Exploring the Intersections Between Gospel Music and European Choral Traditions
Dr. Bryon Black II
Choral Reviews
Nathan Reiff, editor
contributors: Joshua Cheney, Ross Cawthon
Research Memorandum Series
Michael Porter, editor
Recording Reviews
Morgan Luttig, editor
contributors: Steven Olson, Alexandra C. Rameau
NCCO Executive Leadership
Katherine FitzGibbon PRESIDENT
Katherine FitzGibbon is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Lewis & Clark College, where she conducts two of the three choirs, teaches courses in conducting and music history, and oversees the voice and choral areas. Dr. FitzGibbon founded Resonance Ensemble in 2009, a professional choral ensemble presenting powerful programs that promote meaningful social change. Dr. FitzGibbon has also served on the faculty of the summertime Berkshire Choral International festival and conducted choirs at Harvard, Boston, Cornell, and Clark Universities, and at the University of Michigan. She was a previous member of NCCO’s National Board and Mission and Vision in Governance Committee.
Merrin Guice Gill PRESIDENT-ELECT
Dr. Merrin Guice Gill is the Director of Choral Activities at Bethel University. Her choirs have received international awards including first and second prizes in the Riva Del Garda International Choral Competition, Silver Medal at the World Choir Games, and as finalists in the American Prize for Choral Performance. She is an accomplished soprano in opera and new music, frequent guest clinician, and scholar whose research has been presented widely. With NCCO, she has served on the National Board, published in The Choral Scholar, and presented “Feldenkrais Method and Mental Health in the Choral Room” at the 2023 National Conference.
Coreen Duffy VICE PRESIDENT
Coreen Duffy is Director of Choral Activities at the University of Montana School of Music, where she conducts Chamber Chorale and University Choir, teaches conducting and choral methods, and supervises student teachers. She also directs the UM-Missoula Community Chorus. Under her direction, UM Chamber Chorale has performed at the Marktoberdorf Competition, in Saarbrücken and London, and at NWACDA. She is an active clinician and frequently published. A specialist in Jewish music, Duffy has presented at ACDA, NCCO, NAfME, and internationally. With NCCO, she was an editorial board member of The Choral Scholar and served on the Task Force on Expanding Choral Pedagogy. Duffy is President-Elect of NWACDA.
Michael McGaghie TREASURER
Michael McGaghie serves as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Macalester College, where he conducts the college’s two choirs and teaches courses in conducting, musicianship, and Passion settings from Bach to the present. He also directs the Isthmus Vocal Ensemble and the Harvard Glee Club Young Alumni Chorus. His recognitions from ACDA include an invitation to conduct the Macalester Concert Choir at the 2016 North Central division conference, an ICEP fellowship to China, and the Julius Herford Prize. Prior to his elected term as Treasurer, Dr. McGaghie served on NCCO’s National Board and as an inaugural member of the Mission and Vision in Governance Committee.
Cordara Harper SECRETARY
Dr. Cordara Harper is a native of Cove City, North Carolina, the Director of Choral Activities, Voice Area Coordinator, and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Grambling State University. Harper is an international presenter and acclaimed versatile musician active as a music educator, choral conductor, instructional leader, and vocal musician. Dr. Harper completed a Ph.D. in Music Education with a cognate in Choral Conducting at the University of Memphis.
Angelica Dunsavage
CHIEF EDITOR OF PUBLICATIONS
Dr. Angelica Dunsavage (she/they) serves as Artistic Director for the Phoenix Girls Chorus and Valley Women’s Ensembles in Phoenix, AZ. She has previously taught at the K-12 and university levels in Ohio, Arizona, Washington, and Tennessee. She received her DMA in Choral Conducting and Music Education from University of Arizona. Dr. Dunsavage currently serves as Chief Editor of Publications for the National Collegiate Choral Organization. She has presented posters and interest sessions for ACDA, NCCO, NAfME and College Music Society conferences. She remains in demand as a clinician, composer/ arranger, vocal teacher, professional chorister, and mezzo-soprano soloist. Her primary research interests are early secular music and Alexander Technique.
Cultivating Transformation
Angelica Dunsavage
IVOLUME
62 | NUMBER 2 | FALL 2025
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
—Lao Tzu
n this edition of NCCO’s The Choral Scholar and American Choral Review , we look in anticipation to our upcoming NCCO 11 Conference, themed “Cultivating Transformation.” Cultivation requires intention, and our headliners, interest sessions, and performing ensembles have been chosen to highlight change already occurring in our choral community, and inspire us to go further. I encourage you to take a look at the conference offerings, and register to join us!
scholars. In this framework, we are excited to announce the following changes to our submission guidelines present on our website, https://nccousa.org/publications/the-choral-scholar-americanchoral-review:
This edition’s featured article, Exploring the Intersections Between Gospel Music and European Choral Traditions by Bryon Black II, demonstrates that genres, composers, and performance practice should not exist in silos. Black highlights three gospel composers that have background influence in European choral tradition, showing examples of how educators not trained in gospel style can use their existing knowledge to teach these effectively. If this article piques your interest, you can learn from the author at his conference interest session on the topic.
• Peer-reviewed articles will remain a feature of this publication. Authors who wish to submit completed articles for peer review are encouraged to do so but will have the option for additional feedback from an Editorial Mentor if requested.
• Submissions are now open for article ideas and works in progress. We would like to hear from a growing number of authors, particularly those who may have been uninspired to submit an article, and commit to guiding groundbreaking ideas into publication.
• The Choral Scholar will be expanding to include new methods of scholarship, including interviews, videos, creative
Along with our research, score, and recording reviews, The Choral Scholar is happy to return the Research Memorandum Series to this edition.
Previously under the purview of Chorus America, this series has been reframed by NCCO to champion the work of our graduate institutions and their students by curating a collection of abstracts from master’s and doctoral terminal documents. Thank you to Michael Porter for taking on the task of revising this series, and we are excited to include more submissions from our graduate student population.
writing, and podcasts. If you have an idea to share, or want to get involved, please see our website or email editor@ncco-usa.org
The Choral Scholar and American Choral Review is always looking for new ideas, writers, and creative expansions to our offerings. If you have a passion you wish to share, please reach out to us at editor@ncco-usa.org ! If you are interested in submitting an article or becoming a review writer, please visit https://ncco-usa.org/publications/ the-choral-scholar-american-choral-review to view our submission guidelines.
The Choral Scholar and American Choral Review is a reflection of NCCO: it is our organization’s mission and vision put into the practice of research. As such, this edition challenges us to move forward into change. Patrick Freer’s article A Beloved Community reminds that there is much work to be done to align the choral field’s values with its research. Kirsten Hedegaard’s article Environmentalism through Choral Music highlights how choral music can be a message for social change. Nicholas Sienkiewicz combines psychology with musical analysis to unpack the emotional impact of Considering Matthew Shepard We hope that this publication continues to expand what is possible in choral scholarship and be the change we seek.
Sincerely,
Sincerely,
Angelica Dunsavage Chief Editor of Publications
Angelica Dunsavage Chief Editor of Publications
11 TH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE
HOSTED BY CAL STATE FULLERTON
CLAYES PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Featured Artists
Iris S. Levine
INTERIM PRESIDENT, CAL POLY POMONA
Dr. Iris S. Levine is a nationally acclaimed choral conductor, educator, and arts leader, widely recognized for her contributions to women’s choral music and higher education. She is the founder and artistic director of VOX Femina Los Angeles, Southern California’s premier women’s chorus. Under her visionary leadership, VOX has earned an esteemed reputation through over 350 performances across the United States, Mexico and Canada, and appearances at major national conferences, including ACDA, Chorus America, and GALA Choruses. Dr. Levine is known for cultivating strong, collaborative relationships with composers, resulting in nearly 70 commissioned works that have significantly expanded the treble choir repertoire.
Marcela Molina
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, TUCSON GIRLS CHORUS
Dr. Marcela Molina has led the Tucson Girls Chorus (TGC) since 2006, initially as Artistic Director and becoming Executive Director in 2011. In addition to shaping the organization’s executive and artistic vision, she conducts the Advanced Choir (grades 9–12) and the Alumnae Choir.
Under her leadership, the Tucson Girls Chorus has experienced remarkable growth in both programming and community engagement. It has transformed into a vibrant, collaborative organization offering inclusive opportunities for youth and providing ongoing resources and support to music educators. TGC is frequently invited to share its programming strategies as a model of innovative practice.
Interest Sessions
Click on titles for more information.
Echoes of the Grasslands :
INTRODUCING INNER MONGOLIAN FOLK SONGS FOR SATB CHOIRS
Speaker: Dr. Mengda Jiang
Encouraging Engagement in a Distracted World: TEACHING WITH THE BRAIN IN MIND
Speaker: Dr. Sharon Paul, University of Oregon
Exploring the Intersections Between Gospel Music and European Choral Traditions
Speaker: Dr. Bryon Black II, DePauw University
Hispanic-Serving Institutions:
SERVING LATINO CHORAL STUDENTS THROUGH CHORAL MUSIC
Speakers: Dr. Corie Brown, San José State University; Dr. Rachel Carlson, Kean University; Dr. Timothy Westerhaus, Northern Arizona University
Non-Traditional Structures to Increase Active Learning in the Collegiate Choral Classroom
Speakers: Dr. Kimberly Dunn Adams, West Chester University; Margaret Winchell, Southern Methodist University
Reconceptualizing the Collegiate Choral Program in a Post-Pandemic World
Speaker: Dr. Wendy Moy, Syracuse University
Spirituals, Anthems, and Gospel Music: IS THERE A DIFFERENCE?
Speakers: Dr. Rosephanye Powell, Auburn University; Dr. William Powell, Auburn University
Unearthing a Lost Score:
SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR’S THE ATONEMENT
Speaker: Dr. Bryan Anthony Ijames, Florida Gulf Coast University
Choral Performances
Click here for choir and conductor bios.
California State University Fullerton University Singers
DR. ROBERT ISTAD, CONDUCTOR
California State University Fullerton Concert Choir
DR. CHRISTOPHER PETERSON, CONDUCTOR
The Aeolians of Oakwood University
PROF. JEREMY SOVOY JORDAN, CONDUCTOR
Biola University Chorale
DR. SHAWNA STEWART, CONDUCTOR
California State University Long Beach Bob Cole Chamber Choir
CONDUCTING MASTERCLASS CHOIR
DR. JONATHAN TALBERG, CONDUCTOR
Columbus State University Schwob Singers
DR. DAVID HAHN, CONDUCTOR
Louisiana State University Tiger Glee Club
DR. TREY DAVIS, CONDUCTOR
Northern Arizona University Shrine of the Ages Choir
DR. TIMOTHY WESTERHAUS, CONDUCTOR
University of Alabama Treble Chorus
DR. MORGAN LUTTIG, CONDUCTOR
University of Arizona Symphonic Choir
DR. ELIZABETH SCHAUER, CONDUCTOR
University of Colorado Boulder University Choir
DR. ELIZABETH SWANSON, CONDUCTOR
University of North Texas University Singers
DR. MARQUES L. A. GARRETT, CONDUCTOR
University of Texas at Austin Concert Chorale
DR. J.D. BURNETT, CONDUCTOR
Masterclass
Conducting Masterclass
CONDUCTING FELLOWS; IRIS LEVINE, MASTER TEACHER
Featuring selections by California composers curated by Cal State University Long Beach
Iris S. Levine , INTERIM PRESIDENT, CAL POLY POMONA
Dr. Iris S. Levine is a nationally acclaimed choral conductor, educator, and arts leader, widely recognized for her contributions to women’s choral music and higher education. She is the founder and artistic director of VOX Femina Los Angeles, Southern California’s premier women’s chorus. Under her visionary leadership, VOX has earned an esteemed reputation through over 350 performances across the United States, Mexico and Canada, and appearances at major national conferences, including ACDA, Chorus America, and GALA Choruses. Dr. Levine is known for cultivating strong, collaborative relationships with composers, resulting in nearly 70 commissioned works that have significantly expanded the treble choir repertoire.
