Firstly, the matter of constituting a choir is discussed. This involves auditioning, with its attendant problems of nervousness and self-consciousness on the part of the children, and assessment on that of the trainer. In the final analysis, after enthusiastically advertising the rewards to be gained from choral singing, and after trying to create an environment which is seen to be conducive to this philosophy, the trainer has to make the best of the willing forces available. Rehearsals are probably more important than performances, since the time devoted to preparation is much longer. Moreover, the educational value of carefully preparing the music and of becoming acquainted with the techniques of singing and with the aesthetic niceties of style and interpretation should by no means be underestimated. The choir and trainer get to know not only the music but also each other, and the trainer has to use his skills wisely in developing the human and musical resources available to him, in order to realize their greatest potential (Introduction, p. ii-iii)

Singing in choirs is one of the most common hobbies in Sweden and different sorts of choral singing has been organized in Sweden for over 200 years. The tradition of choral singing stems from church, school, universities, communities and different sorts of movements, but like every society and all music, the Swedish culture of choral singing has been through a lot of changes due to social, economic, political and technological changes in both the Swedish society, Western Europe and the world as a whole. Swedish choral singing today consists of a wide spread of different sorts of choirs focusing on different music and genres but also on different purposes. Except for being a music activity, choir singing is a way to meet new people, be part of something and also a resource for happiness and wellbeing. This has given ground to new types of choirs that want to use the communal feeling of making music together as a way to bring together people that might not had met otherwise. Since the 1970s, Sweden has been an immigration land and in the so called refugee crisis in 2015 over 160,000 people sought for asylum permits due to having to leave their countries because of war, political conflicts and poverty. This, and the long history of accepting refugees, has turned Sweden into a country characterized by multiculturalism. In order to help with integration, different project has started to create places where immigrants can meet other swedes. Some of these projects are the integration choirs that seeks to create a place where immigrants and swedes meet through singing, and the singing also becomes a way to learn the Swedish language and about Swedish culture. In this study I seek to find how the choral singing can help people integrate and what function the music has for that purpose. I look to four different choirs, where two are coined integration choirs and two represent choirs in the pop music spectra. I study how the choral singing becomes integrating and what happens with the Swedish choral tradition in the meeting of new cultures. I take an ethnomusicologic approach and follow out a music culture analysis by using participant observations and interviews to find answers. The results show that choral singing can help with integration, not only by being a way to learn the language, but more importantly because of musics power to bring people together, and this way of using choral singing is actually not something new. But there is a new society that needs it. The result also presents an opportunity for future research and gives a starting point for how this sort of knowledge could be applied in more choirs to help with issues of integration and segregation.

Choral ensembles often operate as hierarchical institutions where the conductor maintains a position of control over the musical, educational, and social aspects of singing with little or no input from singers. This dissertation reconceptualizes the choral experience as a dialogical process where conventional boundaries between conductor and singers blur. This study was conducted online with a vocal ensemble of ten experienced adult avocational singers and asks how a collaborative spirit may transform the ensemble, individual singers, and the conductor. Using a critical participatory action research approach, we engaged in dialogue and group problem solving as we created collective and individual musical projects over the course of ten rehearsals. The research design emphasized collective reflection and democratic decision making. This research journey is presented through a collection of multimodal data fragments such as musical recordings, practitioner reflections and collated singer reflections, rehearsal transcriptions and narratives, photographs, and poetry. Informed by decolonizing and post-qualitative methodologies, this dissertation highlights the ethical dilemmas, rewards, and uncertainties of both collaborative research and learner-centered approaches to education. In investigating how singers might increase their influence within the ensemble setting, we discovered that singers talking back to the conductor set in motion conditions for a choral paradigm that I describe as back talk choral pedagogy. This pedagogical orientation draws on critical and relational perspectives and is characterized by four interconnected commitments: (a) relational accountability; (b) mutual recognition of knowledge; (c) cultivation of a public square; and (d) responsiveness to input. Singer back talk manifested itself in myriad ways, including the reporting of information or observations, sharing opinions and suggestions, directly contesting the conductor, storytelling, and silence. Singer back talk produced noticeable fruits—a culture of shared vulnerability and trust, unique singer contributions, role fluidity between conductor and singers, and choral communion—which positively impacted the learning environment. This inquiry suggests that by centering relational and ethical aspects of musical collaboration, back talk choral pedagogy has the potential to build flourishing, dynamic musical spaces, increase singer ownership, and challenge conductors to expand their teaching practice.

