informal leaders in the choral voice. Many of them also talk about these leaders as leading the choral voice and also with their personal voice and timbre, give color to others. It is possible to graphically view differences in attacks and intonation, and also to notice when someone is ahead and “pulling” others to follow. This leading role can be both positive and negative, a confident but not so good singer can unfortunately bring along other singers to take wrong steps in the music.

It is a feature of present-day schooling, in South Africa and abroad, that music teachers are expected to organise and direct vocal ensemble activities, for example, yet adequate preparation provided in higher education courses for this role that the school music teacher has to fulfil, seems lacking. The purpose of this study is to compile a knowledge base that will enable the planning and development of a choral conducting curriculum, for use in South African tertiary institutions. The curriculum should be aimed at aspirant teachers in primary and secondary schools and community leaders who are culturally aware and who have a responsibility and interest in the choral field. Choral conducting as a recognised subject of an undergraduate study package is a relatively new academic field in South Africa. The envisaged curriculum needs to enhance the proficiency of choral conducting students within an educational context. The thesis is presented in five chapters of which Chapter 1 represents the background to the study, Chapter 5 summarises the study with recommendations and a conclusion, whilst Chapters 2 – 4 constitute the greater part of the research. Chapter 2 – Towards a definition of an effective conductor, offers a perspective on the various roles of conductors and investigates the nature of the art of choral conducting in order to move towards a definition of an effective conductor. In Chapter 3 – Current choral conducting curricula, the present situation with regards to choral conducting curricula in Australia, Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Philippines, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States of America is discussed. Chapter 4 – Choral conducting skills, examines the knowledge and skills that ought to be part of a choral conductor's proficiency. The meaning of each component and its characteristics are discussed. The primary method of research was the review of literature in order to acquire an in-depth understanding of the theme under investigation. The researcher also used the Internet as source of information on national and international choral conducting curricula. / Dissertation (DMus)--University of Pretoria / Music / unrestricted

MOREIRA, C. C. Software Para Prática De Regência Coral. 2013. 60 f. Dissertação (Mestrado) - Instituto de Matemática e Estatística, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2013. Neste documento um software é proposto para apoiar o ensino da regência coral com base em um modelo de aula padrão observado na disciplina: Análise Musical para Performance: Interfaces entre Criação e Interpretação a Partir do Universo Coral do Departamento de Música da Escola de Comunicações e Artes da Universidade de São Paulo. Neste software é possível: (i) monitorar, (ii) mensurar e (iii) avaliar os padrões de regência (gestos) de regência realizados e as posições corporais de um estudante de regência coral. O principal objetivo é permitir, através da interação com o software, que o estudante possa aprimorar sua consciência corporal através do monitoramento de seu posicionamento espacial enquanto realiza os padrões de regência e se vê projetado tridimensionalmente no sistema. Para que este monitoramento seja suportado, três módulos foram criados, de modo que as devidas configurações possam ser realizadas, assim como a visualização seja feita, a saber: (a) módulo de configuração de padrões de regência, onde padrões de regência são criados ou modificados; (b) módulo de criação de práticas, que podem ser: (b.1) sintéticas, e neste caso utilizam os padrões de regência pré-definidos em (a), dispondo-os em sequências ao longo do tempo as quais são associadas às mãos do regente, ou (b.2) gravadas, onde através do registro de movimentos corporais por um período de tempo em frente ao sensor, as juntas corporais são capturadas ao longo do tempo, de modo que se possa comparar estes movimentos com os realizados em tempo real; e (c), o módulo de visualização, onde o usuário poderá (c.1) assistir a reprise de práticas já realizadas, ou configuradas anteriormente; (c.2) comparar e visualizar práticas diversas entre si; ou ainda, (c.3) praticá-las de fato, onde receberá uma nota ao final do exercício. A idéia é que estudantes possam realizar práticas repetidas vezes, onde irão melhorando suas notas, e aprimorando seus gestos através da conscientização corporal. Outro ponto importante é que estudantes e regentes podem interagir entre si através da troca das configurações, já que estas são salvas em arquivos, possibilitando a criação de um repositório de regência coral, o que permite que as informações extrapolem os limites de sala de aula. Para implementar tal solução, algoritmos de visão computacional foram aplicados no contexto da regência coral, em conjunto com o sensor Kinect para auxiliar na captura das informações corporais. Por fim, busca-se iniciar um trabalho com o sentido de aprimorar a formação de regentes e possibilitar que o ensino desta arte seja fundamentado em dados quantitativos que poderão auxiliar o regente a tirar conclusões sobre os métodos e escolas de regência atualmente existentes. / In this document a software to support the teaching of choral conducting is proposed based on the conducting classes observed while coursing the discipline: Musical Analysis for Performance on the Choral Universe in the Music Department of the School of Arts and Communications of University of Sao Paulo. Through this software is possible to: (i) monitor, (ii) measure and (iii) evaluate the choral conducting patterns (gestures) performed and the body positions of the student. The main objective is to allow, by interacting with the software, that the student improves his body self-perception by having his body position monitored while he performs the conducting patterns and sees himself tridimensionally projected in the system. To have this monitoring in place, three modules were created such that the needed configurations could be done as well as the visualization could have been done, they are: (a) conducting patterns configuration module, where the conducting patterns are created or modified; (b) practice creation module, the practices can be (b.1) synthetical, in this case they use the conducting patterns defined in (a), placing them in sequences accross the time which are associated to the hands of the conductor, or (b.2) recorded, in which case the body movements are recorded for a period of time in front of the sensor, the positions are stored along time and allow to compare these movements recorded with the user information in real-time; and (c), the visualization module, where the user can (c.1) watch a replay of the practices already performed, or configured previously; (c.2) compare and see diversified practices, or yet, (c.3) effectivelly practice them, in which case an evaluation mark will be given at the end. The idea is that students can do and repeat practices over, improving their marks and gestures through self-perception. Another important point is that students and conductors can interact by exchanging configurations, since all of them are saved in files, which allows creating a choral conducting repository which would extrapolate the classroom boundaries. To implement such solution computer vision algorithms were applied in the context of choral conducting, together with the Kinect sensor to help capturing the body information. At last, this work tries does the kick off for teaching conductors through the usage of technology, allowing that this art is teached based on quantitative data which can help the conductor drawing conclusions over the current conducting schools and methods.

