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CHORAL PERFORMANCE EXPRESSION: MEANINGS AND MODALITIES 

shu

Updated: Jan 22


Shulamit conducting  Mozart Requiem, Dresden, 2011.
Shulamit conducting Mozart Requiem, Dresden, 2011.


Shulamit Hoffmann © 2016


 Given that expression is often considered the most important aspect of 

performance but goes largely unexamined by practitioners, this study seeks to understand 

what constitutes choral expression in live performance. A qualitative, phenomenological 

research strategy was adopted to investigate the lived experience of choral conductors 

and amateur choristers. Data were collected from individual interviews of nine 

conductors, nine focus groups of 57 choristers, and observations of rehearsals and 

performances of eight choirs.  


 The study finds that choral performance is meaningful to performers for reasons 

that are not only musical. Thus, expression is not conceptualized as only musical. 

Expression, externally perceptible and internally meaningful, is regarded as being for 

audience and for performer, artifact-derived and performer-created. There are perceived 

relationships between self-expression and artistic expression and between self-expression 

and group expression. Rehearsal and performance processes and intra-ensemble 

synergies—musical and social—influence an ensemble’s expressivity. Expression both 

heightens and is heightened by the communal aspect of choral singing that amateur 

choristers find meaningful. Even as amateurs sing in choirs for their own fulfillment, they 

consider it their obligation to move their audience. Performers experience expression as 

communication, a “contagion,” and a circular transfer of energy between performer and 

audience. 


 Most choral performers seek expressive content in musical and textual modalities 

inherent in a musical work, but reifying a work does not necessarily engender 

performance expression. To that end, some choirs also utilize visual presentation. 

Choristers who consider acting as authentic portrayal of feeling use acting methods to 

embody persona, the character of the music. “Bodification” is seen to enhance 

performance expression. This aligns with research that finds an integration of acoustic 

and optic percepts in the communication of emotions. Although the hierarchical large-

ensemble authority model and didactic learning prevail in amateur choirs, chorister self-

learning, such as from video feedback, is more effective for cultivating presentation than 

conductor instruction. 


 The study concludes that live choral performance expression is not solely auditory. 

Visual presentation, as an expressive performance modality, complements musical and 

textual expression. Performance goals of choirs that focus on music, text, and 

presentation engender chorister self-learning, performer satisfaction, and expressive 

performances.

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