Thesis (MMus (Music))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / The goal of this study is to explore three different models that three selected university choirs chose to accommodate diversity: two choirs with different identities existing independently alongside each other on one campus (model A), one choir, implementing diversity (model B) and one choir with a Eurocentric character (model C). Each university was treated separately, collecting qualitative data to provide historical insight into the choir, to determine profiles of the relevant conductor(s) and choristers and to determine the management body’s views regarding the role of the choir(s) within the institution. Information on repertoire indicates preference for musical styles, favouring an African or Western perspective or showing measures of cultural adaptability. Data was collected from choristers, conductors, organisers and university representatives by questionnaires and personal interviews as well as historical data in the form of concert programmes of the selected university choirs. The research findings indicated that the three universities concerned chose to handle their cultural diversities in completely different ways, resulting in creating unique choral identities which are evident in aspects such as repertoire, choristers’ experience and the support from the institution.

The purpose of this study was to identify certain aspects related to sight singing which tend to cause difficulty in teaching junior high school students and to suggest exercises that might be used to aid in overcoming these difficulties, Data included a questionnaire to junior high school teachers in three states. Subjects researched and discussed were the physical, intellectual, and emotional development of the adolescent; the changing voice and the range and vocal limitations of junior high singers; and rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, and other aspects of sight singing. Included were vocal procedures to be used with young voices, suggestions for choosing and/or arranging appropriate music, and original compositions designed to meet the needs and interests of junior high school students.

Ce travail se propose, au travers d’une recherche-action qui a concerné quinze classes de l’agglomération vésulienne, de mener une réflexion sur les enjeux d’un projet choral commémoratif. Il interroge le lien entre mémoire et transmission du patrimoine culturel immatériel, et rend compte de ce que peuvent être des enseignements de ce type à l’école aujourd’hui.L’année 2014 a été marquée par le centenaire de la Première Guerre mondiale et les soixante-dix ans de la Libération. C’est dans ce contexte que le projet « Les Voix de la mémoire » a été mis en œuvre par la Direction des Services départementaux de l’Éducation nationale de la Haute-Saône, en partenariat avec de nombreux acteurs de ce territoire. Plus de trois cents enfants ont travaillé une année avec des professionnels de la musique sur des chants historiques, traditionnels et contemporains qui disent la guerre et la paix. Ce projet s’est conclu par une représentation sur une scène conventionnée face à un très large public composé notamment de leurs familles et d’officiels.Par des questionnaires, des entretiens et des observations, cette contribution croise de nombreux regards. Les enseignants, une inspectrice, les familles et les élèves parlent de ce qui a pris place dans le cadre scolaire. L’enfant est considéré comme acteur de ce qu’on lui fait vivre. Une méthodologie spécifique est développée pour recueillir sa parole qui est écoutée et valorisée. Lesapprentissages, les joies et les difficultés des différents participants sont ici mis en avant et décryptés. Sont évoquées plus particulièrement les émotions générées par le moment de la commémoration comme rite républicain. / Through an action research which has involved fifteen classes from the urban district of Vesoul, thispaper aims at questioning the link between remembering and transmitting our intangible culturalheritage, reflecting on the stakes surrounding a memorial choir project, and records what aneducation on such topics can be like today.The year 2014 marked the hundred-year anniversary of the beginning of WWI and theseventy-year anniversary of the WW2 Liberation. In this context, the Direction des Servicesdépartementaux de l’Éducation nationale de la Haute-Saône, along with other contributors of thearea, initiated the project entitled « The Voices of Memory ». Under the instruction of musicprofessionals, over three hundred children practiced historical, traditional and contemporary songs about war and peace, all year long. The project concluded with a performance in a subsidised theatre for an audience including families and officials.This research has aimed at gathering as many viewpoints as possible through itsquestionnaires, interviews and observations. The teachers, one Education Inspector, the families and the pupils all talk of what took place at school. The children are viewed as active participants in the project they are made to take part in. A specific methodology was developed so as to record, listen to and value their words. The joys and hardhips of the learning experience of all involved have been carefully highlighted and decyphered, with careful emphasis on the emotions triggered by the memorial itself, viewed as a rite in honour of the French Republic.

