2022 Symposium for Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

The title of the research is Communication and Conducting High School Choirs: During COVID-19 and Beyond. The opportunity to participate was made possible by Slippery Rock University Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity grant, which supplied $500 toward the project. The purpose of the research is to identify the process through which choral conductors determine the gestures that will most effectively communicate with their high school choirs, identify how conductors determine the quality of a performance and why this is important, and highlight the impact of COVID-19 on the ability of choral conductors to communicate with their high school choirs. The research is intended to act as a resource for educators and pre-service educators, like myself, who wish to further analyze the effect conducting has on performance. Because COVID-19 has caused schools to close and us to wear face masks, communication between the conductor and the performers has been impacted. This research originated from my perspective as a performer, wondering about conducting during a time absent of COVID-19, and has allowed for new insight from a conductor's perspective during a pandemic. In order to accomplish this, it was required that the thoughts of real high school conductors were noted. Ten high school choral conductors, all having taught in Region 1 of regions listed by PMEA, volunteered to participate in an interview (the means by which interviewees were obtained were not influenced by independent desire, but rather by inviting any eligible participant on a "first come, first serve" basis). Interviewees were gifted $50 for their participation. Interviews were conducted and recorded over Zoom; Zoom automatic transcriptions were on. Using the recordings, transcriptions were checked and edited for accuracy. Themes were retrieved from the interviews to further interpret the data. The next step in the process is to finalize my findings and discuss them. Throughout the process, numerous themes have appeared, all acting as valuable information for future choral conductors/educators. From acquired data, it seems as though the role that communication plays has proven to be a crucial area of interest among conductors. Emerging themes have dictated interpretation of the data and will be used as a framework for the discussion to come. The paper is intended to be submitted to PMEA News or ACDA Choral Journal to serve music educators and performers in their studies.