Date
8-29-2025
Department
School of Music
Degree
Doctor of Music Education (DME)
Chair
Eunice Nogueras
Keywords
Quality, repertoire, singing, value, merit, chorus, choral longevity
Disciplines
Music
Recommended Citation
VanderWoude, Jonathan R., "Identifying Quality High School Choral Repertoire How Standards of Composition Affect Long-Term Choral Participation" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7397.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7397
Abstract
A wealth of literature addresses the importance of choral repertoire selection. Yet, few studies examine how choral repertoire and elements of composition correlate with long-term ensemble participation. Exploring principles of quality from a participant perspective may provide choral directors with a paradigm for choosing excellent repertoire. With performance standards comprising the core of many high school music programs, repertoire considerations are often central to the choral curriculum. This qualitative study investigated participant perspectives on choral repertoire standards. The subsequent findings identified trends influencing repertoire selection and correlated perspectives on repertoire quality with long-term participation in choral performance. Participants were selected to represent choral singers with differing backgrounds, education, and years of experience. Examining how repertoire quality affects future participation may give directors a metric for assessing compositional standards. Consequently, understanding compositional standards can help directors make informed choices when researching the vast options in choral literature. Furthermore, this study and its findings may encourage additional research into the substantive properties of choral music and contribute to establishing repertoire standards for high school choirs.
