Women Conductors of College Men’s Choirs – Redefining the “Brotherhood”

The International Journal of Research in Choral Singing (IJRCS)  is ACDA’s scholarly publication that welcomes studies that apply rigorous, systematically-grounded methodologies, either quantitative or qualitative, to investigate phenomena of potential interest to all who sing in, work with, or are otherwise interested in choral ensembles. Below is the abstract from this article written by Marci L. Major and Elizabeth Cassidy Parker titled “Disrupting the Choral Class System: A Journey of One High School Choral Program.”

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ABSTRACT

Collegiate men’s choirs have unique and storied traditions dating back to the Civil War and the founding of many prominent colleges in the United States (Albinder & Jones, 2008). Historically, these ensembles created a place for fraternity, brotherhood, and social outlets for young men (Jones, 2010). Consequently, there are few documented instances of women conducting collegiate men’s choirs (VanWeelden, 2003). The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of women conductors of college men’s choirs. This research was guided by the following questions:

1. How did women choral conductors describe their motivations for working with college men’s choirs?
2. How did these conductors describe the rehearsal environment in their college men’s choir?
3. And finally, how did these conductors define the challenges of working with male singers? The following areas provided focus for themes that emerged from the conductor interviews: their motivations, the rehearsal environment, and the challenges associated with a lack of opportunity and quality literature.

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   Visit https://acda.org/publications/international-journal-of-research-in-choral-singing/ to read this article.