Contributing to Chorus America’s Scholarly Journals
James John & Brett Scott, presenters
A Brief History – ACR
 Founded in 1958 as The Bulletin of the American
Choral Foundation
 Name changed to American Choral Review in October
1961 (the journal celebrated its 50th Anniversary under
this title in 2011)
 Past Editors
Alfred Mann (1958-1999)
William Weinert (1999-2011)
A Brief History – ACR
 Four issues per year until the 1990s, when two per year
(with an eight page limit) became standard
 Online only as of Summer/Fall 2009, Volume 51, No. 2
 Three indices exist
• 1958-1972, 1967-1989 and 1997-2011
• all three indices need to be combined, and eight-year
gap needs to be filled
 Issues from 2002-present are available online
 Issues prior to 2002 are available only through
research libraries that carried a subscription
A Brief History – ACR
 Early copies contain an incredible variety of topics
• one or two main articles addressing musicological or
performance practice issues
• additional articles on:
• conducting
• vocal/choral pedagogy
• concert reports from throughout U.S. & abroad
• reviews of books, scores and recordings
• etc.
 Occasional issues reach monograph length (Larsen,
Handel Studies, 1972; Mann, Bach Studies, 1985)
ACR – Survey of Early Articles
 The 1960s in particular reads like a compendium of
articles by leaders in the field
• Noah Greenberg on “The Choirmaster and the Renaissance
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Choral Repertory”
Thurston Dart on “Handel and the Continuo”
Daniel Pinkham on “Intonation, Dissonance, Sonority”
Jens Peter Larsen on “Esther and the Origin of the Handelian
Oratorio Tradition”
Wilhelm Ehmann on “Performance Practice in Bach’s Motets”
Steven Walsh on “Stravinsky’s Choral Music”
Walter Collins on “Choral Editing Standards”
Robert Shaw on “Music and Worship in the Liberal Church”
A Brief History – ACR
 Issues became shorter in the 1990s
• two per year (rather than four)
• eight-page limit (budget constraints?)
• usually one main article plus reviews and concert
reports, which is the current format
 With advent of online only format in 2009, the length
of each issue is no longer restricted
ACR – Survey of Recent Articles
• “‘Et Incarnatus’ and ‘Crucifixus’: The Earliest and Latest
Settings of Bach’s B-Minor Mass”, by Christoph Wolff
(two-part article, Spring and Fall 1999)
• “The Litany of Loreto: Sacred Music in 18th-century Austria”,
by James I. Armstrong, Jr. (Summer/Fall 2000)
• “A Contemporary Vision of the End: R. Murray Schafer’s
Apocalypsis, “ by L. Brett Scott (Summer/Fall 2003)
• “Franz Liszt’s Oratorio Christus: Following the Paper Trail”,
by David Friddle (Winter/Spring 2005)
• “Choral Music as Literary Criticism: A Study of the Textual
Dimension of Music”, by Coreen Duffy (Summer/Fall 2007)
• “Arthur Farwell’s New York City ‘Song and Light’ Festival”,
by Alden Snell (Summer/Fall 2011)
A Brief History – RMS
 Began in January 1959 as the Research Memorandum
Series
 Published monthly by American Choral Foundation
 By 1996 Published 2x/year (Spring/Fall)
 Previous Editors
 Walter Collins
 David DeVenney
A Brief History – RMS
 Issues from 2002-present are available online
 Issues prior to 2002 are available only through
research libraries that carried a subscription
 Index 1959-1970
 Common themes


Repertoire lists, performance practice, composer
bibliographies
Articles by Alice Parker, Margaret Hillis, Samuel Adler
Survey of Recent Articles
 Index 1996-2011
 Still listed as a “Journal of the American Choral
Foundation”, published by Chorus America

Repertoire lists, performance practice, composer
bibliographies
Where We Are Now – ACR
 American Choral Review is an online journal
exploring choral repertoire and issues of
performance practice pertaining to music of all
periods as well as commenting on recent scores,
recordings, books, and performances.
 ACR strives to make recent research more widely
known to conductors, and to bring great and
perhaps lesser-known repertoire to the attention
of the choral community at large.
Where We Are Now – ACR
 Published semi-annually (Summer/Fall and Winter/Spring)
 Peer Reviewed
•
Three-person Editorial Board
Michael Anderson (Eastman School of Music)
David DeVenny (West Chester University)
William Weinert (Eastman School of Music)
• All submissions are blind reviewed by the Editorial Board
 Submissions are encouraged for articles in the range of 4,000
words, though articles of greater length are considered
 Submissions are accepted at any time, and should be directed to
James John, Editor (jmsjhn@aol.com)
Where We Are Now – RMS
 Research Memorandum Series is a journal of bibliographic
tools suitable to the choral director and/or to those
researching choral music literature and performance
practice.
 Often focuses on the works of one composer (both
mainstream and lesser-known), listing their works by
genre, style period, voicing, or another category.
 Can also serve as a bibliography, listing recent scholarly
writings on the music of a composer, a country, or a genre
of choral works.
Where We Are Now – RMS
 Online format has allowed for greater length of articles
 Submissions are welcome any time. Abstracts can be
sent directly to Brett Scott, Editor
(lincoln.cornishscott@uc.edu).
Looking Forward
 CA Membership Survey
 Survey summary
 What we learned
Looking Forward:
Importance of the Journals
 Provide the opportunity to explore intriguing pieces, various





repertories, particular composers, in-depth
Spark repertoire ideas, provide interpretive insights
Provide a source of well-researched historical background for
program notes and pre-concert lectures, as well as for giving
context to performers, board members, donors
Provide a publishing venue for those in academia
Encourage development of new scholars
Create a living document for future generations about evolving
perspectives on choral music in our time
Future Projects
 Reconstruct the Index/History of the Journals
 Create Annoted Index
 Locate missing issues
 Make back issues available online
 Review Editorial/Submission Process for RMS
 Collaboration between the two journals
 Expand content within the online format
Q & A:
Getting to Know Our Readers
 Were you aware of the journals before this session?
 How have you found the journals useful in your
professional life?
 Are there particular composers/pieces/repertoires
that you would like to see articles on?
 How do you view the role of scholarly journals within
Chorus America?
 What else would you like from your journals?
 Are you interested in writing for one of the journals?
Your turn!
 Developing Ideas
 From Interests to Topics
 From Topics to Questions
 From Questions to Significant Answers
 Working groups
 Worksheet
Wrap-up and Thanks