Dr. Levine currently serves as Interim President of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, where she has held a range of academic leadership roles including Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences, Interim Dean of the College of Education and Integrative Studies, and Chair of the Department of Music. As a faculty member, she taught conducting and music education courses and conducted the Kellogg Chamber Singers. Full bio
California State Long Beach Bob Cole Chamber Choir
Dr.
Jonathan Talberg,
DIR. OF CHORAL ACTIVITIES
Dr. Jonathan Talberg is in his twenty-fifth year as Director of Choral Activities at CSULB’s Bob Cole Conservatory, where he is conductor of the international award-winning Bob Cole Chamber Choir and the University Choir. A passionate advocate for choral music education, he is regularly engaged to conduct honor choirs and present workshops around the globe, but his greatest joy remains mentoring the brilliant musicians at Cal State Long Beach.
Posters
Click here for full session descriptions.
Poster with Mini Presentation
Dr. Scott AuCoin
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA
From History to Harmony: Interdisciplinary Learning Through the Works of James McCarthy
Ms. Youngeun Kim
DMA STUDENT
From Oppression to Expression: Exploring Colonial-Era Poetry in Korean Choral Works
Dr. Carole Ott
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT GREENSBORO
Play as a Pathway to Optimal Experience: Rapture in Rehearsal and Performance
Mr. Zachariah Smith
MM STUDENT
A CMP Analysis of Four Masterworks
Poster
Prof. David García Saldaña, PASADENA CITY COLLEGE
Electronics + Choir
Dr. Andrew Martin
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE SOUTHERN
Expanding the Canon: Choral Programming and Popular Music
Dr. Reina Dickey
MIAMI UNIVERSITY
Rediscovering the Music of Bianca Maria Meda and 17th-Century Italian Nun Composers
Dr. Marcel Ramalho
AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY
Suites 4, 7, and 9 of José Siqueira’s Cantigas Folclóricas do Brasil: Musical and Sociohistorical Aspects
Dr. Eric D. Reyes
HOPE COLLEGE
Teaching Hybridity, Identity, and Nationhood through Antonio Estévez’s Cantata Criolla
Dr. Christopher Clark
CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY
Up, and defy them!: The Choral Music of Ethyl Smyth
Mr. Blake Clawson
MM STUDENT
Fostering Choral Composition
Mr. Wyatt Smith
MM STUDENT
The Correspondence and Thought Processes of Robert Schumann in Der Rose Pilgefahrt
Research Reviews
Dr. Kimberly Dunn Adams, editor
Margaret Hillis: Unsung Pioneer
Cheryl Frazes Hill
GIA Publications, 2022
Margaret Hillis lived an extraordinary life, earning titles and accolades as well as the admiration and respect of singers, conductors, composers, orchestra administrators, congressmen, and presidents. She founded and led the Chicago Symphony Chorus for 37 years to great acclaim and nine Grammy Awards, becoming the first woman to regularly conduct a major symphony orchestra. Despite societal, financial, and personal obstacles, she developed a distinguished career as a conductor, teacher, service-minded advocate, and tireless champion for financial support of professional singers and choirs. She achieved this through an unwavering vision, an indefatigable work ethic, and a keen understanding of people and systems, all while displaying her characteristic good humor, humility, and generosity. She uplifted those around her, and ushered in a new era of choral singing in the United States.
Cheryl Frazes Hill’s biography Margaret Hillis, Unsung Pioneer (GIA Publications, 2022) chronicles Hillis’ life and career with richlyresearched detail, admiration, and balanced
depth. Hill knew Margaret Hillis personally and professionally, joining the Chicago Symphony Chorus in 1976 and being appointed by Hillis to the conducting staff in 1987, where she remains associate director. This book project emerged to coincide with the centenary of Hillis’ birth in October 2021 and draws heavily on the Margaret Hillis collection housed at the Rosenthal Archives of the Chicago Symphony Chorus Association. The book’s success lies in the thorough integration of this collection with the biography’s narrative, infusing the book with Hillis’ wisdom and personality in her own words, letters, and photographs.
Unsung Pioneer seeks to not just tell what Hillis achieved, but to show how it was accomplished. The professional choral landscape of the midcentury was still emerging out of amateur societies, and Hillis’ signature methods were developed through tireless experimentation, application and refinement. Furthermore, social biases against women conductors imposed added scrutiny on those with such career aspirations, leading to unflattering criticism and diminished mentorship and podium opportunities. One of the most insightful chapters in the book (“An Historical Perspective) adds to an appreciation of Hillis’ significant accomplishments by foregrounding the battles she continually faced,
even at the height of her career. Two such examples include recurrently justifying her value during salary negotiations, and, remarkably, the lack of her own name in the New York Times headline describing a career-defining moment of epic scale (“Woman Steps in for Solti, Wins Carnegie Hall Ovation”).
Despite this, Hillis persisted and succeeded. The book reveals connections between her personal story and her professional work, with colorful anecdotes like the way her time training future pilots as a flight instructor during World War 2 translated to the signature quality of her choirs’ clarity, precision, and accuracy––qualities also required for aircraft operation. Her character traits are chronicled in an insightful Epilogue—qualities such as her focus, resourcefulness, bravery, and humility—as a way to glimpse how she comported herself in difficult situations to overcome obstacles as a trailblazer in her profession.
The preface to Unsung Pioneer notes that Hillis wanted to write her own book about choral methods. In a way, Hill gives us even more, illuminating not only musical and rehearsal techniques but an all-encompassing look at how a professional in her field navigated relatable career decisions. For those longing for Hillis’ unrealized choral methods book, Hill provides a nearly 100page appendix filled with resources including charts for rehearsal organization, examples of score markings, a list of Hillis-isms (“You sing first with your ears, then your heart, mind, and voice”) and her 1969 “At Rehearsals” booklet.
Margaret Hillis’ impact still resonates today. In an interview, author Cheryl Frazes Hill and Frank Villella, Director of the Rosenthal Archives of the Chicago Symphony Chorus Association, reveal that the Margaret Hillis collection is the most visited in the institution’s records.1 She imagined
1 Cheryl Frazes Hill and Frank Villella, “Margaret Hillis: Unsung Pioneer,” interview by Simeon Morrow, Vienna Live with Simeon Morrow, January 11, 2023. Youtube, 1:02:24.
and accomplished new heights for choral singing, earning a place among not only choral luminaries like her teacher Robert Shaw, but also among groundbreaking women in orchestral music like Marin Alsop today, or Ethel Leginska and Antonia Brico before. Margaret Hillis had an eventful, impactful, and purposeful life, and we in the choral world are lucky to have this biography from which to continually draw inspiration, encouragement, and knowledge.
— Kevin Vondrak
Kevin Vondrak is a doctoral candidate in Choral Conducting at Yale University School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music, and is associate conductor of The Crossing.
CChoral Repertoire by Women Composers edited by Hilary Apfelstadt and Alan Troy Davis
GIA Publications, 2025
horal Repertoire by Women Composers (2025), edited by Hilary Apfelstadt and Alan Troy Davis, surveys female composers of choral repertoire through short essays by a variety of choral professionals.
The idea for the volume arose in response to an experience Davis had as a doctoral student in which the usual resources surveying choral literature fell short in providing sufficient information on Barbara Strozzi (13). More
broadly, Davis observed the relative absence of female composers in texts commonly used in undergraduate and graduate curricula. In the volume that results, the structural parallels to Dennis Shrock’s Choral Repertoire (2009) are immediately obvious: each entry contains biographical information, a description of compositional style, and a chart of representative works with voicing, duration, instrumentation, and publisher. Entries are ordered alphabetically by composer, and indices at the back of the book list composers by country of origin and by contributing author.
The book’s entries are purposefully brief and feature accessible prose, making this book an excellent introduction to many composers. Most entries range from two to four pages of prose, though the length does not always correspond with the size of the composer’s choral output. (The entry on Alice Parker, for example, fills a mere page and a half.)
Because the compilation includes entries by many different authors, the level of detail and priorities of content vary from entry to entry. Some authors highlight a composer’s notable awards and accomplishments, while others prioritize the composer’s personal history or teaching and conducting work. Several capture the composer’s musical style through impressively efficient and vivid prose.
The editors curated the list of composers and contributing authors for the book through crowdsourcing, among other methods (13–14). As a result, the collection’s list of composers boasts admirable breadth, ranging from Hildegard to early-career living composers who represent 37 countries of origin and compose for singers of all ages and abilities.
time. Essays on living composers list their current positions and significant accomplishments thus far. Whereas Shrock had the benefit of hindsight and could outline most composers’ biographies definitively, this volume’s information may soon become outdated, particularly for those composers who have only recently gained notoriety. The editors recognize the limitations of the book and express that their goal is to raise awareness of these composers and their output and for their research to inspire further investigation by the reader (14).
This book is a convenient reference for conductors to use in discovering new composers and selecting repertoire. Authors provide especially robust entries on composers that American readers— even seasoned professionals—are less likely to recognize. In several cases, authors have gleaned unique insight into even the most familiar names through interviews with the composers. Every entry includes a short bibliography, which can direct readers toward further study.
For prolific composers, the entries’ brevity is a strength, allowing readers to start with a small handful of pieces instead of sifting through the composer’s extensive output. As a tool for programming, the book would benefit from a composite listing of works sorted by voicing and from score excerpts, perhaps as a companion volume. A chronological listing of composers ordered by birthdate could help readers quickly identify historical vs. modern composers; however, this information can easily be found at the header of each entry.
Unsurprisingly, the collection skews heavily toward living composers, reflecting the increase in women’s access to professional opportunities over
Students in a variety of collegiate courses and other educational contexts would find this book useful as well. A choir could read the entry on a composer whose work they are preparing to glean compositional context. Pre-service teachers could look up composers to understand the ensemble levels and abilities a composer typically has in mind. In a choral literature course, students could
read composer entries from specific countries as an introduction to music that time constraints do not allow the instructor to cover in depth.
Publishing a collection of music by women composers is a double-edged sword: it addresses a gap in traditional choral literature compendia, but at the risk of “othering” the music of women composers. Regardless, this anthology is overwhelmingly a positive contribution to the literature and makes the choral repertoire of women composers easier to discover, study, and perform.
—Margaret Winchell
Margaret Winchell is the Director of Choral Activities at Southern Methodist University, where she also teaches courses in choral conducting and literature. She has completed coursework for a DMA in Choral Conducting at Yale University and holds degrees from Western Michigan University and Wheaton College (IL). She has presented at conferences across the country on topics related to rehearsal pedagogy, program culture and values, and exploring textual meaning with singers.
Exploring the Intersections Between Gospel Music and European Choral Traditions
Dr. Bryon Black II
Collegiate choral conductors most often instruct students whose primary repertoire exposure has been the traditional Western canon. In choral repertoire, this often refers to vocal art forms established in European countries such as England, Germany, France and Italy between ca. 1450–1900. For modern students trained in European choral traditions, the aural, written, and overall musical language of gospel style can feel unfamiliar. However, many gospel composers received a formal music education, and their works often integrated similar structural, vocal and harmonic elements seen in European choral traditions. Conductors interested in familiarizing themselves and their students with gospel music may benefit from exploring gospel works which contain these European elements.
