ABSTRACT
Although a chorus or choir is commonly understood as a group of people singing together, the task to determine what constitutes a chorus is in fact tangled and difficult. A more inclusive and global view of the chorus, however, is needed to understand how people might view this term in the rapidly changing music world of the twenty-first century. Ethnomusicologists studying group singing cultures have frequently avoided the use of the word choir, perhaps acknowledging that the term is owned by the Western canonic ensemble. The emergence of the secular concert choir coincides with the creation of concert venues beginning in the nineteenth century. A defining aspect of choruses is their rehearsals. Many genres of musical ensembles meet and make music on an impromptu basis, but the chorus has a typical rehearsal phase with a performance outcome. The private–public aspect of the choral life-cycle is determined by the preparation of the music for the purpose of performance.
