Article of Interest
Community-Based Children's Choirs: Selected Literature and Material Culture in Printed Programs
Published in No. 179, Winter 2009
Abstract
The purposes of this study were to examine a body of repertoire that was selected and programmed by community-based children's choirs (N = 73) in North America over the course of one year, and to investigate the material culture of the choirs' printed concert programs. Primary results indicated (a) 3,906 literature titles were sung and publicly performed by these choirs over the course of a single year (M = 52.6, range = 8 to 158 pieces of literature per choir); (b) significant differences among repertoire selection according to historical period, language sung, and genre most frequently used; and (c) according to analyses of the material culture of printed programs, chorister names were not listed in 76.7% of printed programs, there were frequent errors of spelling and punctuation in such items as repertoire titles and composer names, frequent confusion between composers and arrangers in printed programs, and apparent disparity between the quality and content of printed programs. Further disaggregation of data indicated significant differences among repertoire performed according to choir tuition costs and number of printed program pages. Results were discussed in terms of implications for further research.
