ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the discourses of choral singing construct self-evident category. It shows that the apparent obviousness of the definition conceals inequalities between the groups that it encompasses, in their power to determine norms of good practice, or even to count as legitimate choirs. The chapter analyses the way the practitioner literature construes choral singing as a universal practice, and how this disguises differences in the power of different groups to define it. Choral singing provides a classic example of Michel Foucault's notion of 'governmentality', that is, the centralization of power through the construction of systematic and/or scientific knowledge. There are two primary taxonomies used to define choral singing. The first, the taxonomy of type, identifies the types of performing ensemble that count as choral, while the second, the taxonomy of craft, identifies the key elements that comprise the content of the activity.
