Courses
CR109 Chapel Choir (1 credit, 4 hours per week)
The Chapel Choir is an ensemble comprised of undergraduate students in their initial year of study at Westminster. The ensemble provides the fundamentals of artistic choral ensemble singing. As part of that education, performance experiences may include concerts and tours. Repertoire includes motets, anthems and hymn anthems, minor works, folk songs, and spirituals.
CR 209 Schola Cantorum (1 credit, 4 hours per week)
The Schola Cantorum furnishes the core choral experience for students in their second year of undergraduate study. Ensemble participation emphasizes quality educational and artistic experiences through the study of choral repertoire selected from diverse stylistic and cultural backgrounds, including small masterworks from the Western tradition. Building on the pedagogical foundation established in Chapel Choir, students in Schola Cantorum expand the music, vocal, and choral skills that enable them to function as independent, flexible, and responsive choral musicians in their subsequent student and professional lives.
CR211 Westminster Choir (1 credit, 4.5 hours per week)
The Westminster Choir of approximately 40 voices performs a wide variety of choral repertoire and aspires to the highest professional standards. Considered one of the finest choirs in the world, it regularly tours throughout the United States and has served as the chorus in residence for the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, since the festival’s founding in 1977. Members are selected through auditions from all Westminster students above the freshman level. The requirements for selection include good academic standing, strong musicianship, and superior vocal talent.
CR215 Fundamentals of Conducting (3)
Fundamentals of conducting, including posture, stance, conducting patterns, beat styles, attacks, and releases as they apply to a variety of musical phrases and shorter pieces of music. Focus on the student’s ability to mold and evaluate choral sound and on the steps a conductor goes through to prepare a score. Prerequisite: TH141.
CR218 Williamson Voices (1 credit, 4.5 hours per week)
The Williamson Voices of Westminster Choir College is a select ensemble of approximately 32 singers with a unique mission that combines performance and outreach education. Repertoire is chosen from a broad spectrum of literature, including world music and contemporary choral works.
CR246 Westminster Kantorei (1 credit, 4.5 hours per week)
An auditioned vocal ensemble specializing in music before 1750, with occasional forays into more contemporary repertoire. Although the ensemble will generally consist of around 16 singers, the exact make-up of the ensemble will vary from semester to semester, depending on the works to be studied and performed. The repertoire will include both works for vocal ensemble and works featuring significant solo work. The entire ensemble will rehearse three hours per week; singers assigned solo roles will meet an additional one and a half hours. Keyboardists may audition for the ensemble.
CR309 Symphonic Choir (1 credit, 4 hours per week)
The Symphonic Choir is at the heart of the college choral community. For over 60 years it has appeared several times each year under conductors from all over the world with symphony orchestras of the United States and Europe. Students above the sophmore level sing in the Symphonic Choir, preparing major choral/orchestral repertoire for performance each semester at major venues.
CR315 Techniques of Conducting (3)
Continued development of technique with emphasis on more complex styles, including mixed meters and asymmetrical patterns, and on communication through appropriate gestures and immediate physical imagery. Rehearsal procedures, score preparation, and group vocal techniques are incorporated into the course. Prerequisite: CR215.
CR405 Advanced Conducting (3)
A continuation of the conducting studies begun in CR215 and 315, this course explores the relationship of gesture to sound across a broad range of musical styles. Specific topics addressed may include score preparation, advanced rehearsal techniques, mixed meter, development of the inner ear, working with instruments, and baton echnique. Prerequisite: CR315.
CR524 Vocal Techniques for Choirs (3)
Study of vocal techniques appropriate for use in choral rehearsals and for teaching class voice. Techniques for effecting change in group vocal production are discussed, including such topics as the identification of group vocal problems and mental and physical preparation of a group for good vocal production. Techniques to be developed include (1) how to communicate information about vocal technique to amateur singers, (2) exercises used to develop choral sound by improving diction, dynamics, legato, staccato, martellato, high and low registers, resonance, vowel modification, etc., (3) how to train singers to use a vocal production specifically appropriate to the repertoire of various style periods and the demands of individual composers, and (4) conducting methods for good choral and vocal training. Recommended both for conducting majors and for students in other major programs, including those for whom the voice is not the primary performance medium.
CR581 Baroque Performance Practice (2)
A practical and theoretical study of issues of Baroque performance practice, including tempo, phrasing and articulation, ornamentation, rhythmic alternation, qualities of sound, continuo practice, influence of dance, affect, and national idioms. Primary source materials will serve as the basic core of readings for the course, supplemented and supported by recordings and contemporary resources. In the later half of the semester, students will perform in a series of master classes. Prerequisites for undergraduates: MH248, TH241.
CR607 Conducting Performance (2)
The performance requirement for graduate conducting majors. Corequisite: CR610.
CR609 Symphonic Choir (1 credit, 4 hours per week)
Same as CR309; for graduate students.
CR610 Master Singers (1 credit, 5 hours per week)
A laboratory choral ensemble serving as the choir for recitals conducted by its own graduate student members. Repertoire consists of shorter choral works drawn from all style periods, works appropriate for use in churches and in schools at the secondary and post-secondary levels. Two semesters are required for all graduate Choral Conducting majors, Sacred Music majors, and those Music Education majors who have selected conducting as the performance field.
CR611 Westminster Choir (1 credit, 4.5 hours per week)
Same as CR211; for graduate students.
CR618 Williamson Voices (1 credit, 4.5 hours per week)
Same as CR218; for graduate students.
CR621 Choral Conducting I (3)
An intensive study of conducting to develop technique, facial expression, breathing, and an understanding of how a choir responds vocally to specific gestures. Emphasis is placed on the approach to various style periods and their characteristic sound qualities and on the ability to listen to and evaluate choral sound while conducting.
CR622 Choral Conducting II (3)
A continuation of the developing of conducting skills using primarily 18th, 19th, and 20th century repertoire. Special emphasis is placed upon the relationship between gesture and sound, musical understanding, and techniques of teaching music in a choral rehearsal. Prerequisite: CR621.
CR623 Choral Conducting III (3)
Continued work in the technique of conducting with emphasis upon conceptualizing music. Concentration on choral literature of the Renaissance and Baroque repertoire. Required for conducting majors and open to others by permission of the instructor. Prerequisite: CR622.
CR624 Conducting Skills (3 credits, 3 hours per week)
A practical course for the choral conductor designed to develop aural and rehearsal skills. An emphasis is placed on learning to hear the score, and strengthening the aural and gestural skills necessary for a conductor. Classes will be highly interactive, and will include score study, intonation work, aural skills drills, and gestural work.
CR627 Choral Literature I (3)
Abroad survey of choral repertoire from Gregorian chant to present-day compositions. Emphasis is placed upon knowing the availability and sources of music of major composers and of music appropriate for performance in today’s churches and schools.
CR628 Choral Literature II (3)
A study of selected major choral works, involving analytical and stylistic study. Oral reports by class members on assigned topics.
CR636 Graduate Conducting Review (0 credits, 3 hours per week)
A course required for graduate students who need additional conducting experience to prepare them for CR621. Course participants must demonstrate mastery of basic conducting techniques. Objectives include acquiring methods of score study and preparation, fostering the relationship between gesture and sound, understanding techniques related to differing musical style periods, developing a linear concept of music, and the sensing of an inner pulse in order to encourage effective vocal production. CR646 Westminster Kantorei (1 credit, 4.5 hours per week) Same as CR246; for graduate students.