Este trabalho teve como objetivos analisar o conjunto de arranjos corais elaborados pelo maestro Samuel Kerr e estabelecer possíveis ligações entre sua produção e sua trajetória artística. Para isso, apresentamos um texto biográfico originado a partir da pesquisa bibliográfica e notamos necessária uma entrevista com o maestro que visou apurar os caminhos condutores de sua escrita coral. Em seguida elencamos e exemplificamos os quatorze procedimentos encontrados recorrentemente durante o processo de análise de um conjunto de cento e noventa e nove arranjos. Por fim, escolhemos cinco arranjos representativos do conjunto para uma análise mais detalhada, realizada através do Referencial Silva Ramos, processo que nos possibilitou enxergar com clareza a aplicação dos procedimentos. Durante a dissertação buscamos relacionar a quantificação de aplicação dos procedimentos de escrita ao pensamento criativo e pedagógico que identificamos na pesquisa e evidenciamos na maior parte das análises. / The purposes of this study were to analyze the set of choral arrangements elaborated by the conductor Samuel Kerr and establish possible connections between his production and his artistic career. Thereunto, we presented a biographical text originated from bibliographic research, and we realized that an interview with the conductor was needed to raise his background which led to his choral writing. Afterwards, we listed and exemplified the fourteen procedures recurrently found during the process analysis of a set of one hundred and ninety nine arrangements. At last, we choose five representatives arrangements from the set for a further detailed analysis, performed by Silva Ramos Benchmark, process that allowed us to understand clearly the application of the procedures. Throughout the dissertation we pursue to relate the quantification of the application of procedures writing to creative thinking and pedagogical research that we have identified in the research and we have evidenced in most analyzes.

Esta tese é parte integrante do trabalho de doutorado em Performance Musical com especialização em Regência Coral do Programa de Pós-graduação em Música da Escola de Comunicações e Artes da Universidade de São Paulo. Durante os quatro anos de doutorado foram realizados concertos, ensaios e atividades práticas desenvolvidas simultaneamente à escrita deste texto que discute questões referentes à prática de um performer. Nosso objeto central é a relação entre a escrita musical e a interpretação. Buscamos compreender, como intérpretes, quais são os espaços criativos e seus limites dentro de uma obra musical. Para isso, utilizamos a obra coral do compositor brasileiro Osvaldo Lacerda, conhecido por sua escrita rigorosa e bastante indicativa. Após uma reflexão sobre os conflitos existentes entre composição e interpretação, fizemos uma análise geral da escrita composicional de Lacerda buscando encontrar os espaços para a criatividade do intérprete. Em seguida, analisamos com profundidade quatro composições de Osvaldo Lacerda: Automação, Romaria, A Primeira Missa e o Papagaio e o movimento Uníssono da obra Quatro Estudos para Coro. As obras analisadas foram performatizadas durante o período de doutorado junto ao Coro de Câmara Comunicantus e pudemos formar, experimentar e consolidar nossas concepções interpretativas, as quais comentamos e justificamos ao longo do texto. Por fim, apontamos para algumas respostas sobre o espaço criativo na performance de uma obra extremamente indicativa e sobre a responsabilidade do intérprete diante da partitura. / This thesis is part of the doctoral work in Musical Performance with specialization in Choral Conducting for the Post-Graduation Program in Music of the Escola de Comunicações e Artes da Universidade de São Paulo. During the four doctoral years, concerts, rehearsals and practices were undertaken simultaneously with the writing of this text which discusses questions regarding the practice of a performer. Our main object is the relationship between musical writing and performance. As interpreters, we seek to understand what the creative spaces and their limits within a work of music are. In order to do this, the choral work of the Brazilian composer Osvaldo Lacerda - known for his rigorous and rather indicative writing - was used. After a reflection on the conflicts between composition and interpretation, a general critical analysis of the compositional writing of Lacerda was carried out to identify the spaces for the creativity of the interpreter. Next, an in-depth analysis was carried out on four compositions by Osvaldo Lacerda: Automação, Romaria, and O Papagaio and the movement Uníssono of the work Quatro Estudos para Coro. The analyzed works were presented during the doctoral period together with the Chamber Choir Comunicantus and we could form, test and consolidate our interpretative conceptualizations, as is commented and justified throughout the text. Lastly, we point to some answers regarding the creative space in the performance of an extremely indicative piece and about the responsibility of the interpreter to the sheet music.

