All-state choral music: A comprehensive study of the musicselected for the high school all-state choirs of the fifty states from 1995-2000

This document is a comprehensive study of the music selected for the high school All-state choruses of the fifty United States for the years 1995-2000. Each of the nearly 3000 choral works was evaluated as to how many times it was programmed, which conductor programmed it, how often each conductor was selected, how often each composer's works were programmed, the style period/genre of each work, which of the 50 states the work was performed in, and which of the seven ADCA Divisions each state is affiliated with to allow comparisons of trends in programming throughout different areas of the United States. The 100 most programmed choral works were then examined further in regards to ten, more specific, musical aspects. These aspects included: texture, language, rhythmic complexity, metric complexity, length, dynamic range, harmonic complexity, vocal range, accompaniment, and whether the work had a dramatic ending or not. An annotated listing of these 100 works was also created that includes exact voicing, text, composer (including composer dates), publisher (including octavo # where available), specific accompaniment, duration, and a short description. Findings concluded that composer G. F. Handel was the most selected composer and Dirait-on, by American composer Morton Lauridsen, was the single most-programmed choral work. The differences in the music selected for the seven ACDA Divisions were slight and deemed not significant. Andre Thomas of Florida State University was the most selected conductor during this period. The typical All-state choral work from this period is a choral work with piano accompaniment, a large dynamic range, a dramatic ending, and is sung in English or Latin