MOREIRA, C. C. Software Para Prática De Regência Coral. 2013. 60 f. Dissertação (Mestrado) - Instituto de Matemática e Estatística, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2013. Neste documento um software é proposto para apoiar o ensino da regência coral com base em um modelo de aula padrão observado na disciplina: Análise Musical para Performance: Interfaces entre Criação e Interpretação a Partir do Universo Coral do Departamento de Música da Escola de Comunicações e Artes da Universidade de São Paulo. Neste software é possível: (i) monitorar, (ii) mensurar e (iii) avaliar os padrões de regência (gestos) de regência realizados e as posições corporais de um estudante de regência coral. O principal objetivo é permitir, através da interação com o software, que o estudante possa aprimorar sua consciência corporal através do monitoramento de seu posicionamento espacial enquanto realiza os padrões de regência e se vê projetado tridimensionalmente no sistema. Para que este monitoramento seja suportado, três módulos foram criados, de modo que as devidas configurações possam ser realizadas, assim como a visualização seja feita, a saber: (a) módulo de configuração de padrões de regência, onde padrões de regência são criados ou modificados; (b) módulo de criação de práticas, que podem ser: (b.1) sintéticas, e neste caso utilizam os padrões de regência pré-definidos em (a), dispondo-os em sequências ao longo do tempo as quais são associadas às mãos do regente, ou (b.2) gravadas, onde através do registro de movimentos corporais por um período de tempo em frente ao sensor, as juntas corporais são capturadas ao longo do tempo, de modo que se possa comparar estes movimentos com os realizados em tempo real; e (c), o módulo de visualização, onde o usuário poderá (c.1) assistir a reprise de práticas já realizadas, ou configuradas anteriormente; (c.2) comparar e visualizar práticas diversas entre si; ou ainda, (c.3) praticá-las de fato, onde receberá uma nota ao final do exercício. A idéia é que estudantes possam realizar práticas repetidas vezes, onde irão melhorando suas notas, e aprimorando seus gestos através da conscientização corporal. Outro ponto importante é que estudantes e regentes podem interagir entre si através da troca das configurações, já que estas são salvas em arquivos, possibilitando a criação de um repositório de regência coral, o que permite que as informações extrapolem os limites de sala de aula. Para implementar tal solução, algoritmos de visão computacional foram aplicados no contexto da regência coral, em conjunto com o sensor Kinect para auxiliar na captura das informações corporais. Por fim, busca-se iniciar um trabalho com o sentido de aprimorar a formação de regentes e possibilitar que o ensino desta arte seja fundamentado em dados quantitativos que poderão auxiliar o regente a tirar conclusões sobre os métodos e escolas de regência atualmente existentes. / In this document a software to support the teaching of choral conducting is proposed based on the conducting classes observed while coursing the discipline: Musical Analysis for Performance on the Choral Universe in the Music Department of the School of Arts and Communications of University of Sao Paulo. Through this software is possible to: (i) monitor, (ii) measure and (iii) evaluate the choral conducting patterns (gestures) performed and the body positions of the student. The main objective is to allow, by interacting with the software, that the student improves his body self-perception by having his body position monitored while he performs the conducting patterns and sees himself tridimensionally projected in the system. To have this monitoring in place, three modules were created such that the needed configurations could be done as well as the visualization could have been done, they are: (a) conducting patterns configuration module, where the conducting patterns are created or modified; (b) practice creation module, the practices can be (b.1) synthetical, in this case they use the conducting patterns defined in (a), placing them in sequences accross the time which are associated to the hands of the conductor, or (b.2) recorded, in which case the body movements are recorded for a period of time in front of the sensor, the positions are stored along time and allow to compare these movements recorded with the user information in real-time; and (c), the visualization module, where the user can (c.1) watch a replay of the practices already performed, or configured previously; (c.2) compare and see diversified practices, or yet, (c.3) effectivelly practice them, in which case an evaluation mark will be given at the end. The idea is that students can do and repeat practices over, improving their marks and gestures through self-perception. Another important point is that students and conductors can interact by exchanging configurations, since all of them are saved in files, which allows creating a choral conducting repository which would extrapolate the classroom boundaries. To implement such solution computer vision algorithms were applied in the context of choral conducting, together with the Kinect sensor to help capturing the body information. At last, this work tries does the kick off for teaching conductors through the usage of technology, allowing that this art is teached based on quantitative data which can help the conductor drawing conclusions over the current conducting schools and methods.