Choir spacing and choral sound: Physical, pedagogical and philosophical dimensions

Abstract

Music and music-making are commonly defined in relation to time, as temporal or chrononomic activities.Morgan (1980), however, reminds us that" anyone familiar with the philosophical and theoretical literature dealing with music must be struck by the persistence with which spatial terminology and categories appear" (p 259).Similarly, John Dewey (1934) suggests that space is a quality inherent in every art, including music.Just as art intensifies other areas of ordinary experience, says Dewey, so does art express the experience of spatiality more energetically.The purpose of this paper is to explore the idea of space as it relates to activities associated with choral sound, that is, the complex, composite sound experienced when a number of vocal sound sources sing in ensemble.To that end, this exploration addresses three dimensions or areas of concern: (a) physical, (b) pedagogical, and (c) philosophical.It is offered as a prolegomena, for its intent is not to be exhaustive, but rather to identify broadly some potentially key concepts that merit further consideration.The idea of space, of course, is a historied concept prominent in both physics and philosophy.As he examines space in the context of the history of physics, for instance, Jammer (1969) finds that philosophy and theology frequently interact with experimental

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