Author
Choral Repertoire – Second Edition (Oxford University Press)
This second edition adds fifty-eight new composers, with emphasis on previously under-represented women and composers of color, plus an entirely new category of Classical-era composers from Spain, Portugal, and Brazil. In addition, there us updated biographical information, more complete compositional annotations, expanded country headlines for more inclusive representation, and revised scholarly material.
“Choral Repertoire is the essential source for both quick reference and extended study of choral music. This text should be in the library of every choral conductor and aspiring student. Dennis Shrock is the quintessential choral scholar of our day.”
— Dr. Donald Trott, Director of Choral Activities, University of Mississippi
“Any choral musician who thinks they don’t need another book hasn’t seen this new edition of Dennis Shrock’s comprehensive tome covering not only 588 different important choral composers of note, but 58 additions including more women composers and composers of color. Organized by period, by country, and by composer, this invaluable resource is a must for every choral conductor, whether student or master! Dennis has done it again—researched the field and given us the most up-to-date information on the western choral canon!”
— Dr. Charlene Archibeque, Professor Emerita, San Jose State University
“Dennis Shrock’s new edition of Choral Repertoire incorporates a wealth of meticulously researched composers in response to the expansion of the art form. This overview—as explained in his preface—is focused on western choral composers and their music. As was the case with Shrock's 1st edition, this comprehensive text is chronologically structured, geographically contextualized, and is a must-have for international choral music scholars, educators, and conductors.”
— Dr. Gregory Gentry, director of choral studies and Lynn Whitten Choral Music Faculty Fellow, University of Colorado Boulder
Choral Scores (Oxford University Press 2015)
Choral Scores is an anthology of music exemplifying distinctive choral repertoire by the most noteworthy composers throughout the history of Western music. Designed as a companion to Choral Repertoire, the anthology of scores presents selected works of salient importance to the development of choral music. Included are 129 compositions by 123 different composers, each composition presented unabridged (a complete work or a complete movement of a larger work) and in full score. In addition, the scores represent the most up-to-date scholarly research, including musica ficta and text underlay in the Renaissance era, meter signatures and articulation markings in the Baroque and Classical eras, and conductor annotations in the Romantic and Modern eras (e.g., previously unpublished markings by Johannes Brahms and Franck Martin). The anthology also includes an appendix with descriptions of the music and literal translations of foreign language works, as well as composer and genre indices. Choral Scores is an essential reference for choral scholars, teachers, and students alike.
“The Choral Scores anthology is a must as a companion to Dennis Shrock’s Choral Repertoire. Professor Shrock’s involvement in conducting, teaching choral literature, and as a researcher are legendary, and his interest in quality choral editions is a hallmark of his entire work as a conductor and scholar.”
— Jo-Michael Scheibe, Chair and Professor of Choral and Sacred Music, The University of Southern California
“A valuable resource and rich testament to the Western choral tradition. Conductors, choral scholars, instructors, and students alike will find this scholarly book informative and rewarding.”
— The American Organist
Click here to purchase the book from GIA Music website
Performance Practices in the Baroque era (GIA 2013)
In this book, noted scholar and conductor Dennis Shrock brings together in one place treatises, primers, tutorials, letters, prefaces to scores, and essays from the period to paint a detailed and informative portrait of the wonderful music from the Baroque era as it was originally intended and experienced.
Topics include:
Sound (types of voices and ensembles, timbre, instruments, vibrato, and pitch)
Meter, Tempo, and Conducting (tempo rates and terms, tempo fluctuation, and recitative)
Articulation and Phrasing (messa di voce, bowings, tonguings, slurs, and phrasing)
Metric Accentuation (varied metric stresses and notational lengths)
Rhythmic Alteration (over-dotting and triplet conformity)
Ornamentation (appoggiaturas, trills, and passaggi)
Expression (extra-musical characteristics and volume adjustment)
Each topic is amplified with musical examples from the works of Bach, Handel, and other great composers from the era, and the book contains an extensive bibliography that lists original sources, translations, and important collections of quotations from treatises.
