Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Music

Committee Chair

Ryan Fisher

Committee Member

Josef Hanson

Committee Member

Alison Happel-Parkins

Committee Member

Heather Klossner

Abstract

In this twoarticle dissertation I examine the effects of experience and culture on choral directors perceptions of choral tone across a variety of musical styles. In order to identify effects of teachers culture and years of experience on their perceptions of choral tone, I surveyed middle and high school choir teachers in the United States and used a KruskalWallis H test to compare teachers ratings of choral tone across a variety of musical styles. Results of the survey revealed variability inmedianscores among participants with different levels of teaching experience in their ratings of appropriateness of the tone for the musical style. Specifically, teachers with 18 or more years of experience rated appropriateness of the choral tone in two samples, a Gospel piece and a jazz arrangement of a spiritual, significantly lower than any other experience group. In a second study, my coauthor and I performed an indepth linguistic analysis of choir directors descriptions of choral tone using the same dataset. Results reflected and added to what I found in the previous study. Respondents within each teaching experience group tended to cluster, supporting our theory that a gap exists between theory and practice in choral music teaching. Additionally, the strongest agreement was in response to the two most traditionally Western performances, supporting our expectation that respondents would rate the tone of more culturally proximate styles higher than those most different from their experience and training. Results of the studies within this dissertation show that teachers culture and years of experience influence their perception of choral tone. Suggestions for practical applications are offered.CHORAL DIRECTORS PERCEPTIONS OF CHORAL TONE

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest

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