This article presents musical intersections between the gospel and European choral music traditions through a discussion of three composers and their selected works. These works demonstrate the accessible elements of gospel music for collegiate choral ensembles by comparing styles, highlighting the influence of traditional European influence, and suggesting appropriate pedagogical techniques. The study includes information on each composer’s musical background, examples of how their formal music education influenced their gospel writing, and insight from composer interviews. The composers discussed include Isaac Cates, Diane L. WhiteClayton, and Raymond Wise.
Isaac Cates’s musical roles include singersongwriter, pianist, composer, arranger, conductor, educator, and vocal coach. He is especially known for his choral and gospel writing. Cates’s music contains a fusion of classical and gospel music traditions, shaped by sophisticated harmonies, polyphonic rhythms, and complex piano accompaniments. Early in Cates’s career, he was compared to Richard Smallwood, who has similarly been heralded for his blending of classical music in his gospel works since the 1970s. 1 Cates’s music has been performed by vocalists, choruses and orchestras worldwide.2
Cates, born in 1985 in Kansas City, Kansas, began studying piano at age four.3 These lessons and his upbringing in his Black Pentecostal Baptist church gradually formed his musical influences. As his
1 Shelley, Braxton D. 2017. “Sermons in Song: Richard Smallwood, the Vamp, and the Gospel Imagination.” Doctoral Dissertation, The University of Chicago, 17.
2 “Check Out Isaac Cates’ Story.” n.d. VoyageKC (Culver City, CA), June 27, 2022. https://voyagekc.com/interview/check-out-isaaccatess-story/.
3 Isaac Cates, interview with author, June 7, 2023.
62 | NUMBER 2 | FALL 2025
Isaac Cates
skills developed, Cates became a child prodigy, appreciating the routine and discipline that came from piano techniques and repertoire from the Classical period.4 In high school, he actively sang in choirs, received voice lessons, and learned how to compose and arrange. Cates went on to study voice and piano at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, where his participation in the choral program highly impacted his musical interests and compositional writing.
Cates felt as at home with his classical music training as he did with Black church music traditions. Growing up in these styles both shaped and benefitted his overall musicianship. In his family’s Baptist church, musical offerings often consisted of both modern gospel choir music, which was taught by rote, and choral anthems or concert spirituals, which were taught with sheet music. Several of the church musicians he knew, particularly pianists, possessed classical training beyond the gospel tradition, even if they did not participate in these traditions regularly beyond the worship service.5
At UMKC, Cates collaborated with a colleague in 2004 to form Ordained, a small gospel group made up of skilled vocalists, music educators and worship leaders. They released their first album, Take My Life, in 2006. They have since released two additional albums and several singles, which have featured much of Cates’ choral output.6,7
Analysis of Cates’s Works: The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer was released on Cates’s 2006 album and stands out as a unique choral setting of this well-known text. Cates divides the text into short, rhythmic phrases that challenge singers and are best learned by rote. The piece opens with a repeated sixteenth-note ostinato on the text, “Our father which art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come / Our father which art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy will be done.” The entrances are additive, with marcato accents placed on words falling largely on weaker beats. Such syncopated, accented phrasing is a hallmark of gospel performance practice, reflecting what Trineice RobinsonMartin describes as the tradition’s emphasis on rhythmic nuance and expressive articulation. 8 While the rhythmic drive is distinctly gospel, its successful execution depends on Western choral skills: vertical alignment between voice parts, unified vowel clarity for rapid text delivery, and precision in entrances and releases. Similar skills are cultivated in the crisp releases and rhythmic discipline of sacred works by composers such as J. S. Bach or Mozart.
4 “Meet Isaac Cates.” n.d. Isaac Cates Music. Accessed June 5, 2023. https://isaaccatesmusic.com/index.php/meet-isaac/.
5 Cates, interview.
6 Isaac Cates & Ordained, “About,” accessed August 8, 2025, https://www.isaaccatesmusic.com/.
7 Discogs, “Isaac Cates & Ordained—Take My Life,” accessed August 8, 2025, https://www.discogs.com/release/7088889Isaac-Cates-Ordained-Take-My-Life.
The following phrases—“Give us this day our daily bread”, and “and forgive us our debtors”— continue this interplay of gospel rhythm and Western technique. The layering of entrances and marked articulations mirror gospel’s oral tradition of call-and-response, but this also requires similar text clarity and rhythmic awareness expected in classical repertoire. Conductors can prepare these elements by first speaking the text in rhythm, then adding the accents to ingrain stylistic pronunciation, much as one would approach a rhythmically complex, modern Western
8 Trineice Robinson-Martin, Developing a Pedagogy for Gospel Singing: Understanding the Cultural Aesthetics and Performance Components of a Vocal Performance in Gospel Music (DMA diss., Teachers College, Columbia University, 2010), 125–130.
choral piece. In this way, Cates demonstrates a connection between gospel’s rhythmic vitality and Western choral precision, producing a texture that is stylistically authentic and pedagogically accessible to singers trained in either tradition.
Cates also creates climactic phrases that merge Western harmonic writing with gospel vocal delivery. For example, on the word “debtors” (mm. 15–-18), he sets an A#dim chord with three inversions before resolving to G#7 (see Figure 1). This progression, rooted in Western harmonic practice, creates structural tension and release. In performances, Cates intensified this classical framework with gospel vocal affectations, by having his singers in Ordained rearticulate each inverted note of “debtors” with a slight separation and scoop. Conductors can rehearse this effect by having singers add a subtle ‘y’ onset, or a slight voiced ‘h’, producing a light
vocal fry that overlays the classical progression with a gospel texture. A similar example occurs in mm. 23–26 on “For thine is the kingdom”, where the choir ascends by glissando from low register pitches on a G# chord to a high C# tonic chord at “thine” (see Figure 2). Within half a measure, this glissando requires a rapid adjustment of pitch, vowel, and register—a challenge familiar to Western-trained singers but reframed here for gospel style. Conductors can draw from Western pedagogy by beginning with a rounded [o] vowel at “for” for resonance and stability, then widening to [a] at “thine” during the glissando to achieve the openness and freedom characteristic of gospel delivery. These climactic examples demonstrate how Cates layers gospel vocal techniques—scoops, separations, vowel shifts—onto Western harmonic structures, creating a sound that is both firmly rooted in classical foundations and representative of gospel expression.
Figure 1. Isaac Cates, The Lord’s Prayer, mm. 15–18.
2. Isaac Cates, The Lord’s Prayer, mm. 23–26.
Throughout this piece, Cates recommends that closed, rounded vowels be modified toward a more open, forward placement. Conductors might even prepare this sound through warm-ups on the forward [a] vowel, supporting singers in achieving freer resonance. This may be especially useful for singers who may not have the upper register pitches in their chest voice. This piece provides an ideal context for choral singers to explore both Western and gospel vocal techniques, allowing them to learn how to sing both styles healthily in their own voice. As Cates himself explains,
…my singers typically belt from the chest, but my advice is to use a good mix. Sing the climactic portions in a register that is vocally healthy for you. We are using quite a few vocal affectations to produce the sound, i.e. swells, bends, vowel modifications, etc. should have a relaxed sound initially; not too over concerned with anything other than forward resonance in the mask. No lofty, hooty lifted soft palate. Not a very traditional choral sound.9
9 Isaac Cates, email message to author, October 31, 2023.
Take My Life (Lacrimosa)
Several of Cates’s gospel compositions involve interpolations of well-known Classical and Romantic works. Among these is Take My Life (Lacrimosa) , inspired by Mozart’s Requiem Cates first encountered the work during his studies at UMKC and was particularly moved by the Lacrimosa, which Mozart famously penned the opening eight measures before his death in December 1791.10 Cates was also moved by the text’s meaning, which he reimagined outside a funeral setting. Where Mozart’s Lacrimosa was a petition for the last rites of the soul, Cates reflected on the idea of Christian baptism as a symbolic death to one’s old life as they surrender to God’s will. This led Cates to preserve the opening eight measures of Mozart’s setting in Latin (with slight reworking), followed by his own English text.11
Throughout the piece, the vocal style transitions from a European classical choral sound to a gospel aesthetic. The opening Latin section
10 Steinberg, Michael. 2005. Choral Masterworks: A Listener’s Guide. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 228.
11 Cates, interview.
Figure
should be sung in a traditional bel canto style with darker, rounded vowels. As the English text (“Come, Holy Spirit, and stay with me always”) enters, singers transition toward a forward, open placement characteristic of gospel production. This stylistic shift is particularly clear in mm. 39–40, where the sopranos and altos sing “and stay with me always” on a descending eighth-note triplet figure, repeating in stepwise motion (see Figure 3). Modeled after a seventeenth- or eighteenth-century melisma, this brief passage acts as a pivot point from classical to gospel style.
Cates heightens this transition by omitting the piano in m. 39, giving the vocal line expressive prominence. The piece then moves into a gospel vamp, led by a soloist singing “Where you lead me, I will follow”, answered by layered choral entrances. The piano repeats a circle-of-fifths progression, while the choir introduces duple rhythms against triplet figures, producing a twoagainst-three texture with the text (see Figure 4). This section requires careful rhythmic attention and counting, and may benefit from targeted rote teaching to internalize its groove and phrasing.
12 Cates, Take My Life (Lacrimosa), 3, mm. 37–40.
13 Cates, Take My Life (Lacrimosa), 6-7, mm. 65–76.
Figure 3: Isaac Cates, Take My Life (Lacrimosa), mm. 37–40.12
Figure 4: Isaac Cates, Take My Life (Lacrimosa), mm. 65–76.13
To navigate the stylistic transition, conductors can guide singers through specific technical adjustments. For example, [ɑ] vowels should be modified by arching the tongue toward the middle of the mouth without spreading or rounding the lips, promoting a forward, open resonance. The triplet figure in mm. 39–40 (“and stay with me always”) can be rehearsed slowly on a neutral syllable such as “deh,” then refined without the consonant to encourage fluidity in the phrase. The aim is to maintain the melismatic flow of classical phrasing while embodying gospel’s expressive clarity. Throughout the piece, conductors should reinforce healthy vocal production that prioritizes resonance and forward vowel placement, even as singers adapt their tone. In the final section, singers are encouraged to use chest register for sustained high pitches on “oh” where available; if these pitches lie outside their chest range, a resonant and well-supported head-voice production remains an effective and stylistically valid alternative.
The initial reception of this piece was mixed. Most of Cates’ Black church singers, unaccustomed to Latin or European choral tone, were confused by the classical opening, while classically trained choral musicians disliked his reworking of Mozart’s measures. 14 Over time, however, the piece found broader acceptance, especially after Cates and Ordained performed it at the 2019 ACDA National Conference in Kansas City.15 This performance increased exposure for Cates, Ordained, and this piece among choral conductors, with the video recording amassing about 25,000 views online in recent years as an example of classical music merged with gospel.
Together, these works show how Cates draws on Western choral techniques—precise ensemble coordination, harmonic structure, and classical
phrasing—while transforming them into a gospel expression that is both stylistically authentic and pedagogically instructive.
Diane L. White-Clayton
Dr. Diane L. White-Clayton, also known as “Dr. Dee”, is a composer, pianist, conductor, soprano soloist, author, and speaker. Across four decades, she has composed several sacred choral works, including anthems, gospel songs, arrangements of African, Korean and African American folk songs, as well as atonal classical pieces. Her compositions have been performed in major venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. She describes her style as “a mélange of the power of gospel music, the technique of classical music and the colors of jazz.” 16 She has published several scores, albums and books through her company, BYTHAX—an acronym for “Bringing You Talented, Heavenly-minded Artists with eXcellence!”17 She also serves as the founding director of the professional vocal ensemble Dr. Dee & the BYTHAX Ensemble.
