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Foreword to the First Edition
- Indiana University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Foreword to the First Edition Demaree, Moses, and Ohmes Wrote together from separate homes. Demaree was a musicological wizard, While Ohmes knew the ¤ddle from Alpha to Izzard, And Tricky-Stick Moses was quick as a lizard — Which only enhanced the remarkable tomes Of Demaree, Moses Of Demaree, Moses Of Demaree, Moses, and Ohmes. Messrs. Moses, Demaree, and Ohmes have done a very good thing indeed for choral music and choral musicians. It may be that the most striking development on the American musical scene of the past ¤fty years has been the emergence of the choral art as a worthy technical and stylistic companion of the instrumental and orchestral arts. With few exceptions, choral performance a half-century ago was either a social and recreational venture with emphasis upon post-rehearsal partying, or a Sunday potpourri of singing greeting-cards and responses with a “message.” No more. The degrees in choral conducting offered by our leading schools of music are as rigorous in their demands upon musical scholarship and practical know-how as their matching degrees in the orchestral ¤eld. There is not a choral conductor in a responsible college or university, a church which aspires to serve a discriminating congregation or a community arts program, who does not today come “face to face” with the great historical choral/orchestral literature—and “face to face” with instrumentalists and orchestras . And this book goes a long way towards making that confrontation a pleasurable and productive one. Two things strike me as being very special about the book: ¤rst, it is remarkably ef¤cient and practical. No ®ying off into feathered ethereality. (The information it offers concerning the three detailed works is so precise and thoughtful that even those who have performed these works scores of times should ¤nd it pro¤table to check these pages as they prepare their orchestral materials for their next performance.) Second, in spite of its expertise and good counsel, it somehow manages to escape “authoritarianism.” It invites, even “inspires,” the reader’s (conductor’s) further study, exploration and individual creativity as regards performance practices and stylistic detail. It’s a good book—and, probably, the only way you’ll get Moses, Demaree, and Ohmes in the same classroom. Robert Shaw xii Foreword to the First Edition ...