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Choral Journal  explores "Sounds of Blackness"

Submitted by Joanne De Pue on October 2, 2020 - 6:52am
Choral Journal cover
Choral Journal covers “Sounds of Blackness” in its November 2020 issue.

UW Choral conducting Professor Giselle Wyers, a member of the editorial board of the Choral Journal, the leading publication of the American Choral Directors Association, reports that the November 2020 issue of the journal focuses on the theme of “Sounds of Blackness,” the first of two Choral Journal issues exploring Black history, music, and composers. 

Guest editor Brandon Boyd highlights concerns related to racial inequality, using this journal issue to emphasize the strength of the Black repertory in choral music, and reaching back in history to consider racism in the Spanish Baroque period. The lead article in the journal, by author Jason Dungee, challenges conductors to implement a restorative, anti-racist pedagogy in the choral classroom, while Marques Garrett broadens the perspective on choral music by Black composers.  Further, every review in the issue highlights compositions by Black composers. 

Professor Wyers further amplifies the journal’s consideration of issues of Black choral music by observing that “leaders in the choral field are working hard to identify and combat systematic inequalities in our approaches to music, as well as finding new ways to promote and support more diversity, especially in our programming and hiring practices.” The December 2020 issue of the Choral Journal will provide further insight about this crucial field of study. 

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