Dr. White-Clayton was born in 1964 into a family of musicians and ministers in Washington D.C. Like Isaac Cates, she was shaped by the worship traditions of the African American Baptist church, which centered both African American sacred music and European choral repertoire. She began her musical journey early – singing in the church’s children’s choir at age four and starting piano lessons soon after. By age nine, she found herself accompanying and composing for the Sunday School Choir.18
She earned her Bachelor of Arts in piano, voice and composition from Washington University in St. Louis in 1986, followed by both her Masters
16 “Biography.” Dr. Diane White-Clayton. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://www.bythax.org/diane
17 “Biography.” Dr. Diane White-Clayton.
18 Diane L. White-Clayton, interview with author, August 29, 2023.
and Doctoral degrees in Music Composition from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Influenced by seventeenth- to nineteenthcentury European repertoire for chorus and for solo piano, she began to frequently incorporate Baroque and Classical era forms and quotations into her writing. She particularly finds there to be an “easy marriage” between Baroque music and gospel, citing their shared embrace of improvisation, even if these genres differ in style and function.19 Baroque polyphony in particular has informed her compositional approach. Many of her choral works feature polyphonic vamps, with overlapping motives in individual voice parts that build texture. Her accompaniments reflect a similar fusion, often blending soloistic piano lines, arpeggiated figures, and functional harmonic progressions reminiscent of European traditions. These parts may be freely embellished by the performing pianist as they desire, similar to the improvisatory realizations of figured bass by seventeenth century keyboardists.
Analysis of White-Clayton’s Work: Be Thou Exalted
Many of these compositional elements are featured in Dr. White-Clayton’s anthem Be Thou Exalted, originally composed in 1992 and revised in 2008. The choral introduction demonstrates her nineteenth-century influences, featuring parallel choral phrases with passing tones in the inner voices, expressive dynamic contrasts, emphasized dissonances, and delayed harmonic resolutions. Gospel influence emerges in the triadic vocal writing and in the dramatic effect of frequent caesurae (see Figure 5). This section is best rehearsed with attention to crisp initial consonants, a lifted soft palate to produce vertical vowel shapes, and focused intonation— particularly on the unison pitches which conclude each phrase. By emphasizing Baroque-style vocal technique to begin the piece, singers will be able to transition into gospel expression while maintaining tonal clarity throughout the piece.
19 White-Clayton, interview.
20 Diane L. White-Clayton, Be Thou Exalted (BYTHAX, rev. 2008),
mm.
(Figure 5 continued on next page.)
Figure 5: Diane L. White-Clayton, Be Thou Exalted, mm. 13–24.20
2–3,
13–24.
The polyphonic vamp on the text “Be thou exalted above the heavens, let thy glory be above all the earth” features Baroque-era buoyancy and precision, structured in a march-like 12/8 pattern. This vamp is harmonically driven by a sequential circle-of-fifths progression in C major – a hallmark of many seventeenth century works, particularly
in the music of J. S. Bach, Dietrich Buxtehude, and their contemporaries. Dr. White-Clayton’s progression—F min–B♭ –E♭–A♭–D dim–G–C—is articulated clearly in the piano’s ascending bass line, with each chord moving through suspension and resolution. A striking parallel can be seen in the “Alleluia” section of Buxtehude’s seventeenth-
century cantata Der Herr ist mit mir , which also uses sequential harmonic motion, quick rhythmic figures, and light articulation to convey expressive uplift. Both works demonstrate formal elements typical of the Baroque era—contrasting textures, vocal agility, and rhythmic gestures to differentiate sections and build momentum (see Figures 6 and 7).
21 Dietrich Buxtehude, Der Herr ist mit mir, BuxWV 15, ed. Rémy Claverie, accessed November 16, 2023, https://imslp.org/wiki/ Der_Herr_ist_mit_mir%2C_BuxWV_15_(Buxtehude%2C_Dietrich), 17, mm. 164–166.
Figure 6: Dietrich Buxtehude, Der Herr ist mit mir, mm. 164–166.21
Figure 7: Diane L. White-Clayton, Be Thou Exalted, mm. 68–71.22
22 Diane L. White-Clayton, Be Thou Exalted (BYTHAX, rev. 2008), 11, mm. 68–71.
Conductors can approach note-learning in this section using techniques similar to those employed when rehearsing imitative passages in Lutheran cantatas by Bach. For example, each voice part can be rehearsed separately on a neutral syllable to solidify pitch and rhythmic accuracy, then speak the text with buoyancy and forward motion. Finally, singers can reintroduce the vocal lines with intentional clarity in entrances and releases, mirroring Baroque stylistic precision. Dr. WhiteClayton also actively encourages pianists and conductors to improvise during the repeated sections, whether through embellishments in the piano accompaniment, additional repeats of the vamp, or isolated individual voice parts.
This anthem is particularly well-suited for ensembles familiar with Baroque vocal technique. Conductors may consider pairing this anthem with other Baroque repertoire on a concert program. Choral students who have sung motets or cantatas by Buxtehude (e.g. Der Herr ist mit mir) or Bach (e.g. Jesu, meine Freude, Lobet den Herrn) will be able to apply similar approaches to articulation, phrasing, and vocal technique in Dr. WhiteClayton’s gospel setting. Additionally, singers will be challenged to extend their musicianship through the gospel idiom’s extended ranges and rhythmic vitality.
Dr. White-Clayton provides conductors with repertoire that bridges gospel and European traditions, affirming that gospel is worthy of choral study. Her works call for both stylistic integrity and musical inclusivity, offering ensembles repertoire that is academically valuable and artistically rewarding.
Raymond Wise
Dr. Raymond Wise has been an active musician and educator for several decades, serving in roles as a choral composer, conductor, professor, countertenor, pianist, author, and an ordained
minister. His output as a composer is especially prolific, with more than 680 choral works, including original gospel compositions, anthems, art songs, church cantatas, and numerous arrangements of spirituals. In 2003, Dr. Wise released the Raymond Wise Choral Sheet Music Series, making over 300 of his choral works available in print. More of his music is published by major national publishers such as GIA, Hal Leonard, and Abingdon Press. His compositions have been performed in prestigious venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, Berlin Philharmonic Hall, and Smetana Hall in Prague.23
Born in 1961 in Baltimore, Maryland to C. Dexter Wise, Jr. and Rev. Julia Virginia Wise, Dr. Wise grew up in a large family with deep roots in ministry and music dating back to his great-grandparents. By age three, he was singing with his family’s gospel singing group, The Wise Singers, alongside his five siblings. He was learning piano by age four, and composing by age nine. The Wise Singers frequently opened concerts for renowned gospel artists such as Rev. James Cleveland and Pastor Shirley Caesar, experiences that profoundly shaped his musical development.24
In his 2002 dissertation on the development of gospel music throughout the 20th century, Dr. Wise highlighted the increased education opportunities for African Americans following the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision and the rise of the Civil Rights Movement.25 By the 1960s, many young African American students in Virginia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. attended Historically Black Colleges and Universities such as Howard
23 Raise Productions, “Biographical Sketch of the Rev. Raymond Wise, PhD.”, accessed September 27, 2023. https://raiseonline. com/raymond-wise.
24 Raymond Wise, interview with author, September 28, 2023.
25 Wise, Raymond. “Defining African American Gospel Music by Tracing Its Historical and Musical Development from 1900 to 2000.” Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2002, 260.
University and Morgan State University. Music students were increasingly shaped by formal training in European music traditions. For some young gospel-trained composers, this education inspired works blending gospel and classical elements by the 1970s. While this fusion was distinctive to the Baltimore-Washington-Virginia region, Dr. Wise reflected that it was not initially welcomed in academic settings:
I was in a very, very unique environment in that we sang gospel music; but the Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Virginia area had several HBCUs and such a heavy focus on classical music as well. And at that point in the 1960s, well, even earlier, gospel music was not accepted in the academy. So, a lot of the students who went to school to study music formally were prohibited from playing gospel music in schools, but yet they played it on Sunday. So they played on Sunday morning, but they couldn’t do it during the week.26
Dr. Wise was driven by a mission to validate gospel music in academic settings, bring elements of his formal training to gospel audiences, and to unite people from different backgrounds. He pursued these goals through teaching, composing, and writing textbooks for conductors and educators to increase the accessibility of gospel music and spirituals for musicians beyond the African American churches. In addition to his dissertation, Dr. Wise has developed and implemented courses in African American gospel music, spirituals, and worship. He has also formed gospel choirs at universities, seminaries, and through his gospel music production company, Raise Productions.
Analysis of Wise’s Works: Glory and Honor
Glory and Honor was originally composed in 1985 as a trio for Dr. Wise and two of his Raise Productions singers, later expanded for SATB voices. The piece uniquely merges gospel and classical elements, exemplified in a vamp with several rising inversions in the upper voices as the choir repeats “Glory, honor, glory, honor.” Sopranos, altos and tenors ascend to A5, E5 and C5, respectively, creating word painting that evokes ascension to the heavens. A performance with his Raise Choir at a gospel festival “changed the tone of the room, bringing together both the gospel audience and the classical audience.”27
In the gospel tradition, high singing is often associated with strong chest-voice belting, emphasizing emotional intensity. Dr. Wise, however, encourages the use of head voice on the ascending lines in this piece, producing a shift in vocal timbre and expressive nuance. This technique reflects classical influences, reminiscent of late-Classical and early Romantic vocal writing —such as in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and the Ninth Symphony’s “Ode to Joy”—where composers explored extended vocal ranges and demanded sustained tessituras.28 Conductors should guide singers to maintain an open vocal space with rounded [a] vowels and a gentle, sigh-like approach on re-entrances to prevent strain while allowing natural dynamic intensity.
The piano introduction also exhibits European classical traits, with arpeggiations, rhythmic decorations, harmonic shifts, and flowing ascending and descending lines. Dr. Wise often employs classical-style introductions to create an “instantaneous draw”, contrasting with the
27 Wise, interview.
26 Wise, interview.
28 Lewis Lockwood, Beethoven: The Music and the Life (New York: W.W. Norton, 2003), 412–417.
expected upbeat gospel openings.29 The hymnlike main verse of this piece is homophonic, and Dr. Wise’s gospel influence is evident in his use of specific articulations that emphasize key words and phrases, heightening the emotional drama and expressive nuance of the text. To internalize these stylistic elements, conductors can first have singers speak the text with precise articulation and dynamic contrast before adding pitch, reinforcing word stress and phrasing. This approach also prepares singers for the accurate execution of the ornamental thirty-second notes in mm. 55–56, which should be sung with brief decays to maintain rhythmic vitality. While the range is challenging, melodic lines and phrasing remain accessible, allowing conductors to focus on articulation and structural nuances.
Lord, Send Your Spirit
Lord, Send Your Spirit was originally written for Dr. Wise’s church youth choir as a responsive anthem following his brother’s sermon based on Acts 1:8. Though firmly grounded in the gospel style, the piece offers an excellent opportunity to apply vocal pedagogical concepts familiar to classically-trained singers, such as forward vowel placement and clear articulation, within a gospel context. Dr. Wise recommends teaching much of the piece through rote modeling and calland-response rather than by relying solely on the written score, reinforcing the oral tradition central to gospel music. As with Glory and Honor, the score includes specific articulation markings that conductors should demonstrate, emphasizing strong syllables—particularly in each iteration of the words ‘spirit’, ‘power’, and ‘glory’—through call-and-response rehearsal techniques.
29 Wise, interview.
(Figure
continued on next page.)
