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iRooted in the experience of a professional choral conductor, this book provides a guide to practical issues facing conductors of choral ensembles at all levels, from youth choruses to university ensembles, church and community choirs, and professional vocal groups. Paired with the discussion of practical challenges is a discussion of over fifty key works from the choral literature, with performance suggestions to aid the choral conductor in directing each piece. Dealing with often-overlooked yet vital considerations such as how to work with composers, recording, concert halls, and choral tours, A Practical Guide to Choral Conducting offers a valuable resource for both emerging choral conductors and students of choral conducting at the undergraduate and graduate levels.ii iii

All children must have an opportunity to share the joy of choral music participation—whether in school, church, or community choirs. What happens before the singing begins is critical to supporting, sustaining, and nurturing choirs to give every child the opportunity to experience the wonder of choral singing. Based on years of experience conducting and teaching, this book brings practical information about ways of organizing choirs. From classroom choirs, to mission statements, boards of directors, commissioning, auditioning, and repertoire, the book aims to inspire new ways of thinking about how choirs organize their daily tasks. The collaborative community that surrounds a choir includes conductors, music educators, church choir directors, board members, volunteers, staff, administrators, and university students in music education and nonprofit arts management degree programs.

The purpose of this phenomenological inquiry was to describe the essence of long-term singing experiences for participants in one Southeastern African American church choir in the United States. Specific areas of inquiry included how participants described the evolution of their singing over their long-term membership, how they articulated pivotal moments that connected singing experiences to self-growth, and what kept them singing in the same church choir. The data collection included 24 individual interviews with 18 different participants and 16 observations over a 3-month period. Participants ranged from 25 to 62 years of membership. Data sources included memos, artifacts, interview transcripts, and field notes. Using embodiment as a lens, data were reduced, horizontalized, and synthesized into a textural portrayal, structural description, and essence. Findings indicated 6 textural themes beginning with Themes 1 and 2, “growing as young people” and “building and sustaining the choir family.” Participants highlighted the importance of their directors within Theme 3, “inspiring directors with vision” and how music related to their self-growth in Theme 4, “becoming part of my music.” The final two textural themes, “contributing and ministering to others” and “loving God and gospel music” represented the strongest descriptions of participant lived experience as long-term members of the choir. The essence of participants’ lived experiences was development of the spiritual self. Implications for music education as spiritually relevant pedagogy are offered.