CHORAL LITERATURE SURVEY (CMCO 4321)

CHORAL LITERATURE SURVEY (CMCO 2321)

(*Choral Music for Mixed Voices from the Renaissance to Classical Periods of Music History)
1 credit
Every Thursday, 12 – 1 p.m. via Zoom
Dr. Joel Navarro
Email address: [email protected]

I. PROFESSOR INFORMATION

Transplanted to Singapore in 2014, Dr. Joel Navarro is an Adjunct Lecturer and Professor of Music.
He previously taught at Calvin University (Michigan) for twelve years as a tenured professor of
music. Earlier, he served sixteen years as an assistant professor and former Chair of the Choral
Conducting Department at the University of the Philippines College of Music. He is visiting
professor, lead lecturer, and program consultant for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral
Conducting at St Paul University in Manila. He was a recipient of academic, professional, and
performance awards. He was known internationally as the former conductor of the Ateneo de Manila
University Glee Club, which won top prizes in European choral competitions during his 22-year
tenure. He occasionally adjudicates for choral competitions, choir, and solo voice adjudications.

Dr. Navarro studied with Drs. Charles Smith, Jonathan Reed, and David Rayl, and obtained his
Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting at Michigan State University, graduated with a 4.0 GPA.
Before this, he graduated from the University of the Philippines with both his Bachelor’s and Master
of Music degrees in Choral Conducting, where he consistently an honor student. His first bachelor’s
degree was in Mathematics. He is a member of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.

He is a beloved mentor and a fastidious enabler of his students in expanding their influence as
servant-leaders, collaborative artists, and interdisciplinary scholars to his conducting students.
Passionate about composition, integration of faith and learning, and intersections of indigeneity in
modernity, Dr. Navarro writes and arranges hymns, anthems, art, concert, and worship music for
professional, university, community, and church choirs. His choral compositions are published by
Musica Manila, GIA Publications, and Adoro Music Publishing. He is frequently invited to do
workshops on conducting, choral music, worship. During his university days, he won the grand prize
in a nationwide singing competition in the Philippines. He published last year his book, INSPIRARE:
Breathing Life into Our Music, A Manual for Church Choir Conductors in Asia under Sonata Music
Singapore.

II. SYNOPSIS

This course is designed to expose, train, and increase the competence of conductors to teach
diverse sacred choral music suitable for performance and service in their churches. The
extensive breadth of religious choral literature is offered over four semesters, focusing on
specific musical period(s), styles, or traditions.:

Choral Lit 1: Literature-based repertoire (Renaissance, Baroque, Classical) | For mixed voices
Choral Lit 2: Literature-based repertoire (Romantic, Modern) | For mixed voices
Choral Lit 3: Literature-based repertoire (Traditional Sacred Choral Music from Cultural
Minorities and the Developing World) | For mixed voices and congregation
Choral Lit 4: Age- and ensemble-based repertoire (Contemporary Christian Music) | For
children, youth, adults, senior, female, and male choirs.

The four choral literature courses may be taken in any sequence. This course is designed as a
masterclass for student conductors. It is also a music-reading and style-learning session for the
class singing as the laboratory choir.
1
WhatsApp number to be given in class for security purposes.
 This semester’s area is on choral music from the Renaissance to Classical periods of
European sacred choral music. The focus will be given to specific composers whose music
influenced the development of sacred music of the Reformation and beyond, the kinds of music
that arose to counter it, and the sacred pieces of music composed in the royal courts outside of
the church’s diminishing influence.

III. REQUIREMENTS

REPORT PRESENTATION. Each 18-minute presentation will contain the following:

1. (4 minutes) A brief report on the composer: background, his significant contribution,

2. (4 minutes) A brief report on the piece: a brief analysis of the music and the text, its
place in the liturgy, and how you would perform it in your church, seminary, or
school.
3. (5 minutes) A video demonstrating the student conducting the piece with the
appropriate style, cues, dynamics, breathing gestures, and cut-offs. The work to be
conducted must be heard.
4. (3 minutes) A live feed or recording of the reporter teaching another student singer
(see column 6 of the Course Schedule in Section IV) a few measures how the piece is
sung stylistically in the student’s voice section.
5. (2 minutes) A brief Q&A

Depending on your degree level:

a. Each BCM student will report and conduct one time.

b. Each MCM-ML and MCM-Compo student will report and conduct two times.
c. Each MCM-CC student will report and conduct four times.