8
Figure 8: Raymond Wise, Glory and Honor, mm. 43-57.30
30 Raymond Wise, Glory and Honor (Raise Publishing, 1985), 5-6, mm. 43-57.
Two sections of the piece invite conductor-led improvisation. The phrase “Send your spirit, send your power, send your glory” in mm. 60-63 culminates with the sopranos and altos singing a unison descending line on “Fall on us”, with the syllables of “spirit”, “power”, and “glory” marked marcato and accompanied by a crescendo for expressive emphasis (see Figure 9). In rehearsal, singers should isolate “Fall on us” using an open,
forward [ɑ] vowel to cultivate vocal freedom and tonal openness. Midway through the piece, each voice layers in, singing “Lord, send your spirit”, creating a layered texture that conductors may repeat ad lib, varying dynamics, using neutral syllables in place of text (e.g. “doo” or “dah”), or isolating individual voice parts to shape the sound.31 In doing so, clear conducting gestures will be critical in navigating these flexible sections.
31 A great example of this can be seen in Dr. Derrick Fox’s conducted performance with the JVLMA choir in Sweden. JVLMA, “Raymond Wise—Lord Send Your Spirit” YouTube video, 4:26. March 28, 2018. https://youtu.be/3Zsm0z27eFk?si=PINFF1-sWZbCbRw.
32 Raymond Wise, Lord, Send Your Spirit (GIA Publications, 2018), 9-10, mm. 59-66.
31 A great example of this can be seen in Dr. Derrick Fox’s conducted performance with the JVLMA choir in Sweden. JVLMA, “Raymond Wise—Lord Send Your Spirit” YouTube video, 4:26. March 28, 2018. https://youtu.be/3Zsm0z27eFk?si=PINFF1-sWZbCbRw.
(Figure 9 continued on next page.)
Figure 9: Raymond Wise, Lord, Send Your Spirit, mm. 59–66.32
32 Raymond Wise, Lord, Send Your Spirit (GIA Publications, 2018), 9-10, mm. 59-66.
Dr. Wise encourages classically-trained singers to memorize this piece to fully engage with its flexible, improvisational structure, allowing freedom in vocal expression while maintaining stylistic integrity. Conductors should rehearse this piece with informed modeling based on thorough knowledge of the articulations and an emphasis on forward vowel placement, balancing technical precision with stylistic authenticity. With the rhythm section maintaining the pulse, conductors are advised to show the melodic rhythm and dynamics in their gesture, rather than strict beat patterns. Pedagogical resources, such as Dr. Wise’s books on gospel singing style, provide valuable guidance for those less familiar with the style.33
As Dr. Wise encourages singers and conductors alike: “You have permission to enjoy this piece. Be free, enjoy yourself, and that’s what will make the difference.”34
Dr. Wise provides conductors with repertoire that is both accessible and pedagogically rich, offering opportunities for students to explore the gospel style while reinforcing classical technique. His attention to detail, commitment
to accessibility, and passion for uniting musical cultures make his works valuable tools for cultivating choral artistry and creating memorable, transformative experiences.
Closing
The works of these three composers represent only a small portion of repertoire that blends the gospel and European choral traditions. My research has also examined gospel repertoire by other influential composers, from the 1950s to the present, including Roberta Martin, Dr. Mattie Moss Clark, Thomas Whitfield, Donald Lawrence, and Richard Smallwood.
Gospel remains a dynamic, engaging genre that has captivated musicians for decades. I hope this study of its intersections will highlight accessible elements of gospel music for collegiate choral ensembles and to help demystify the style for conductors less familiar with it. Drawing connections between the performance practices and pedagogies of these traditions can equip conductors to program more inclusively, fostering richer and more diverse musical experiences for their ensembles.
—Dr. Bryon Black II
Dr. Bryon Black II currently serves as the Director of Choirs at the DePauw University Institute of Music. An active composer, his pieces have been performed by several collegiate, church and community ensembles. Dr. Black’s research of the intersections between gospel and European choral traditions
provides choral conductors with accessible repertoire and pedagogy for approaching gospel music. He has also served as a guest conductor and clinician for various choral festivals and other events across Indiana, Ohio and South Carolina. Dr. Black resides in Indianapolis with his wife Briannah. More of his choral work and research is available at bryonblackii.com.
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Boyer, Horace Clarence. 2000. The Golden Age of Gospel. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Burnim, Mellonee. 1983. “Gospel Music: Review of the Literature.” Music Educators Journal 69, no. 9 (May): 58–61. Accessed March 30, 2022. https://doi.org/10.2307/3396274.
Buxtehude, Dietrich. Der Herr ist mit mir, BuxWV 15, ed. Rémy Claverie, accessed November 16, 2023. https://imslp. org/wiki/Der_Herr_ist_mit_mir%2C_BuxWV_15_(Buxtehude%2C_Dietrich), 17, mm. 164–166.
Cates, Isaac. “Lacrimosa (Gospel version) at ACDA— – Isaac Cates And Ordained.” YouTube Video, 3:54. September 2, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT3b_CWeF5A.
Cates, Isaac. Take My Life (Lacrimosa). ISOL Music, 2009. Accessed June 21, 2022, https://isaaccatesmusic.com/ index.php/product/sheet-music-take-my-life/.
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Sellers, Crystal. ““I Sing Because I’m Free”: Developing a Systematic Vocal Pedagogy for the Modern Gospel Singer.” Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2009.
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Choral Reviews
Nathan Reiff, editor
Dalubaling (2018)
Tsai Yu-Shan, arranger
SATB, optional S solo (c. 4’)
Text: Rukai, Rukai folksong earthsongs
Recording: Formosa Singers (Julian Su, conductor)
Score Preview (incomplete)
Tsai Yu-Shan is a collaborative artist and arranger from Taiwan who currently serves with the Formosa Singers, an ensemble based in Taipei. The group are one of Taiwan’s finest choirs—following their founding 1994, the Formosa Singers have performed around the world and successfully competed in choral competitions on several continents. Coinciding with the group’s mission, Tsai’s arranging work centers upon Taiwanese folksong and an attempt to represent the island’s various cultures. She has several works in publication from earthsongs, Pavane Publishing, and through the Formosa Singers’ Formosa Choral Series.
Tsai’s arranged works are exclusively for mixed voice choirs. Most of her works are a cappella, but there are several available with piano accompaniment and one ( Midnight, Under the Street Lamp) with piano and obligato saxophone. While her arranging work primarily focuses on Taiwanese folk music, Tsai has also produced arrangements of modern Taiwanese pop songs.
North American ensembles will likely be most challenged by the language and dialect of Tsai’s works. However, because her music is emotionally engaging while remaining rhythmically and harmonically accessible, many choirs will find rehearsal and performance of Tsai Yu-Shan’s work well worth the challenge.
Tsai’s 2018 work Dalubaling is a part of earthsongs’ Formosa Choral Series. Dalubaling is a folksong of the Rukai, an indigenous people of Taiwan. Modern Rukai people are descended from three distinct groups: the Eastern Rukai, Western Rukai, and those from the Maolin District around the Greater Ghost Lake and Lesser Ghost Lake areas—it is likely from this region that Dalubaling originates.
The text, set into two distinct verses, tells the story of Balhege, a young woman who has secretly fallen in love with the snake lord of the Ghost Lake. In the first verse, Balhege speaks directly to her mother, father, and tribe of her departure to be with the snake lord—she will be leaving them forever. Despite knowing she must leave to be with her love, Balhege expresses her love for her tribe and asks that they remember her forever. The second verse is from the perspective of Balhege’s family and tribe. They lament that she is leaving them and their land forever, while also imploring Balhege to “remember all things of the tribe”
and to never forget her family and heritage. This deeply meaningful text portrays the powerfully human experience of the duality and double-edged sword of change. Despite its fantastical setting, it is something to which any performer will relate.
The work begins with an extended, unaccompanied solo soprano presenting the first of Balhege’s statements to her family and tribe. The solo is melodically and rhythmically engaging, while maintaining a pentatonic identity that will be accessible to many potential soloists. Following this first statement of the main melody, tenor and bass voices enter in m. 12 with a creatively syncopated rhythmic underpinning that continues throughout the first verse. The tenors and basses’ harmonic foundation is more firmly established via nonsense syllables that create a unique rhythmic flow through the intentional use of initial consonants. Altos join the tenor and bass underpinning in m. 19 and create harmonic interest with major second dissonances and rhythmic interest with finger snaps. The sopranos re-enter in m. 18, presenting the entirety of the first verse text on the melody from the soprano solo.
In the second verse, Tsai expands upon the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic content from the first verse to represent the voices of the entire tribe. Tenor and bass voices are fleshed out into sweeping chords that stretch from E2 to E4, while they occasionally receive snippets of melodic content passed down from the sopranos and altos. The sopranos and altos present the second verse text in echo, first soprano and then alto, that creates a sense of the communal voices surrounding Balhege as she descends into the Ghost Lake. The effect is akin to that found in the first fourteen measures of Eric Whitacre’s 2003 work i will wade out. Tsai also expands upon the harmonic language of the first verse, making use of major seconds, perfect fourths, and perfect fifths in harmony (as well as several intentionally placed moments of portamento) through the conclusion of the work.
This exceptionally dramatic and expressive work is accessible to skilled high school and collegiate ensembles but will most certainly be a meaningful undertaking for community or professional ensembles as well—the author first encountered this work while singing with the professional ensemble Coro Vocati in Atlanta. The work is most effective when performed from memory, which makes finger snapping and audience engagement easier. As evidenced in performances found online, some ensembles even choose to enhance the work via choralography. Both a challenge and a joy to perform, the author highly recommends Dalubaling to choral conductors for their future programming.
— Joshua Cheney
Joshua Cheney, a native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. He is responsible for the leadership and administration of GWU Choirs, to include the direction of the Concert Choir and Reach Worship. Joshua teaches Aural Skills, Music Survey, and courses in conducting, voice, woodwinds, and guitar.
Vocal and Full Scores Available from Tonos Music Publishing
Live performance recording
Martín Palmeri maintains an international presence as a composer and pianist. His Misa a Buenos Aires (Misatango) remains his earliest and best-known work. Palmeri’s unique background as a choir conductor and leader of a tango orchestra led him to experiment with arranging existing tangos with the choral idiom. After finding limited success in this fusion, he decided to compose original music for choir and tango orchestra. Choirs that enjoy singing up-beat dance forms and heart-wrenching melodies will fall in love with Palmeri’s major work.
The familiarity of the mass text makes the work instantly accessible for choirs and allows rehearsal to focus on the drama and rhythm of the tango style. Singers unfamiliar with the nuevo tango style should study the music of Astor Piazzolla and observe authentic tango dancing. Palmeri incorporates numerous rhythmic figures that are idiomatic to tango, but that are not labeled in the score. Examples of these rhythms include marcato, síncopa, and 3-3-2. Musicians should consult with tango specialists to understand the subtleties of this performance practice. These rhythms are not difficult to recognize or perform, but the precision needed to sing them may be at odds with the legato style most classical singers use as their default.
The tango orchestra that accompanies the choir is made up of a string quintet, piano, and bandoneon. For a choir of 32–50 singers, two string players for each violin and viola part are recommended; one cellist and one bassist are sufficient. The pianist should be an excellent collaborative musician with familiarity with the tango style. The piano part is entirely written out, but interpretive ideas are left to the performer. One example is the opening of the Sanctus, which begins with a piano solo, marked Rubato, fraseggiato “tangueado” (“Rubato, phrased as a tango”).
bandoneon provides both accompaniment and soloistic melody at different points in the music. An expert bandoneon player needs to be hired for this work; this musician can also be a resource for style and performance practice in the orchestra rehearsal.
When programming, the Misatango will be at the centerpiece of any concert cycle. It could easily sit on the back half of a program, contrasting with other folk and dance music.
