Date of Award
2011
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
M.M. in Music
First Advisor
Debra L. Spurgeon
Second Advisor
Andrew Paney
Third Advisor
Alan L. Spurgeon
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
While conductors and audience members are not committed to a single formation, choristers have a clear preference: sectional or mixed. Why is this? Participants in this study included forty-six members of an auditioned women's choir from a large southern university who completed a survey after singing in sectional and mixed formation. These SSAA results maintain previous research findings by James Daugherty, Debra Atkinson, and Christopher Aspaas, et al. from female choristers in SATB settings: most women prefer mixed formation. All 46 of the participants (100%) perceived that formation generally affects the choral sound, so they think formation is important. Women's voices also present unique concerns regarding voice distribution, pitch level, and perception. Perhaps if choir members think they are producing a better sound in a certain formation, they set themselves up to actually produce a better sound in performance.
Recommended Citation
Montgomery, Janna, "Chorister Formation Preferences in a Women's Choir" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 200.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/200
Concentration/Emphasis
Music Education