For the first time, a book on the teaching and performance of choral improvisation for choirs at all levels! Building upon the pedagogy of musical awarenesses, this volume expands the use of chant in choral improvisations, as developed by master conductor Gary Graden, for effectively developing choral musicianship and performance skills.

Contained in this volume:

• The importance of improvisation for the development of musicianship
• The value of teaching improvisation for musical growth and self-confidence
• Detailed improvisation techniques for choral ensembles
• Models and examples of “how to” structure a chant improvisation
• Unique vocal techniques, especially “voweling,” to change and modify choral colors to create new sound worlds
• Use of folk material as suggested by Alice Parker, drawn from her book, The Anatomy of Melody (G-6765)
• Demonstration of all techniques in this book with Gary Graden on the included links to streaming videos
• The use of canonic techniques in structuring improvisations
• Details about specific chord structures compatible with one another in improvisations
• Suggestions for conducting choral improvisations
• Examples of charting entire improvisations

This book is companion to Discovering Chant (G-8812), Discovering Choral Improvisation through Chant and Melody (streaming video SV-1094), and the Music Learning Theory principles detailed in Inside the Choral Rehearsal (G-9293).

James Whitbourn (1963–2024), composer, conductor, and producer, was a passionate advocate of chant as the foundation of musicianship and musician understandings. His long association with James Jordan and The Choral Institute at Oxford gave rise to this volume as a major pedagogical contribution to choral pedagogy and performance.

Renowned American choral conductor Gary Graden is presently choral director at St. Jacob’s Church in Stockholm. He has championed choral improvisation throughout his career.

GRAMMY-nominated conductor James Jordan served as Director of Choral Studies at Westminster Choir College, where he directed the largest graduate program in the country, conducted the renowned Westminster Symphonic Choir, and held the Scheide Chair in Conducting. He has had worldwide influence through his more than sixty books on conducting, choral pedagogy, and the human aspects of music making, beginning with The Musician’s Soul, and he is credited with the initial applications of Laban to conducting. He has recorded over twenty albums with The Same Stream, the Westminster Williamson Voices, the Westminster Symphonic Choir, and the combined choirs at Westminster Choir College. He is founder and Director of The Choral Academy (www.thechoralacademy.com), an innovative and groundbreaking platform for continuing live and virtual study for musicians.