ISSUED: 3 September 2019
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Research by Dr. Rachel Carlson, Shepherd University assistant professor of music, titled “Sight-Reading Insights from Professional Choral Singers: How They Learned and Implications for the Choral Classroom,” is featured in the August 2019 issue of the Choral Journal.
Carlson’s study investigated top professional choral singers’ perceptions on how they learned to sight-read, how they use sight-reading in their work, how they teach sight-reading to their students, and how they think sight-reading should best be taught in the choral ensemble rehearsal.
“It is exciting to be the feature article in the Choral Journal and share my research with choral conductors all over the country,” Carlson said. “This project is the first systematic study into the professional use of sight-reading skills in a population of highly trained musicians who are intimately familiar with the high standards of professional choral singing. I have always been curious as to why certain people seem able to sight-read easily and why others struggle, and I think that some of these conclusions are beginning to shed light on ways that we as choral conductors can help our ensemble members get better at and succeed at sight-reading.”
The Choral Journal has been the international journal of the American Choral Directors Association since 1959. It provides members with practical and scholarly information about choral music and its performance. Feature articles are anonymously peer-reviewed by the editorial board; column articles are refereed by column editors.
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