IV. SCHEDULE

There will be 14 class sessions in all. PPT lectures of the professor are to be viewed by all
students before a group of composers assigned. Three students will be reporting for no more
than 17 minutes for every class session. There will be 37 reports in all. Any student can switch
places with any student. Be sure the professor is informed well in advance.

Session
Numbe Date MUSIC TO BE COVERED REPORTER ACTIVITY SINGER
r
RENAISSANCE PERIOD
Lecture on Renaissance Music and Async
JN
Music of the Reformation Lecture
22
1 Music of Josquin des Prez Thandar Report Albert
Jul
Music of Martin Luther Blessing Report Aprilia
Music of Johann Walther Christian Report Jenny
Music of Johann Crüger Merilyn Report Jovan
Async
Reformation Music Outside Germany JN
2 29 Lecture
Music of Louis Bourgeois John Report Angela
Music of Claude Goudimel Bernice Report Han Yi
Music of Claude Le Jeune Momo Report Soe
Music of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck Chanon Report Yin Yin
3 5
Async
Aug The Counter-Reformation Outside Germany JN
Lecture
Music of Adrian Willaert Emi Report Yuki
 Music of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Albert Report Bernice
Music of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Aprilia Report Momo
4 12 Async
Palestrina’s Contemporaries JN
Lecture
Music of Tomas Luis da Victoria Jenny Report Chanon
Music of Orlando di Lasso Jovan Report Emi
5 19 Music of William Byrd Angela Report Albert
Music of Giovanni Gabrieli Han Yi Report Aprilia
BAROQUE PERIOD
Development of Catholic Sacred Music in the Async
JN
Baroque Period Lecture
6 26 Music of Claudio Monteverdi Soe Report Jenny
Music of Claudio Monteverdi Yin Yin Report Jovan
Music of Giacomo Carissimi Yuki Report Angela
Async
The Development of Lutheran Church Music JN
Lecture
2
7 Music of Heinrich Schütz Thandar Report Han Yi
Sep
Music of Johann Pachelbel Blessing Report Soe
Music of Dietrich Buxtehude Christian Report Yin Yin
MID-SEMESTER BREAK
Async
Music in the Early 18th Century JN
Lecture
8 16 Music of Antonio Vivaldi Merilyn Report Yuki
Music of Georg Telemann John Report Bernice
Music of Johann Sebastian Bach Bernice Report Momo
Music of Johann Sebastian Bach Momo Report Chanon
9 23 Music of Georg Frideric Händel Chanon Report Emi
Music of Georg Frideric Händel Emi Report Albert
Async
Music of the Mid-18th Century JN
Lecture
10 30 Music of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach Thandar Report Aprilia
Music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Blessing Report Jenny
Music of Johann Christian Bach Christian Report Jovan
7 Music of Giovanni Paisiello Merilyn Report Angela
11
Oct Music of Luigi Boccherini John Report Han Yi
CLASSICAL PERIOD
Async
Music of the Late 18th Century JN
Lecture
Music of Josef Haydn Thandar Report Soe
Music of Josef Haydn Blessing Report Yin Yin
12 14 Music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Christian Report Yuki
Music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Merilyn Report Bernice
Music of Beethoven John Report Momo
13 21
Final Examination Review

14 28 FINAL EXAMINATION

V. COURSE MATERIALS

No textbook is required. However, the student is highly encouraged to be resourceful using a

variety of sources for information:
cpdl.org
IMSLP.org
The Choral Repertoire by Dennis Shrock
 Norton Anthology of Choral Music.

Be sure to send your PDF scores and PPTs handouts to the Google Drive Folder reserved for
this class no less than 24 hours before your report. It is common courtesy to your professor and
classmates so they have the option to read from their tablets or laptops—failure to do so on
time results in a step below your presentation grade.

VI. FINAL EXAMINATION (only for non-CCM students, but CCM students may take the exam for
audit)

A final examination will be given at the end of the semester. This examination will be based on
(1) the PPT lectures; (2) excerpts from the music studied this semester. The examination will
test the student’s familiarity with the music. The student must identify the music’s country of
origin, the title of the work, and the name of the composer and text writer.

VII. COURSE GRADING

The following rubric will be used for grading MCM students:

Four oral reports 72%

Final examination 28%

The following rubric will be used for grading MCM ML and MCM CO students:

Two oral reports 60%

Final examination 40%

The following rubric will be used for grading BCM students:

One oral report 50%

Final examination 50%

END OF SYLLABUS
6 July 2021
Version 3.0