“Performance Practices in the Baroque Era is an insightful, colorful, and comprehensive portrait of music as it was performed during the 17th and 18th centuries, certain to assist anyone who seeks to better understand the music of the great Baroque-era composers. The book is a vital resource for any conductor, performer, or aficionado of Baroque music.”
Click here to purchase the book from GIA Music website
Choral Diversity
Choral Diversity is a presentation of composers throughout history who represent the broad and diverse canon of choral music. Included are twenty previously under-represented women composers (such as Hildegard von Bingen, Amy Beach, and Undine Smith Moore) and ten composers of color (including José Maurício Nunes Garcia, William Grant Still, and Margaret Allison Bonds). There are also lesser- known works of familiar composers such as Palestrina and Brahms.
Each chapter presents overviews of the composer’s life and choral output; information and analysis of selected compositions, including complete texts and literal translations not found elsewhere; and guidelines that address related and important aspects of performance.
The book’s repertoire, too, represents a diversity of musical periods, styles, and genres—including chants, madrigals, chansons, motets, partsongs, oratorios, cantatas, and vocal chamber pieces—all of which are intended to be accessible to regular school, church, and community choruses.
With its broad scope and scholarly authority, Choral Diversity is the ideal resource for conductors at all levels looking to diversify their concert programming in a practical and historically informed way.
Click here to purchase the book from GIA Music website
Music for Beginning Conductors
An anthology for Choral Conducting Classes (GIA 2011)
This book (in spiral binding for ease of use) contains 122 short pieces that represent the standard and basic techniques needed for beginning conducting classes. Most of the pieces are arrangements of folk songs and other familiar melodies that are in simple two- and four-part scorings or in unison with a simple harmonic bass part that can be played on a keyboard instrument. As such, the music can be used in classes of any size and makeup of students. To further aid in the education of the students, the pieces are set in a diversity of meters and keys, and following each piece are suggestions for the conducting pattern, tempo, phrasing, dynamic level, and rhythmic articulation. In addition, the anthology begins with guidelines for teachers and students that present common tempo, articulation, and volume terms, as well as instructions for the conducting of mixed meters and fermatas.
Choral Repertoire (Oxford University Press 2009)
Choral Repertoire is the definitive and comprehensive presentation of Western choral music. Designed for practicing conductors, students and teachers of choral music, amateur and professional choral singers, and interested choral enthusiasts, the book is an account of the complete choral output of the most significant composers of the choral genre throughout history. Organized by era (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic, and Modern), Choral Repertoire covers general characteristics of each historical era, trends and styles unique to various countries, biographical sketches of over 500 composers, and performance annotations of more than 5,000 individual works. This book is an essential guide to programming, a reference tool for program notes and other research, and, most importantly, a key resource for conductors, instructors, scholars, and students of choral music.
“Dennis Shrock is indisputably one of the very top choral scholars in the United States. Add to this his expertise as a choral director and you have a superbly qualified author. Every choral director should have this compact, scholarly, practical historical survey of our field. It reads superbly, yet with ease. What a treasure!”
— Weston Noble, Professor Emeritus, Luther College
“This is the most complete volume on choral music ever written. This is for all choral enthusiasts. Whether professional, singers, conductors, academicians, students both graduate and undergraduate, church musicians – whatever your interest – this is a book for you. It is fascinating reading, whether you are researching a specific composer or seeking ideas for programming. Details abound!”
— Vance George, Conductor Emeritus, San Francisco Symphony Chorus
“Choral Repertoire is an invaluable resource book for the choral conductor, conducting student, and choral singer. It should be a part of the curriculum of any music education or conductor degree program. It rightfully deserves a place among the standard music reference publications. Dennis Shrock has provided us with a must-have!”
— Joseph Jennings, Former Music Director, Chanticleer
“The definitive and comprehensive one-volume presentation of the canon of the Western choral tradition has much to live up to, but I believe the author has achieved his aims admirably. The choral works of around 500 composers are divided into six eras, each era is divided into national schools of composers, and within these the composers are ordered by date of birth. Each composer entry includes a mini biography, overview of choral oeuvre, and more detailed discussion of important works. It is the listing at the end of each composer entry that makes this book so useful to choir directors. For each choral work, the voicing (including listing of solos) and duration of the piece is given. I can certainly recommend this book.”
