Scholarly Abstractions: Evaluating New Conductors

Dean, Brandon L.   A Repertoire Assessment Rubric for Preservice and Beginning Choral Conductors Based on Criteria of Aesthetic and Pedagogical Merit.  Doctor of Musical Arts dissertation.  University of Cincinnat College-Conservatory of Music, 2011.

       The foundation of successful choral music education begins with the selection of repertoire that is of artistic and pedagogical merit and appropriately fitted to the unique needs of the ensemble.  The severely limited resources presently available to beginning teachers and the relatively indiscriminate method traditionally utilized by conductors undermine the task of selecting choral literature.  Several recent studies on literature selection have uncovered pertinent data related to processes and criteria used by narrow groups of music educators, yet these studies stop short of suggesting a methodology that could prove useful to preservice and beginning secondary choral music educators.  This document presents a rubric-based methodology for the evaluation of choral literature in the form of a Repertoire Handbook designed specifically for preservice and beginning choral music educators.
       The central component of the Repertoire Handbook is an analytic rubric designed to determine (1) the quality of the core aesthetic characteristics of the composition and (2) the inherent pedagogical value for use in secondary choral music education.  In addition to providing a detailed description and rationale for each component of the selection rubric, the document includes a review of related literature and numerous musical examples which demonstrate effective utilization of the selection rubric.  The Appendix includes an annotated directory of twenty distinctive repertoire lists of choral literature, as well as an annotated directory of choral music publishers.
 

(“Scholarly Abstractions” is a feature highlighting brief abstracts from recent graduate projects in choral music.  To share your thesis abstract, contact Scott Dorsey at )