The duration of the mass is anywhere from 40 to 55 minutes, depending on tempi. The Kyrie alone is 173 measures, notably longer than the Gloria. Here, Palmeri introduces one style of the Misatango, which combines the orchestral marcato and síncopa elements with a fully independent choral fugue. The first Kyrie fugue is melodic, syncopated, and in a comfortable range of a 6th. It is marked articolato; singers should think of themselves as instrumentalists, and apply nuanced articulation to all parts of the phrase. In the Credo, Palmeri uses this same fugue for et resurrexit in tertia die . For the choir, this section will be challenging to sing with the correct phrasing and articulation as in the Kyrie, but now with a portion of the Credo text. Finally, this fugue returns yet again in the Dona Nobis Pacem, but here Palmeri has it in the parallel major key, and at a slower tempo. His use of this fugue across the Misatango gives the mass a unifying figure for the beginning, the climax of the Credo, and the very end.
The bandoneon player is the unique pillar of the Misatango ensemble. Like the piano, the
One of the challenges for the conductor and the ensemble is the sheer number of tempi and the transitions between musical sections. All musicians must deeply understand each tempo of each section, and be able to relate them to each other. One example of these challenges is in the Gloria: The beginning section is 86 BPM, and the meter is 2/4. The rhythm of the Gloria text begins using the 3-3-2 tango mode, and singers will feel this as if it is alla breve. The transition to qui tollis peccata mundi involves a two-measure rallentando
where the piano outlines sixteenth notes; all other musicians are sustaining. Then, the new tempo of 74 BPM in 4/4 occurs, with the lone string bass intoning the beat. This shift of the music is clear in the score, but maintaining a graceful transition and avoiding a choral crash is the challenge. The Credo alone has ten different tempi or changes of tempo, at each new section of text. Another challenging moment is a fifteen-bar accelerando from 82 to 125 BPM with full orchestra and choir. Most conductors will have one rehearsal with the orchestra alone, and much of that time will inevitably be spent on these hinges in the musical sections. The attention given to these transitions should achieve an effortless, dance-like quality of a professional chamber ensemble, and avoid a forced, inauthentic sound.
The Misatango features a soprano soloist in every movement except the Kyrie. Some of these solos are brief (Benedictus: qui venit in nomine), others lengthy (Credo: et incarnatus est, credo in spiritus sanctum). Palmeri captures an intimacy in the music by using the soloist with orchestra in spare textures. This solo part is marked ‘Soprano’, and the range is Eb4-F5, suitable for a mezzo-soprano.
The soloist is always singing in a slower tempo compared to the choral sections. Conductors should choose an excellent, trained singer, whether or not they are a guest artist or come from the core of the choir. Given the vocal load of the Misatango, the soloist may choose to sit and sing separately from the choir.
Any choir that loves rhythmic music should consider performing the Misatango . The driving rhythmic figures and the unique color of the tango orchestra are the hook to this work, and are complemented by luscious melodies and colorful harmony.
— Ross Cawthon
Ross Cawthon is a DMA candidate in Choral Conducting at Louisiana State University, where he teaches courses in undergraduate conducting and guest conducts the LSU Chamber Singers. Additionally, he is the founding artistic director of VIVA, a choral ensemble for music professionals and teachers, and the chorus director for Opéra Louisiane. He completed BME and MM degrees at the University of Florida.
Research Memorandum Series
When the National Collegiate Choral Organization gained proprietorship of American Choral Review from Chorus America in 2020, it merged each organization’s publication into one dynamic, online peer-reviewed journal that publishes quality choral research— The Choral Scholar & American Choral Review . Along with this merger came Chorus America’s Research Memorandum Series and, moreover, the opportunity to reimagine RMS and its role in choral scholarship.
In its previous form, RMS served as a “bibliographic journal to assist conductors and others in the choral field in their search for repertory and new sources of interesting programming.” Through several discussions and an evaluation of our community’s needs, NCCO decided to refocus RMS’s mission from a repertory conduit into a publication that celebrates the critical and creative research produced by our graduate student members—specifically master’s and doctoral theses, essays, dissertations, and other terminal documents published each academic year.
With this annual publication, RMS will serve as a depository of abstracts from recent master’s and doctoral documents, and provide conductors, scholars, and students with current dissertation and thesis abstracts. We intend that RMS will provide our community with a venue to recognize recent scholarship, aid existing research, and inspire choral scholars in their pursuit of research excellence.
—C. Michael Porter
Anderson, Jared L. “A Conductor’s Study of Dominick Agento’s Revelation of St. John the Divine.” DMA diss., University of Minnesota, 2024.
Abstract: A conductor’s study of Dominick Argento’s Revelation of St. John the Divine, written in 1966 for tenor solo, TTBB chorus, brass, harp, piano, and percussion. The author considers dramatic space in the work, compositional techniques, musical motives and symbols, and a few issues for the conductor.
Advisor: Thomas Lancaster
Angangco, Raoul Carlo F. “The Evolving Significance of Language in Philippine Music
Abstract: This project revolves around Filipino composer Josefino Chino Toledo’s Misa Lingua Sama-Sama (Mass of Languages Combined), a monumental work composed between 2012-2015
with each part of the Mass Ordinary commissioned by and composed for a different major choral ensemble in the Philippines. Toledo intersperses several settings of Psalm 104 as transitionary movements between the main parts, as well as an Introit (“Simula”), Our Father (“Pater Namin”) and Recessional (“Humayo na, Ite Missa Est!”). The complete work received its premiere in 2015 with all the choral ensembles performing their commissioned parts and joining forces to form a tutti grande for the Introit and Recessional. As a whole, the work merges Latin and Filipino Mass texts, along with bamboo percussion instruments native to the Philippines.
My research offers insight on how language was used in imposing, establishing, and proclaiming Filipino national identity through music throughout its 500-year history. This will involve tracing the major historical influences of Western musical traditions in colonial Philippines and exploring how they merge with persisting indigenous traditions. In setting geo-cultural context, I examine the historical villancico genre’s role in Spanish colonization efforts through the 16th to 19th centuries, as well as the earliest known Tagalog-language setting of the Mass (Bonifacio Abdon’s Misa Balintawak) as an icon of Revolutionary, nationalistic sentiment at the turn of the 20th century. The project culminates in an in-depth analysis of Toledo’s Misa Lingua Sama-Sama which is a largely significant magnus opus in the Philippine choral repertory for its display of the contemporary use of language (both spoken and musical) as a bearer of national and cultural identity.
Advisor: Dominick DiOrio
Bruhn, Andrew. “The History of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Graduate Choral Music Program, 1958–2023.” DMA diss., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2023.
Abstract: The University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign (UIUC/Illinois) had an important impact on choral music through the creation of the first Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in Choral Music in the United States beginning in 1958. Since that time many leading choral conductors have earned advanced degrees at UIUC, such as longtime Florida State University professor and composer André Thomas; St. Olaf Choir conductors Kenneth Jennings and Anton Armstrong; and longtime conductor of the Westminster Choir Joseph Flummerfelt. These individuals constitute and uphold the legacy of the program, yet no comprehensive history of the department exists.
This study explores 1) the history of choral music at UIUC that led to the founding of the graduate choral program, 2) important leaders and their mission for the program, and 3) the Illinois legacy through highlighting a sample of the many alumni who are now significant in the field of choral music. In learning about this history, choral leaders will gain insight into the principles that yielded the international acclaim of the program.
The study concludes that the legacy of the Illinois program centers around scholarship, effective leadership, and establishing a vast community of alumni. Through these areas, the reputation of the UIUC graduate choral program grew. Illinois’s unique position in creating the first DMA Choral Music, and then developing a legacy of excellence, led to its distinctive standing among graduate choral degrees. This dissertation provides a scholarly record that can serve as more specific research for the future as well to those interested in the history of the UIUC School of Music. As the Illinois graduate choral program was so impactful, this writing attempts to capture the legacy of the area in ways that will be inspiring to others who seek to develop their own choral communities.
Advisor: Andrea Solya
Castro, Fabián Rodríguez. “The Commissioned Choral Works of Mari Ésabel Valverde: Towards the Creation of Affirming Spaces for Trans and Gender Expansive Singers.” DMA diss., The University of Arizona, 2024.
Abstract: Choral conductors who seek to create welcoming and affirming spaces for transgender and gender expansive (TGE) singers have many things to consider. Programming music by TGE composers can be part of creating a welcoming and affirming space, and allows singers to see themselves represented in the music literature. The main focus of this study is to identify and provide information about repertoire by a trans composer, Mari Ésabel Valverde, in support of creating welcoming and affirming choral spaces. Mari Ésabel Valverde (she/her), born September 8, 1987, is a contemporary trans composer whose catalog currently includes over sixty-six choral, chamber, orchestral, and vocal works. Her forty-five choral works feature SATB, SSAA and TTBB voicings, and accompanying forces include piano, violin, and harp. Among these are ten commissioned works for SATB choir that were composed between 2015 and 2023. In order to facilitate inclusion of these ten works on concert programs, I have provided a brief biography of the composer as well as information about the poets and texts of each work; information about the circumstances of the commission; and a musical analysis including information regarding form, text-setting, harmony, rhythm, melody, and texture.
Advisor: Elizabeth Schauer
Ezeakacha, Chukwuebuka Gabriel. “The Triangle of Res: A Trinary Model of Best Practices for the Performance of African Choral Music in the United State.” DMA diss., University of Oklahoma, 2024.
Abstract: The religious and educational components of the European colonial enterprise in Africa resulted in the initial manifestations of Western-influenced African music, which is now part of what is considered world music. The United States occupies a distinctive position within world music because of the continuous infusion of global traditions and genres that have influenced its musical environment. Among the many categories of world music, African music’s pop genre (Afrobeats) is known globally due to the rise of streaming services, social media, technological advancements, and creative partnerships with worldwide celebrities. Following the model of Afrobeat’s popularity, African music’s choral genre may attain mainstream recognition through collaborative access to the works of indigenous African composers for performances by American choral directors. Therefore, within this discourse, African music refers to choral music from sub-Saharan Africa rooted in folk tradition and culturally indigenous: created by composers who understand their native African cultures and traditions. A framework of best practices for promoting and ensuring authentic cultural portrayals of African music on the American stage is the Triangle of Res (ToRes). It addresses several performance considerations, such as publishing notated sheet music of indigenous works, production of audio-visual aids, textpitch negotiations/IPA pronunciation guide, and collaborative interest from American choral conductors. The preparation and performance of two Igbo choral pieces at the University of Oklahoma between 2022 and 2023 will be discussed to evaluate the effectiveness of the ToRes model.
Advisor: David Howard
Grace, Samuel. “Assessing Cultural Value: Ethical Gatekeeping in Choral Music.” DM diss., Indiana University, 2024.
Abstract: This document examines theoretical gatekeeping concepts within choral music to better understand how musical works gain prominence and cultural value. Following an introduction to gatekeeping theory and its evolution in the digital age, the author identifies key choral music gatekeepers, including professional organizations, critics, composers, conductors, and others. The final chapter is a case study featuring three prominent contemporary choral works, which demonstrates that gatekeepers greatly influence the perceived cultural value of a piece of music.
The author ultimately advocates for a more transparent understanding of how gatekeeping impacts cultural value within choral music, recognizing that gatekeepers play an ethical role in curating and promoting musical works.
Advisor: Dominick DiOrio
Helms, Mark. “Resonance of Change: An Exploration of Repertoire Programming Shifts in Choral Conducting Graduate Programs in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic and George Floyd Protests.” DMA diss., University of Maryland, 2024.
