The Choral Conductor's Art

Brad Richmond is an assistant professor of music at Laurentian
University.

During the past few decades, interest in choral music has grown
remarkably in academic circles. Graduate programs have sprung up all
over North America, as have dozens of books on the subject. A few offer
philosophical insights into choral music-making; most, however, deal
primarily with the mechanics of conducting and come heavily endowed with
pictures and diagrams of how a choral conductor ought to look.

The Choral Conductor’s Art is, thankfully, free of such stuff. Terry,
whose long career has seen him as educator, adjudicator, and conductor,
examines the elements he feels necessary for inspired choral
performance. He offers the reader not a conducting lesson but rather a
discourse on what it takes, Terry-style, to make a choir tick.

Of the book’s three parts, the first is chiefly concerned with
achieving beautiful and convincing choral performances. Several types of
choirs are discussed (church, elementary, professional, etc.), each in
the context of suitable literature. The remainder of the book is devoted
to rehearsal considerations, such as blend and balance, rhythm and
tempo.

Chapter 13 provides an excellent, comprehensive discussion of the
intonation problems facing most choirs. The author is also incisive on
the subject of tone quality, although many conductors will find his
preference for vibrato-less production limited. Less successful are the
sections on the subjective qualities of choral singing. Where perhaps a
simple metaphor might do, Terry defines beauty as “the aesthetic
contemplation of exquisite loveliness” and “the essence of
passionate feeling, as infinite as the living spirit.” Elsewhere, when
addressing specific musical passages the author speaks in the
imperative, as if his is the only legitimate interpretation: “Sing
this phrase with enthusiasm and intensity at an mf level”—this
despite the fact that the composer suggests mp.

The book comes with a fairly extensive bibliography, which
unfortunately stalls at 1975, leaving absent such fine books as Robert
Shaw’s Dear People and Howard Swan’s Conscience of a Profession.

The Choral Conductor’s Art is a good addition to the literature and
will provide insightful reading for the beginning conductor or chorister
seeking a better understanding of his or her art.