— John Henderson, reviewer of RSCM Church Music Quarterly
Performing Renaissance Music (GIA 2018)
In this remarkable book – a companion to Performance Practices in the Baroque Era and Performance Practices in the Classical Era – noted scholar and conductor Dennis Shrock draws from primary sources to document and explain historical performance practices of the Renaissance era – in many cases eye opening and rarely employed today. When reading of the manner in which music was performed during the Renaissance, the reader can easily believe that the music of the time was as great as the other arts – painting, sculpture, and architecture. The music becomes rich and expressive in musical color.
Chapters of the book include:
Performing sources of the era
Performing forces (vocal and instrumental)
Sound and pitch (volume, timbre, clefs, transposition, and tuning)
Meter and tactus (note values, meter signatures, and syncopation)
Tempo (rates and changes, proportions, and relationships)
Phrasing (oratory, diction, and pronunciation)
Structure (fermatas, coordinated phrase endings, and formal organizations)
Musica ficta and musica recta
Text underlay (natural declamation, musica reservata, imitative and repeated phrases, melismas, and ligatures)
Ornamentation (passaggi and single-note embellishments)
Expression
Performing Renaissance Music contains numerous images from original sources, and confirmation of the practices is heard in the companion recording Renaissance Reborn sung by the members of Via Veritate (available from GIA and also Spotify and Amazon).
“I have found Performing Renaissance Music to be insightful, easy to read, and eye opening in terms of making the music of the period come to life. The commentary is wonderfully relevant and makes a demystifying case for the importance of Renaissance music in contemporary life. Bravo!”
—Vance Acker, Director of Choral Activities, Gilbert High School, Mesa, Arizona
Click here to purchase the book from GIA Music website
Creating Excellence in Choirs and Orchestras
In Creating Excellence in Choirs and Orchestras, noted scholar and conductor Dennis Shrock uncovers the key factors and proven strategies that lead to the achievement of excellence in music ensembles at any level, from youth and volunteer groups to professional ensembles.
With the use of numerous historical references and examples, primary source quotations, and music excerpts, Shrock lays out fourteen elements that contribute to an ensemble’s success. The first seven are foundational theoretical concepts: goals, focus, attitudes, structures, procedures, responsibility, and ontology. The subsequent seven elements address practical techniques: study, warm-ups, sound, cohesion, expression, conducting, and repertoire.
While the book highlights the choral and orchestral mediums specifically, all concepts can be applied to any type of ensemble, from marching bands and wind ensembles to string quartets and vocal chamber groups. Further, the recommendations herein are not exclusively for the benefit of conductors. Music teachers, church musicians, ensemble members, and administrative staff will glean from these pages as well.
According to Shrock, excellence is an attainable goal for anyone with a vision, a persistent commitment to that vision, and creative strategies to facilitate that vision’s realization. With this inspiring premise at its core, this insightful text guides readers as they embark on their own quest for musical excellence.
Click here to purchase the book from GIA Music website
Handel’s Messiah – A Performance Practice Handbook (GIA 2013)
This book describes performance practices during Handel’s time and applies them directly to Messiah.
In specific, there is a compositional overview of the oratorio, presentation of the entire text, discussion of general manners of performance in the Baroque era, and application of these practices to every movement of Messiah. Of particular interest to performers are recommended tempos and sample ornaments.
Topics include:
Sound (timbre, volume, vibrato, and pitch)
Performing Forces (solos, choir, and orchestra, including basso continuo)
Meter and Tempo (tempo terms, tempo fluctuation, and recitative)
Articulation and Phrasing (metric accentuation and messa di voce)
Rhythmic Alteration (overdotting and conformity)
Ornamentation (appoggiaturas, trills, passage work, and cadenzas)
By viewing Messiah in this manner, it is hoped that those interested in Handel’s great oratorio (performers, students, teachers, inquisitive enthusiasts, and scholars) will be able to comprehend the oratorio in an historical context and to better appreciate the greatness of the music. By extension, it is hoped that the comprehension and application of performance practices in and to Messiah will transfer to other Baroque-era masterworks.