Abstract: Few decisions made by a choral conductor are as important as the selection of repertoire. This study seeks to uncover the ways repertoire selection practices may have shifted in choral conducting graduate programs following two major concurrent disruptive events: the COVID-19 pandemic and the George Floyd protests. The study also seeks to fill a gap in the literature by examining repertoire trends in standard concerts on university campuses rather
than in concerts occurring exclusively in festival settings (such as ACDA conferences).
Complete repertoire data for four academic years (2017–2019 and 2021–2023) were collected from sixteen research universities with choral conducting graduate programs. The design of the study was guided by four major questions, which concerned: (1) the overall characteristics of the body of repertoire performed, (2) changes in the characteristics of performed repertoire between the two-year time periods studied, (3) similarities and differences in programming practices among the sixteen participating schools, and (4) whether the trends found in the present study echo those found in previous studies of repertoire trends in festival settings. The data were also analyzed with two hypotheses in mind: (1) that composer and composition diversity and representation would increase (in part in response to the George Floyd protests), and (2) that composition difficulty would generally decrease (due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Findings reveal high variation in the works and composers performed by the sixteen schools in the study, with few specific composers and works seeing broad performance across a majority of the schools. Demographically, performed composers were overwhelmingly White and male, though the percentage of non-White- and non-male-composed works performed at each school increased significantly between 2017–2019 and 2021–2023. It was found that much of this increase could be attributed to non-idiomatic works by Black composers, though this increase did not come at the expense of idiomatic works by the same. The data further suggest that conductors may often select a single piece to fill both race- and genderbased diversity goals. Performed compositions skewed significantly toward newly-composed works, though to what extent varied substantially between schools; the data suggest these variations are largely attributable to the programming
practices of individual faculty members. A high level of variation among the schools was seen for sacred/secular status and accompaniment status. No conclusive result was found concerning the average difficulty of performed works, but Englishlanguage works were found to be inversely related to composition difficulty; the percentage of English-language works increased significantly between 2017–2019 and 2021–2023, suggesting a corresponding decrease in average difficulty.
Advisor: Jason Max Ferdinand
Jiang, Mengda. “A Conductor’s Analysis of Shatar by Se Enkhbavar.” DMA diss., The University of Arizona, 2024.
Abstract: As one of the first Chinese composers to publish choral works in the United States, Se Enkhbayar (b. 1956) stands as a towering figure in Chinese choral music. His works are heavily influenced by folk songs and have a strong ethnic color.
Mongol Shatar (Mongolian Chess) is a threemovement choral tone poem for SATB choir with divisi, tenor and bass soloists, and Guzheng (a plucked instrument) that Se Enkhbayar composed in 2002. In this composition, Se Enkhbayar uses the game of Mongolian chess as an analogy for life. In studying and performing this work, scholars and conductors can benefit from historical, musical and cultural context, including regarding the features and particular techniques of traditional Mongolian music, especially folk music; biographical information about and compositional characteristics of the composer; and information about the game of Mongolian chess. In addition, I have provided a musical analysis of the work, an English translation of the Mongolian text, and performance practice
information about the traditional Khöömei and Kargyraa music featured in the work.
Advisor: Elizabeth Schauer
Loftin, Christopher. “Visual and Vocal Expression in Traditional Choirs: An ExplanatorySequential, Mixed-Methods Design.” Ph.D. diss., Auburn University, 2023.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine choir director perceptions of vocal and visual expression, determine what constitutes visual and vocal expression, and more concretely define what vocal and visual expression are in a 21st century choral world. I chose a twopart, explanatory-sequential mixed-methods design because it provided multiple levels of data, seeking to further operationalize vocal and visual expression. I gathered data using an online survey and semi-structured interviews. Survey participants, N = 30, were current or former school or community choir directors. I selected interview participants, N = 12, based on their professional renown as accomplished choral directors. In both the survey and semistructured interviews, participants watched choral performances and discussed elements of vocal and visual expression displayed in both. Survey data yielded three themes for vocal expression and four themes for visual expression. Emergent themes for vocal expression were lyrically driven, musically driven, and intent, whereas themes for visual expression were authentic communication, visual/ vocal congruence, purposeful physicality, and storytelling. Interview data revealed four themes for vocal and visual expression. Vocal expression themes were elements of vocal expression; unity, development, and contrast; intent; and quality music. Visual expression themes were body language, purposeful communication, context driven, and supporting visual expression.
Implications include greater understanding of specific elements of vocal and visual expression, need for inclusion of vocal and visual expression in state rubrics, and greater understanding about evaluating and coaching expression.
Advisor: Jane Kuehne
Lofton, Nathan. “A Conductor’s Guide to Béla Bartók’s Cantata Profana .” DMA diss., University of Maryland, 2024.
Abstract: Béla Bartók composed Cantata Profana in 1930, at the height of his interwar European career. Bartók’s only major choral-orchestral work, the cantata is a synthesis of Bartók’s immersion in Eastern European folk music and his mature compositional aesthetic. Cantata Profana is a work of modest scale, approximately twenty minutes in duration, though it is also one that makes considerable musical demands of a double chorus, tenor and baritone soloists, and a full orchestra. Above all, it is a work that is considered by many prominent Bartók scholars to be among the composer’s finest creations. Despite all of this, Cantata Profana is so infrequently performed that most musicians know it only by reputation or through one of the handful of existing recordings, if they know it at all. This dissertation gathers the resources a choral conductor needs when preparing to perform Cantata Profana . These resources include a brief history of the cantata’s genesis and analyses of the work’s structure and musical elements.
The dissertation examines the required performing forces, choral divisi, Hungarian diction, rehearsal strategies, and programming considerations, and provides possible solutions to these as some of the challenges inherent in the work. The last section of the dissertation considers the interpretation and meaning of the cantata. Appendices are devoted
to a literal English translation and International Phonetic Alphabet transliteration of Cantata Profana’s Hungarian text; a selected performance history of the work; and an annotated discography of the available recordings. The ultimate goal of this dissertation is to make Cantata Profana a more approachable work, and to encourage more conductors, choruses, and orchestras to undertake its performance.
Advisor: Jason Max Ferdinand
Reeder, Jack. “‘The Place Where the Shadow Stops.’: Tracing Sonic Transformations of Text in Selected Choral Works of Kaija Saariaho.” DMA diss., Northwestern University, 2024.
Abstract: This paper examines the choral works of Kaija Saariaho through the lens of transmedialization, the transfer of texts from one medium to another. It explores chorality, the maxim of Saariaho’s final vocal works, as a unifying technique facilitating this transmedialization. The document first provides brief biographical and historical context of the composer, describing aspects of Saariaho’s general style common to choral and non-choral works, and, in a brief overview of her entire choral œuvre, identifying specific techniques that feature in her choral works. Subsequent chapters use Saariaho’s process of interpolation in her large-scale works as a starting point for describing textual, musical, and intermedial transformations. “Tag des Jahrs,” “Echo!,” “Nuits, adieux,” and “Reconnaissance” are analyzed to draw connections with these transformations. The final chapter describes a meta-transformation in Saariaho’s style through her lifetime, both in technique and intent, reflecting the composer’s practice of engaging dualities while seeking unification.
Advisor: Donald Nally
Schroetter, Andrew. “Teaching Fundamental Choral Ensemble Techniques Through Secular Renaissance Polyphony.” DA diss., Ball State University, 2024.
Abstract: Current research suggests a significant decline in the performance of Renaissance polyphony by choral ensembles over the past six decades. In an effort to encourage renewed performance of Renaissance literature, this project created accessible performance editions of eleven pieces of secular, polyphonic choral music from the Renaissance era, targeted towards high school and college choral ensembles. The project suggested fundamental choral techniques and pedagogy teachable through this era of music and transferable to other repertoire. These techniques include melodic phrasing, modal construction, rhythmic independence, cadences, and balance and dynamics. The performance editions addressed the common barriers of unbarred music, mensuration and time signatures, extreme ranges and revoicing, pitch level, tempo and proportions, dynamic suggestions, and restrictions against sacred texts. They are limited to three and four voice parts. The editions consist of villancicos, canzonettas, and madrigals composed by Juan Vasquez, Hans Leo Hassler, and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. These newly created editions (available in the appendixes) add available repertoire to the traditional choral canon.
Advisor: Andrew Crow
Shepard, Matthew Christopher. “Achieving a Historically Informed Performance of Renaissance Polyphony: A Qualitative Study of the Use of Modernized Partbooks.” DMA diss., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2024.
Abstract: This qualitative research study aims to answer the following question: do modernized partbooks positively impact the conductor’s ability
to teach the skills needed to achieve a historically informed performance of Renaissance polyphony? Additionally, this project queries participants’ rehearsal techniques, interpreting which are most valuable for successfully integrating partbook singing into a choir.
The responses highlight four main benefits: improved listening skills, enhanced singer independence, deeper historical perspective, and more stylistically appropriate phrasing. Importantly, analyzing each participant’s perceived benefits alongside their responses to other questions reveals distinct patterns. Some benefits are commonly shared among participants, while others are influenced by individual conductor goals and rehearsal methods. Furthermore, the data provides insights into identifying participants who are less likely to derive any benefits from using modernized partbooks.
The participants who expressed that their ensembles benefitted from this exercise were, most consistently, those who articulated specific goals going into the exercise. The data shows that success was less dependent on the participant’s years of experience, but rather linked to their initial artistic goals being grounded in, or otherwise productively relating to, Renaissance performance practice principles and the methodology used in the rehearsal process.
Advisor: Megan Eagen Jones
Seo, Hyoungil. “Dominick Argento’s I Hate and I Love: A Comprehensive Analysis for Conductors.” DMA diss., The University of Arizona, 2024.
Abstract: Dominick Argento was an American contemporary composer who achieved great fame as a composer of vocal music, especially
lyric opera. The theatrical devices in his works make his compositions distinctive, and Argento’s use of symbolic motivic cells is one of the main characteristics that drives the narrative structure in his works. Dominick Argento’s I Hate and I Love is an intricate choral work in which Argento masterfully blends twelve-tone techniques with traditional harmonic language to convey the complex emotional interplay between love and hate as expressed in the poetry of Gaius Valerius Catullus. In this document, I explore Argento’s compositional methods, focusing on his use of symbolic motivic cells, harmonic structures, and dramatic elements that align with the text. By analyzing these techniques, I reveal how Argento’s music serves not only as a reflection of Catullus’s emotional turmoil but also as an omniscient commentary that adds layers of meaning beyond the explicit text. This research contributes to the broader academic discourse on Argento’s choral works, providing deeper insights into his innovative approach to choral composition and his unique integration of serialism with sonorism.
Advisor: Jeff Vanderlee
Song, Pingyi. “A New Approach to Mandarin Chinese Lyric Diction in Choral Music.”
DMA diss., University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2023.
Abstract: Chinese choral repertoire is less performed in non-native Chinese-speaking countries, specifically in the United States. This repertoire is abundant. One reason for the underrepresentation of this repertoire in choral concerts is that Chinese composers are typically self-published and their information is usually in Chinese. Therefore, their reputations and achievements are mainly celebrated in China. However, the accurate and consistent pronunciation of the lyrics by non-native speakers
remains the most significant barrier. The purpose of this study is to provide a new approach to Mandarin Chinese lyric diction in choral music by combining the Pin Yin linguistic system and the standard Western European International Phonetic Alphabet system most commonly used for diction studies of languages such as Italian, German, French, and English.
