The Show Choir Handbook

With the popularity of television shows such as Glee, American Idol, and The Voice, show choirs have become a vibrant component of college and high school music programs. Music teachers must not only know how to teach choral singing for popular music, but also be versed in show design and production. In The Show Choir Handbook, Alan L. Alder and Thalia M. Mulvihill address both song technique and show presentation, giving show choir directors the full set of tools they need for successful performances. The Show Choir Handbook is a resource for current and future music educators who administer show choirs. With most literature on the topic either out of date or focused on the teaching techniques limited to vocal jazz (drawing on the choral genre’s origins as “swing choirs”), instructors are in dire need of a resource that addresses music produced by publishers and choral arrangers.

Now you can be a more effective choral director by learning new techniques for Pop, Jazz, and Show Choirs. This new book contains hundreds of ideas, concepts, techniques, musical examples, recorded tracks, references, and bibliographic entries. There is no other Pop, Jazz, and Show Choir techniques book as comprehensive as the new "Popular Choral Handbook" by Dr. Scott Fredrickson.

Take the fear out & step up to the plate w/ confidence! Whether just starting or continuing an already established choir, this handbook/guide provide a beneficial checklist. Included are a dept. mission statement, forms, letters to parents, warm-ups, rehearsal techniques & a simple fund-raising idea to bring necessary funds to your program. After directing his own choirs for 20 years, Jeff found that his routine was fairly well established. Armed with a truckload of past letters & forms, as well as tested strategies, Jeff decided to compile the ideas for the creation of this book. The footwork has been done. The strategies have been tested. Do yourself a favor and avoid the pitfalls of reinventing the wheel. Use this guide to your advantage. You won't be sorry. Scott Jeffries JavaMusiK Publicist

Long before Glee, there was Show Choir! - The Musical, a melodious mockumentary about America's favorite teen pastime? with jazz hands!Follow the journey of high school drama teacher Jake Jonathan and choir director Monica Susans as they form a show choir that unexpectedly become world-renowned pop superstars, the Symphonic Sensations. Will the choir buckle under the incredible pressures of modern celebrity of will they maintain perfect harmony?An international hit with audiences and critics alike, this hysterical and heartfelt original musical comedy is an effervescent, high-kicking delight!

"This book comes from a very fine music educator with exceptional experience, who has common sense and a real understanding of what a beginning teacher should know. The book puts into print issues that are widely discussed at conventions and at conferences, and that are common knowledge for the experienced teacher, but that are not covered in a music education class. It is a plain and simple book, written in a language that is easy for anyone going into the profession to understand. It makes valuable suggestions in just about every aspect of the role of a choral music teacher." -- Michael Schwartzkopf, Professor of Music Education, Indiana University School of Music

This book is written from a composer's point of view and is intended to be a reference book for the analysis of arranging techniques. Its aim is to help composers and arrangers improve their compositional skills as well as their understanding of various musical styles. Through a study and analysis of the scores and styles of the master composers, the author gives a broad view of the music of both the past and of the present. This allows the musician to navigate within the contemporary music scene with an essential awareness of and appreciation for all genres of music. the skills and concepts taught in this book will help the aspiring arranger harmonize melodies and write counter-melodies quickly and efficiently utilizing various combinations of instruments and voices, whether for pops orchestra, television, or recordings, according to the demands of modern commercial music.