Preferred Name
Janet Hostetter
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Date of Graduation
Spring 2019
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)
Department
School of Music
Advisor(s)
Jo-Anne van der Vat-Chromy
Dr. Pedro Aponte
Jonathan Gibson
Dr. W. Bryce Hayes
Abstract
Abstract
Directors of children’s choirs benefit greatly from understanding the pedagogical processes used in internationally-recognized children’s choirs. The sharing of ideas and resources among children’s choir directors is especially critical in the United States where diverse populations are the norm. Cross-cultural collaboration produces inspiration for new repertoire and exposes developing singers to the established performance practices upheld in choral communities of other nations. The effort to incorporate musical practices across regions builds meaningful relationships as directors and singers learn to understand, respect, and perform music of other lands. Finally, when children’s choir directors understand the pedagogical practices embraced by global choirs, culturally responsible teaching and representative performances of global choral repertoire results.
The purpose of this research project is to study the pedagogical practices of internationally-recognized children’s choirs in order to understand each director’s choral philosophies and educational approaches in regards to vocal tone, musicianship training, repertoire development, and performance practice. This document presents pedagogical practices collected while observing rehearsals, attending concerts and interviewing the leaders of four children’s choirs from around the world: (1) Gondwana Choirs in Australia; (2) Hail Mary the Queen Children’s Choir in the Philippines; (3) Hamilton Children’s Choir in Ontario, Canada; and (4) Jitro (Daybreak) in the Czech Republic.
This document delineates the vision statements, beliefs, and practices of each of the study choirs, provides tools for increasing global perspectives in choral music education, outlines ideas for ameliorated pedagogical practices, offers new perspectives in terms of diversity of repertoire, and supports the successful and credible replication of diverse choral repertoire as used by these represented ensembles. Also included are summaries of pedagogical practices gleaned through site visits and interviews, recommendations for culturally representative selections of repertoire from each study choir, and ideas for further research.
Recommended Citation
Hostetter, Janet, "Tone production, musicianship training, repertoire development, performance practice: A pedagogical overview of selected international children's choirs" (2019). Dissertations, 2014-2019. 208.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/diss201019/208