In this document, Chapter I is a brief overview outlining the reasons for the absence of Chinese choral music in performances by non-native Chinese-speaking countries, especially in the United States. Chapter II introduces the general view of the Chinese language, including a brief history of the written characters, spoken language, and three linguistic systems for the characters, and finally, focuses on the most recent and commonly used Pin Yin linguistic system. An in-depth description of the sounds of Mandarin Chinese alphabetic letters and their IPA equivalents is the content of Chapters III, IV, and V: Consonants in Chapter III; Vowels, Diphthongs, and Nasal Finals in Chapter IV; and Glides in Chapter V. The focus of Chapter VI is a demonstration of the application, artistic, and stylistic decisions made in three choral pieces utilizing the Mandarin Chinese language. Lastly, Chapter VII summarizes the information in the preceding chapters, which is the document’s Conclusion
Soneto , the latest release from the Bob Cole Chamber Choir of California State University—Long Beach under the direction of Dr. Jonathan Talberg, presents a thoughtfully curated selection of contemporary choral repertoire that demonstrates how love persists even in the presence of grief. Anchored by Jake Runestad’s multi-movement work The Hope of Loving ; the album pulls together many distinct compositions into one cohesive narrative throughout.
Beginning is the title track of the album, Morten Lauridsen’s setting of Soneto de la Noche from Three Nocturnes. Here, the choir demonstrates an exceptional ability to pace the dynamic and emotional arc of this work. They also maintain impressive vocal control whilst utilizing a slower tempo than is present in other interpretations. Listen closely for the stunning refrains of “Cuando yo muero,” that perfectly capture the idea of enduring love through loss.1
1 Morten Lauridsen, “Soneto de la Noche” in Three Nocturnes (Peer Music, 2005)
To contrast, with a bit of lush and chromatic harmony in the opening lines, Greg Murai’s arrangement of Pure Imagination provides a quick departure into the genre of vocal jazz. However, a recurring theme from the previous work is the flowing sense of rubato that allows the text to shine through in each line. The golden ticket for this Willy Wonka classic, though, is intonation. This, combined with a lyrical soprano solo from Kathleen Van Ruiten, make the selection “the best kind of prize.”2
Using the final A-flat in the soprano as a pivot, the choir seamlessly transitions into Lithuanian composer Vytautas Miškinis’ Lucis Creator Optime. This prayer for protection features dense textures, and is noticeably marked by dissonances, even at cadential points. These unresolved dissonances certainly pose a challenge, which the choir combats with an energetic tone throughout each phrase ending. For conductors unfamiliar with Miškinis’ extensive catalog, which spans the full spectrum of accessibility and voicing, Nicholaus Cummins’ Choral Journal article provides an excellent introduction to his work.3
2 Burton, Tim, director. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Warner Brothers Pictures, 2005. 1 hr., 15 min.
3 Cummins, Nicholaus. “The Reinvention of Folk Music: An Introduction to the Choral Music of Vytautas Miškinis,” in Choral Journal vol. 55, no. 5.
Serving as a contrast to the previous works of the album, a moment of levity arrives with Gail Kubik’s arrangement of Oh Dear! What Can the Matter Be? Despite its length of just over one minute, this gem features a variety textures, dynamics, and articulation—a testament to the choir’s attention to detail. This whimsical work also serves as a foreshadowing for the album, representing an initial moment of conflict in what is to come.
The album’s centerpiece is Jake Runestad’s The Hope of Loving , which unfolds across six interconnected movements for chorus, soloists, and strings. Drawing texts from Daniel Ladinsky’s Love Poems from God —a collection featuring twelve spiritual mystics’ writings on spirituality and love—Runestad creates a musical journey that captures humanity’s diverse expressions of and responses to love in all its forms.
The work opens with Yield to Love , where a distinctive motivic sequence built on perfect fourths emerges as the musical embodiment of love itself.4 This intervallic motive becomes the connective tissue binding the entire work, appearing in various iterations throughout each movement. The Bob Cole Chamber Choir navigates these motivic iterations with remarkable clarity in dynamics, ensuring the listener can trace each occurrence even as it appears in varying textures and harmonies.
a more adventurous character, featuring tenor soloist David Morales whose voice dances through quick trills in the strings. He also does a wonderful job in setting up the twist ending represented in the final phrase of text with his contrasting timbre choices.5
A pivotal transformation occurs in the fourth and fifth movements. The Heart’s Veil, scored for string quartet alone, suggests a journey towards vulnerability. This instrumental bridge leads to My Soul is a Candle , where the soloists expand upon the texture towards a triumphant choral return. The ensemble’s control of dynamics and phrasing in these moments demonstrates the depth of their understanding of the work’s emotional trajectory. The concluding movement, sharing the work’s title The Hope of Loving, brings the musical and philosophical work full circle. The descending perfect fourth motive returns as the choir proclaims “My soul has a purpose; it is to love”—a statement of both personal revelation for the choir and universal truth.6
A separate work, but perhaps entirely connected, Runestad’s And So I Go On crystallizes the album’s central theme: love’s continuation beyond loss. Commissioned by Dr. Talberg himself, this deeply personal tribute speaks with remarkable transparency to anyone experiencing grief. Even through audio alone, the choir’s performance conveys a great deal of emotional authenticity—a gift for any listener navigating grief themselves.
Wild Forces erupts with rhythmic vitality, demanding precise articulation and dynamic contrasts that the ensemble delivers with electrifying energy. The movement’s driving rhythms and angular melodic lines suggest love’s more passionate dimensions. Following this intensity, Wondrous Creatures then introduces
4 Jake Runestad, “The Hope of Loving.” (Jake Runestad, 2015)
Following the Runestad set is Larry L. Fleming’s Give Me Jesus , which reveals the exceptional depth of talent at the Bob Cole Conservatory. Through varied duet textures, each section showcases distinct vocal colors, building toward
5 Daniel Ladinsky, “The Hope of Loving” in Love Poems From God (Penguin, 2002)
6 Jake Runestad, “The Hope of Loving.” (Jake Runestad, 2015)
one of choral music’s most glorious climaxes. The ensemble navigates a dense harmonic structure and expansive ranges with ease to create this truly immersive listening experience.
The choir follows this spiritual with a contrasted selection in William Dawson’s up-tempo and lively setting of Ain’-a That Good News! In this arrangement, Dawson fragments the melodic line and fills in each fragment with a range of articulation and dynamic markings. 7 These markings are executed to the finest detail. The conclusion of the piece features a final unfragmented iteration of the melody which serves as a brilliant climax to this cheerful proclamation.
The album concludes with Jake Runestad’s Let My Love Be Heard, a selection bearing profound personal significance for the ensemble. Following the November 13, 2015, terrorist attacks in Paris that claimed 130 lives, including a California State University—Long Beach student, the choir performed at a campus vigil. They recorded this piece the following day as an offering to their grieving community. Once again demonstrating remarkable vulnerability and transparency, the performance reminds listeners of Runestad’s message: that our souls possess an inherent purpose to love.8
Throughout Soneto , the Bob Cole Chamber Choir conducted by Jonathan Talberg navigates each work’s distinct stylistic demands with exceptional technical facility. Yet, their achievement transcends mere precision—this recording exemplifies what becomes possible when a choral ensemble embraces genuine vulnerability. For anyone seeking solace through
7 William Dawson, “Ain’-a That Good News!” (Neil A. Kjos Music Company, 1937)
8 Jake Runestad, “The Hope of Loving.” (Jake Runestad, 2015)
grief, this album offers exceptional healing through its heartfelt musical offerings. It is both a privilege and a pleasure to recommend this profoundly moving recording to the choral community.
— Steven Olson
Steven Olson is a doctoral student in Choral Conducting and Music Education at Florida State University.
Crimson Roses: Contemporary American Choral Music
Musica Viva NY Choir and Orchestra Alejandro HernandezValdez, conductor Naxos 8.559944 (2024, 61:00)
Crimson Roses illustrates how embracing a legacy can help achieve balance between identity and enlightenment. This album was created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of conductor and artistic director Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez of Musica Viva NY. This thoughtfully curated album features three world premieres from composers Joseph Turrin, Richard Einhorn, and Gilda Lyons. As a whole, the album provides an almost theatrical experience. The use of different vocal techniques creates an immersive sound sphere. With close attention to the commissioned composers’ notes, Musica Viva NY was able to create an array of harmonic textures that translate into emotion.
The title piece, And Crimson Roses Once Again Be Fair, is a cantata honoring the end of World War I. Composer Joseph Turrin uses a collection of texts ranging from poems to letters to loved ones. Turrin’s dedication to detail provides an intimate overview of the war, which did not discriminate between social classes or countries. One of the first pivotal moments of the work is Pt. 1, No. 7, Soliloquy—The Last Meeting. The ethereal movement begins with a harmonic texture that blends with both the orchestra and chorus. The constant pull of tension from the harmonic structure releases into the first solo, sung by Erin Sensenig, soprano. Sensenig’s artistry creates the feeling of longing from loss. Quickly following is Pt. 1 No. 8, Anthem for Doomed Youth, a spoken text, arranged in a musical way to create an angry mob of people. This fierce performance is amplified in the final solo movement, Pt. 2, No. 14, Perhaps is sung by Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano. She interprets the poem with integrity to the text, using a technique of speechlike quality. Every word is sung with compelling emotion and is amplified by her rich tone. Musica Viva NY chorus and orchestra were phenomenal collaborators in this album. The entire work features a dance between the two ensembles, highlighting the clever text setting of Turrin’s composition. Between each movement, there is an added nuance, such as operatic, speech, or resonant expression.
Richard Einhorn’s The Luminous Ground is a wordless movement that embodies the journey of enlightenment. Influenced by the Buddhist philosopher, Nāgārjuna, the piece represents serenity that must be summoned. With the gentle guide of the keyboard, the voices and strings become intertwined in both timbre and color. The orchestra and chorus create a soundscape that could be visualized as light peaking through the darkness. Between drones and cluster chords, there is a constant struggle for more light to shine through. The sudden shift in the orchestra
midway through the work guides us away from the previous dense harmonic texture. The end of the piece results in a subtle resolution that represents the end of the enlightenment journey. Both orchestra and chorus maintain flexibility with resonance and gradual dynamic markings. There is a constant connection between all moving and sustained melodies, which also pulls on heartstrings.
Finishing the album is the collection of a cappella pieces from Glinda Lyons’s Momotombo. Paying homage to her maternal roots, Momotombo is a bilingual work that celebrates the glorious volcanic formations in Nicaragua, but from different accounts. Lyon starts the set text from Rubén Darío’s poem Momotombo. The first movement, El tren iba rodando sobre sus rieles, begins from the point of view of an incoming train mimicked by the choir through different chorus sections. Lyon creates a joyful admiration for the natural phenomenon. The haunting second movement, The baptism of volcanoes, comes from E. G. Squier’s accounts of old friars who ascended the volcano and were never seen again. The chorus uses multiple drones within the tenor and bass sections to create suspension. Meanwhile, treble voices sing through the text as they push against the clashing harmony in the texture below them. The piece stops with train tracks stopping and a chilling whispered warning. Movement three, ¡Momotombo!—exclamé, continues intensive drive. Employing text from Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés’ historical accounts and Rubén Darío’s poem, the Musica Viva NY shows the danger of the volcano through dynamic rhythm passages and vocal slides. They created the illusion of fear and running from imminent dangers. Evocación, movement four, is a lyrical text setting of Bartolomé de las Casas’s early text and Ruben Dario’s poem. Through a nice blending and melodies shared between voice parts, the poems bring forth a sense of pride. Without a break, movement five, Yo tenía quince años , returns a
peaceful end emulated by the chorus finishing the text with full resonance and train sounds.
A big recognition is due for sound engineer Steve Epstein. The shared idea of light and hope is represented with several identities. Each piece needs meticulous attention to detail to switch genres and nuances. Crimson Roses: Contemporary American Choral Music is the perfect example of how extensive American choral music is today.
This album demands various amounts of ensemble skill and style from every individual involved. With the direction of Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, Musica Viva NY successfully navigates through genres, languages, and nuance.
