ABSTRACT

Focus: Choral Music in Global Perspective introduces the little-known traditions and repertoires of the world’s choral diversity, from prison choirs in Thailand and gay and lesbian choruses of the Western world to community choruses in the Middle East and youth choirs in the United States. The book weaves together the stories of diverse individuals and organizations, examining their music and pedagogical practices while presenting the author’s research on how choral cultures around the world interact with societies and transform the lives of their members.

Through an engaging series of portraits that pushes beyond the scope of extant texts and studies, the author explores the dynamic realm of world choral activity and repertoire. These personal portraits of musical communities are enriched by sample repertoire lists, performance details, and research findings that reposition a once Western phenomenon as a global concept. Focus: Choral Music in Global Perspective is an accessible, engaging, and provocative study of one of the world’s most ubiquitous and socially significant forms of music-making.

part I|1 pages

The Chorus: Traditions, Evolutions, and a New Perspective

chapter Chapter 1|10 pages

The Book, its Context, the Author

chapter Chapter 2|21 pages

The Chorus

Then and Now

chapter Chapter 3|17 pages

Sketching a “New Normal”

part II|1 pages

Choirs in Context

chapter Chapter 4|22 pages

Indonesia

The Choral Explosion

chapter Chapter 5|20 pages

The Arab World (Levant) and Israel

Choral Fractures and Bridges

chapter Chapter 6|24 pages

Campus Voices

chapter Chapter 7|24 pages

Not Society’s Trash

The Incarcerated Voice

part III|1 pages

Focusing in on Choruses

chapter Chapter 9|25 pages

Out and About and In-Between

Identity and Orientation in Gender, Sexuality, and Choral Music

chapter Chapter 10|17 pages

Claiming Voice, Ending Silence

Women in Choral Leadership

chapter Chapter 11|12 pages

Doing Something Good After School

Youth Choirs and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City

chapter |2 pages

Afterword and Afterward