Democratic Approaches for the Choral Ensemble: Repertoire Choice and Rehearsal Design

In this article, Jordan shares how taking the advice of his mentor and allowing his students to participate in choosing repertoire changed the overall rehearsal process for the better. While this takes time away from the music learning process, it adds another level of learning for both the student and teacher. The article looks at the ‘Sharing Power When Choosing Repertoire,’ ‘Designing Repertoire Selection Criteria,’ ‘Applying Repertoire Selection Criteria,’ ‘What About Festivals?,’ ‘Dialogue and Consensus,’ and ‘Do I Have Time for This?’

By allowing students to participate in choosing repertoire for their ensemble, Jordan found that “students participated in more conversations, voiced more opinions, and shared more about their identities and backgrounds.” For these students, having the ability to feel as part of the process allowed them to feel more invested in the music-making process. It allowed them to gain many positive outcomes that followed in other disciplines and settings.

As ensemble directors, we often move into the learning or rehearsal process by choosing music with our students “in mind” but not considering what they want to perform. For many, we find this as a way of slowing down our preparation process or being nervous about the disagreements that may occur between our students when allowing them to choose repertoire as a group. While I am not encouraging everyone to stop what they are doing and vamping their way of teaching, we must keep our students in mind. Consider the approaches you could take with your students when finding the balance between teacher-directed and student-directed approaches. Begin small, maybe one piece per concert, and see what happens from there.