Choral Sight Reading: A Kodály Perspective for Middle School to College Level Choirs, Volume 2

Choral Sight Reading provides a practical and organic approach to teaching choral singing and sight-reading. The text is grounded in current research from the fields of choral pedagogy, music theory, music perception and cognition. Topics include framing a choral curriculum based on the Kodály concept; launching the academic year for beginning, intermediate, and advanced choirs; building partwork skills; sight-reading; progressive music theory sequences for middle to college level choirs; teaching strategies; choral rehearsal plans as well as samples of how to teach specific repertoire from medieval to contemporary choral composers.

This volume includes basic and advanced music theory concepts to develop fluent sight-reading skills for reading standard choral repertoire, providing examples for the process outlined in Chapters 6-8 of Volume 1 (Choral Artistry). This guide provides choral directors with a choral curriculum and choral rehearsal models that place performance, audiation, partwork, music theory, and sight-signing skills at the heart of the choral experience, through a ’sound thinking’ approach to teaching that results in greater efficiency in creating independent choral singers with a well-rounded repertoire.

Micheál Houlahan is Professor of Music Theory and Aural Skills and Chair of the Tell School of Music at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. He is also a visiting professor of music at the China Conservatory of Music, Beiijing.

Philip Tacka is Professor of Music at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. He is also currently a grant evaluator on the American Fellowship Panel for the American Association of University Women.