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EXAMINING SHIFTS IN REPERTOIRE PROGRAMMING PRACTICES: PRE- AND POST-PANDEMIC

Despite the importance of these programming de- This article is based on the author’s dissertation,
cisions, it is difficult to capture a complete image of which examines repertoire performed in choral con-
the body of music performed, as there is no standard- ducting graduate programs both before and after 2020
ized method by which programmed repertoire is cata- in order to answer three primary research questions:
logued. There has been a substantial amount of writing
in this journal and elsewhere regarding the repertoire 1) What are the overall characteristics of the body of
performed in festival settings, such as ACDA confer- repertoire performed during the years studied?
1
ences and all-state festivals, likely due to the relative
ease with which these records can be accessed. How- 2) How did the repertoire programmed at these schools
ever, the characteristics of the repertoire programmed change?
in festival settings may not represent the wider body
of repertoire performed on individual campuses for 3) How much and in what ways do programming prac-
a variety of reasons, including restrictions placed on tices differ among the individual schools examined?
conference programs (including time limits and rubric
guidelines), the selectivity involved in the audition pro- Two principal hypotheses came from the social and
cess, and the social pressures of performing for other cultural contexts outlined above:
practitioners in the field. As such, there is a significant
gap in the literature regarding repertoire norms outside 1) Composer diversity, particularly with regards to race,
festival settings. would generally increase; and
The summer of 2020 marked a turning point in a
national conversation in the United States around ra- 2) Composition difficulty would generally decrease.
cial justice and policing, and so too did it mark a change
in the conversation around diversity in the field of cho-
ral music. The Choral Journal devoted both its Novem- Methodology
ber and December 2020 issues to racial inequality in In order to focus the study on institutions with sim-
choral music and to highlighting the music of historical ilar characteristics, schools were only deemed eligible
and contemporary Black composers. These two issues for participation if they met all three of the following
provide a “snapshot” of the choral conversation sur- criteria: (1) Issue a degree in choral conducting at the
rounding race and representation as it was taking place master’s level or higher, (2) Are classified as “R1: Doc-
in late 2020. toral Universities with Very High Research Activity”
While the articles in these issues, along with myriad by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher
other writings, provided important and much-needed Education, and (3) Are located in the United States.
contributions to the choral field’s reckoning with issues Of the seventy schools that met these criteria, sixteen
of race and representation, they do not capture the ex- submitted complete and useable programming records.
tent to which such programming suggestions were sub- Because the typical length of a master’s degree in
sequently adopted on actual concert programs. At the choral conducting is two years, the study covered a two-
same time, pandemic-related shutdowns, which began year period of repertoire performed at each school be-
in March 2020 and in many places continued through fore 2020 (academic years 2017–2019) and a two-year
the 2020–2021 academic year, have created a natural period after (academic years 2021–2023). In this way,
experiment: There is a clear break between concerts the repertoire experienced by a prototypical master’s
that occurred before and after 2020, with a significant student in the class of 2019 can be compared with that
gap during which few live choral performances oc- experienced by one in the class of 2023. Each partici-
curred. This disruption in choral singing may have had pating school submitted a complete list of the titles and
its own impacts on the types of repertoire performed, composers performed by all ensembles in their choral
extending beyond issues of racial representation. department with which choral conducting graduate

8 CHORAL JOURNAL September 2025 Volume 66 Number 2