Este trabalho é fruto de uma pesquisa-ação associada às atividades de preparação vocal realizadas com o Coral Escola e o Coral Oficina do Comunicantus: Laboratório Coral do Departamento de Música da ECA-USP. Os objetivos dividiram-se em duas perspectivas: a formação do estagiário em preparação vocal e o desenvolvimento da técnica vocal nos coros Escola e Oficina. A coleta de dados foi feita por meio da participação nos ensaios destes dois grupos no ano de 2010 e da análise do protocolo de documentação do Comunicantus: Laboratório Coral. O capítulo 1 inicia-se com uma explanação sobre o funcionamento do Comunicantus: Laboratório Coral e sobre o conceito de Coral Escola, no qual todas as atividades estão fundamentadas; segue com uma discussão a respeito dos desafios da educação coral no século XXI e encerra-se expondo saberes e habilidades que fazem parte da formação dos estagiários em preparação vocal, como a classificação vocal, a percepção vocal e a pedagogia. No capítulo 2, são descritas as principais características vocais dos coralistas iniciantes dos coros Escola e Oficina em relação a postura, respiração, apoio, ressonância, articulação, assim como as dificuldades mais frequentes com afinação. No capítulo 3, por meio de uma confrontação entre as práticas do Comunicantus: Laboratório Coral e a literatura sobre regência coral e pedagogia vocal, são apresentados e discutidos os exercícios mais usados na preparação vocal destes grupos, visando trabalhar aspectos como postura, respiração e apoio, ressonância, diferenciação de vogais, agilidade, staccato, sustentação, homogeneidade de registros vocais, extensão e escuta harmônica. Nas considerações finais, discute-se a perspectiva da preparação vocal como uma atividade complexa, na qual diversos saberes, habilidades e ferramentas são empregados conjunta e interativamente como parte de estratégias que visam à consecução de objetivos artísticos e educativos. / This work is the result of an action research associated to voice building activities performed at the Coral Escola and the Coral Oficina of Comunicantus: Choral Laboratory of the Music Department at ECA-USP. The goals were divided into two perspectives: the training of the trainee in voice building and the development of vocal technique in the choirs Escola and Oficina. Data collection was done through participation in the rehearsals of these two choirs in 2010 and analysis of Comunicantus: Choral Laboratory\'s protocol documentation. Chapter 1 begins with an explanation about the functioning of Comunicantus: Choral Laboratory and about the concept of Choir-School, in which all activities are based; it follows with a discussion about the challenges of choral education in the twenty-first century and it ends exposing knowledge and skills that are part of the training of trainees in voice building, such as vocal classification, vocal perception and pedagogy. Chapter 2 describes the main vocal characteristics of the beginners in the choirs Escola and Oficina regarding posture, breathing support, resonance, articulation, as well as the most frequent difficulties concerning intonation. By confronting the practices of Comunicantus: Choral Laboratory and the literature on choral conducting and vocal pedagogy, Chapter 3 presents and discusses the most used exercises in the voice building activities of these groups, aiming to work aspects such as posture, breathing and support, resonance, vowel differentiation, agility, staccato, sostenuto,homogeneity of vocal registers, extension and harmonic hearing. In the final considerations, voice building is discussed as a complex activity, in which different knowledge, skills and tools are used together and interactively as part of strategies that aim the achievement of artistic and educational goals.

O presente trabalho considera o conceito percepção vocal, incluindo suas funções e recursos, como uma capacidade de ouvir, conscientizar e fazer, através dos seguintes tipos de recepção sensorial: controle auditivo, sensação muscular, sensibilidade vibracional e visão. Este trabalho tem por objetivos a divulgação do referido conceito e a apresentação de métodos para o seu desenvolvimento para o cantor e regente coral, nas áreas disciplinares de canto, percepção e regência coral. A discussão é alicerçada na pesquisa da literatura russa e ucraniana sobre o assunto e tem o foco central baseado no trabalho de Vladimir Morozov. Ainda em comparação com as literaturas estadunidense e brasileira, busca refletir sobre os conteúdos relativos às áreas supracitadas e explora os meios de aprimoramento dessa habilidade na prática, com foco específico no ensino da regência coral e canto coral. Propõe assim um método de ensino que oferece uma série de exercícios de desenvolvimento da percepção vocal, que abrangem o trabalho do aluno, tanto dentro da sala de aula, quanto na sua prática com o coro, podendo tais exercícios ser aproveitados no trabalho individual. Para o trabalho de pesquisa e formulação da proposta de ensino, a metodologia escolhida foi de busca, comparação, reflexão e análise da literatura, paralelamente ao desenvolvimento de exercícios específicos. / The concept of vocal perception (including its functions and resources) is, in this dissertation, considered to be the ability of hearing, understanding and performing through the following kinds of sensorial reception: auditory control, muscular and vibrational sensitivity, as well as vision. The aims of this work are: A) divulgating the formerly mentioned concept; B) introducing methods that allow both singers and choral conductors to improve their acting. The discussion is based on the Russian and Ukrainian literature on this matter and focuses mainly on the work of Vladimir Morozov. In comparing these to the Brazilian and American literature, the dissertation also ponders over the contents that relate to the areas mentioned above, and explores the possible ways of improving this ability in practical situations, with an specific focus on choral conducting and choral singing, thus proposing a method of teaching that offers a series of exercises that will encourage the development of a vocal perception for the student, which can be applied in conducting classes, individual studying and general choral practice. When researching and creating the teaching method, the methodology of choice was to search, compare, ponder and analyze literature, while developing specific exercises.