“This is a very useful handbook for anyone planning to conduct, sing, or accompany all or part of Handel’s Messiah. Author, Dennis Shrock examines each number of the oratorio and shows how Baroque performance practices can be applied. The result could only be a more nuanced, graceful, intelligible, and dramatic performance. Generous musical examples help make the suggestions as clear as possible.”
— Martin Goldray, review in The Diapason, November, 2014.
Choral Monuments (Oxford University Press 2017)
Choral Monuments provides extensive and in-depth information about eleven epoch-making choral masterworks that span the history of Western culture from the Renaissance to the Modern era. Included are: Missa Pange lingua by Josquin Desprez, Missa Papae Marcelli by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, the B Minor Mass by Johann Sebastian Bach, Messiah by George Frideric Handel, The Creation by Joseph Haydn, the Symphony #9 by Ludwig van Beethoven, St. Paul by Felix Mendelssohn, Ein deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms, Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi, Mass by Igor Stravinsky, and the War Requiem by Benjamin Britten. The works are presented in separate chapters, with each chapter divided into three basic sections – history, analysis, and performance practice. Discussions of history include biographical information about composers related to the work at hand, historical perspectives, and text sources. Analyses are focused on formal and musical structures, salient compositional techniques, and elements of music particular to the work being discussed, including parody and motivic organization. The discussion of performance practices includes primary source quotations about a wide range of topics, from performing forces, tempo, and phrasing of each work to specific issues such as tactus, text underlay, musica ficta, metric accentuation, rhythmic alteration, recitative, fermatas, and ornamentation. Musical examples and primary source quotes illuminate the material, and of particular interest are stage diagrams of original performances.
“Shrock manages to achieve a balance that is both scholarly and inspiring; the book is deep yet easy to read, adequately informative yet provides paths for further research. . . . Additionally, the organization, terse writing, and depth of approach are excellent examples of both musical and scholarly preparation for graduate students. This volume should be required reading for every student of choral music and aspiring or veteran conductor of choral masterworks. Shrock’s Choral Monuments is recommended for all music libraries and libraries with music collections.“
— Brian Cockburn, from the Journal of the Music Library Association, Volume 75, number 2, December 2018
“Reading this book, one gets the impression of Shrock as an excited professor, eager to share as many interesting facets of the topic at hand as he is able. . . . [He] provides a wealth of information useful to conductors, teachers, students, and even just connoisseurs of choral music. His writing style, unencumbered with theoretical jargon, should prove accessible to many. . . . For students, it provides a model for writing about repertoire in a way that is not simply a blow-by-blow account of musical events; rather, Shrock draws an effective picture of the whole. [At the end of the book’s introduction,] he expresses hope that his readers gain “greater comprehension and appreciation of these works that will result in enhanced personal fulfillment and more meaningful performances.” This book constitutes a valuable resource in that effort.“
— Kerry Glann, from The Choral Scholar, Volume 7, number 1, Spring 2018
“In this book, eminent choral conductor and scholar Dennis Shrock provides in-depth studies of eleven choral works dating from the Renaissance to the Twentieth Century. The eleven works Shrock examines have long enjoyed a reputation as masterpieces of not only the choral repertoire, but also Western classical music in general, and these essays present instructive scholarly perspective on the reasons this is so. Shrock’s deep familiarity with the repertoire and the place of each piece in music history greatly enriches his endeavor. A required resource for those interested in classical choral music.”
— Donna Arnold, Music Reference Librarian, University of North Texas
“Choral Monumentsis a testament to the meaningful relationship between music scholarship and performance. This book provides a deeply pedagogic look into the genesis and historical context of eleven epoch-defining masterworks while offering insight into practical contemporary performance practices. Shrock’s writing is scholarly and thorough, yet approachable, clear, and concise. Of note, the inclusion of historical and contemporary stage diagrams, based on primary source material, inspire the reader to consider accessible performance-enhancing techniques. Choral Monuments imparts new and engaging insights to inform decisions on the podium and enhances our relationship to these great masterworks. It is an essential text for students and professionals alike.”
