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Choral Pedagogical Tools and Vocal Exercises A Practical Guide to Teaching Handel's Messiah

Within the choral canon, Handel’s Messiah is one of able and variable to suit the general technical needs of
the most frequently performed works by non-profes- most amateur and student singers.
sional choral ensembles. While preparing Messiah, cho-
ral singers are offered ample opportunities to build and
refine singing technique while engaging in historically Practical Tools to
informed performance practice. Nuanced performanc- Convey Teachable Skills
es are harder—but not impossible—to foster with lim- Conductors can use the following study guides as an
ited rehearsal time. Given careful rehearsal planning, example of how to clearly highlight individual lines of
non-professional choral ensembles can perform with counterpoint when instructing less-experienced singers
historically informed artistry and singing technique at any level. Study Guide A (Figure 1) provides an exam-
grounded in voice science. ple of introducing motivic material for the movement,
Below, practical solutions will be offered for teach- “And the Glory of the Lord.” In this guide, each motive
ing singers who are unaccustomed or inexperienced in is written out individually outside of the choral score
navigating the stylistic nuances of historically informed texture. Core musical material of the movement is
performances. These solutions will offer examples of shown through iterations of motives “a,” “b,” “c,” and
pedagogical tools and their practical applications to “d.” Within this study guide, other musical concepts,
help expedite the rehearsal process of Messiah. In addi- such as articulation, metric accentuation, and rhythmic
tion, this article offers sequential vocalises to teach agil- alterations (which were assumed practices in Handel’s
ity and artistry in melismatic vocal lines that are typical time but informed performance practice today), can be
in Handel’s choral works. The content offered is adapt- demonstrated explicitly and efficiently.

24 CHORAL JOURNAL October 2023 Volume 64 Number 3