The Importance of Sacred Music in the Public High School Choral Program

In this project report I have researched the problems that would be faced if choral directors were no longer allowed to teach music with religious text. I have researched performance practices, vocal timbre, vocal techniques, music theory, and believe that students would miss out on a rich history by removing this literature from the choral canon. The objective is to prove that these compositions deserve a place in educational oeuvre and that it contains valuable objectives for today's students. My research will show the importance of teaching high school students both sacred and secular works from varying musical eras with the focus being on musical content and historical significance. This project researches the significance of teaching sacred music written by famous composers of the Renaissance and Baroque era and shows how to incorporate this literature into the high school choral concert alongside modern composers who were influenced by these composers. In such cases that religious texts are not condoned, this research provides some secular alternatives that can be used as substitutions. My choral program strives to provide a comprehensive approach incorporating all genres. Considering the choral canon is vast and covers music from antiquity to modern times, it is important to recognize that removing sacred literature from the canon eliminates nearly all music compositions from Antiquity through the Baroque and a significant portion of the Romantic era as well. This paper will also serve as a tool to explore the reasoning behind choices made for repertoire. The conclusion of this project will explore compositions from the Renaissance and Baroque eras that utilize secular texts in order to provide alternative musical selections for conductors who might have difficulty including sacred texts on their concerts because of administrative or personal philosophies.