Renaissance Music for the Choral Conductor

Renaissance Music for the Choral Conductor: A Practical Guide addresses the study and performance of Renaissance music in a way that is understandable to the musician at any level. It describes how to find a good edition, mark scores, rehearse, and conduct this type of music. It explains complex ideas from proportion to linear analysis and supplies step-by-step instructions on presenting “madrigal dinners”—ideal vehicles for the presentation of Renaissance music. This guide contains traditional toasts, stage directions, lists of appropriate music, and even instruction on selected Renaissance dances. Summer also includes a large number of musical scores to aid in his explanations on marking scores, conducting, and analyzing polyphonic music.Renaissance Music for the Choral Conductor is the ideal textbook for choral literature and choral conducting classes at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It can serve as a reference for anyone who wishes to program and explore music from this period in greater depth, including church musicians and conductors of professional ensembles. The book concludes with a bibliography, glossary, and selected discography.

In the excellent resource Renaissance Music for the Choral Conductor, Robert Summer notes what he considers to be a trend of college music programs steering away from the music of earlier periods to focus on modern literature. . . Summer's book is a highly valuable resource. Scholarly yet accessible, this book navigates through the important musical characteristics from the period and offers specific insights and strategies to address them. . . There are wonderful resources in this book, including in-depth analysis's, brief biographies of important composers of the period, and a guide for planning a madrigal dinner. Robert Summer's Renaissance Music for the Choral Conductor has something for everyone and is a valuable resource for any conductor and those who are considering exploring the glorious music of the Renaissance for the first time., Robert Summer is clearly one of those who does it well, and his musical heart is always in the right place throughout this book. Summer. . . knows his choral onions. . . . The book is useful and engaging when it focuses passionately and astutely on the matter of word stress. . . . Overall, this is a worthy book, albeit with a slightly dated bibliography, a one-sided discography, and a tantalizingly pithy glossary. . . At best, this book is direct, helpful, and pragmatic., Relying on the expertise of musicologists and theoreticians, Summer presents a useful guide to approaching music of the Renaissance period. All of the essential information is provided, without burdening the reader with unnecessary complications. . . . I highly recommend this book, and commend the author for providing a very useful reference for choral conductors working with school, university, community, and church choirs. The book is well worth reading., You have written a terrific book! So practical, wise, thoughtful, and filled with many, many nuggets. I like the rock bottom common sense feeling I get throughout your excellent book, and I also like the organization of it.

Robert J. Summer is professor emeritus in Choral Studies at the University of South Florida and founding conductor of the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay. In addition to guest conducting throughout the country, he has been a frequent conductor of the Florida Orchestra for performances of major choral works and author of Choral Masterworks from Bach to Britten: Reflections of a Conductor (Scarecrow Press 2007).