The Four Pillars of Choral Music Education

This paper investigates how the philosophy of several key choral music educators influenced their working methods and the principles that they emphasized in their teaching. Lowell Mason, named the “Father of Music Education”, and the first public school music teacher in Boston, spearheaded the school singing movement in the mid 1800’s. F. Melius Christiansen, teaching at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN left a legacy of the “ideal” choral sound and elevated the choir to a prestigious position in schools. John Finley Williamson, with the Westminster Choir, blended “sung-speech” and the quality of individual sound to produce an entirely different measurement of choral success. Finally, Robert Shaw, a highly acclaimed choral director, used Rhythmic-Diction and awareness of stylistic authenticity to drive his choir of professional adult singers to new heights. The philosophy of each of these choral educators directly influenced all of their working methods and choices, even their choice of singers. This project will briefly unearth the roots of choral music in music education followed by a comparative study of the director’s philosophies that drove their educational methods. The study will conclude with an assessment of the significance of these directors’ contributions to contemporary choral music education.