— Ryan Chatterton, conductor and music educator
Click here to purchase the book from GIA Music website
Performance Practices in the Classical Era (GIA 2011)
This book presents information from more than 100 Classical-era authors and composers about the performance of music during their time. Being contemporary to music during the years of its composition and first performance, the information is direct or primary, and as such, the instructions and commentaries presented here have not been subjected to the vagaries that affect communication from one person to another over decades or generations. Absent are the inevitable results of accounts from secondary sources (e.g., interpretations, re-interpretations, opinionated colorings, modifications to accommodate changes of fashion and taste, and dependencies on memory), which, however well-intentioned, alter original meaning or intent.
The primary sources cover a broad spectrum: 1) they represent the entire time frame of the Classical era from 1751 to the 1830s (and sometimes beyond to show that a particular performance practice continued into the beginning or even middle years of the Romantic era); 2) every decade of the era is represented, as well as most years within the decade (e.g., there are sources from every year of the 1770s and all but three years each of the 1760s, 1780s, and 1790s); 3) the sources come from all across Europe—most specifically Germany, France, Italy, England, and Spain—and also from the United States; 4) the subject matter of the sources encompasses virtually every type of performing medium and genre of composition common in the era, including the flute, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, kettledrum, violin, viola, cello, stringed bass, singer, a variety of keyboard instruments, and all types of vocal and instrumental music; and 5) the sources are in a diversity of formats, including instruction books (such as treatises, primers, or tutorial methods that are meant to educate), diaries that comment on performances of the time, prefaces to compositions by composers of the era, and dictionaries, letters, biographies, and essays.
Topics of consideration include:
Sound (soft and sweet ideals, vibrato, pitch, instrumentation, and conducting)
Tempo (meter influencing tempo, tempo rates and terms, and tempo fluctuation and rubato)
Articulation and Phrasing (messa di voce, instrumental and vocal articulation, and phrasing)
Metric Accentuation (long and short rhythmic values, and strong and weak metric beats)
Rhythmic Alteration (overdotting and triplet conformity)
Ornamentation (appoggiaturas, trills, mordents and other single-note embellishments, and cadenzas)
Expression (extra-musical factors and volume adjustment)
These sources are augmented and illustrated by numerous musical examples from the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn.
“Dennis Shrock’s book Performance Practices in the Classical Era, published by GIA Publications, presents the reader with the most concise and well-defended text on performance practices of the late-eighteenth century. Many musicians have limited awareness of the study of period performance practice and often only associate performance practice with the use of period instruments. As Dr. Shrock states so clearly, “The study of performance practice is really the study of notation; it is an inquiry into the meaning of written music so as to determine its precise intent and, therefore, its manifestation in performance.” The notation is the beginning; the understanding and application of the realization of the meaning of the notation is what will create an historically informed successful performance. In his book, one will find an explanation of various musical parameters including sound, tempo, articulation and phrasing, metric accentuation, rhythmic alteration, expression, and a large chapter on ornamentation. Each of these aspects is explained and defended with historical primary source descriptions and with musical examples. For the choral musician, this is a must read for a proper understanding and for accomplishing an appropriate performance of late eighteenth-century music, such as that of Haydn and Mozart. Haydn and Mozart musical examples are utilized throughout the book for illustration. Dr. Shrock has been absorbing and writing about historical performance practice for most of his career. This book is one of the great contributions to the field and a must on the shelf of all conductors.”
— Don Trott, Director of Choral Activities, University of Mississippi
Click here to purchase the book from GIA Music website
A Conductor’s Guide to Choral/Orchestral Repertoire
Authored with James Moyer
This guide consists of annotated listings of more than 1,200 works for chorus and orchestra by 250 composers of the Western Hemisphere. The listings are intended for conductors of professional, community, church, and educational organizations, including those at the high school and collegiate levels, with the purpose of aiding the conductors in the selection of works for programming and in ascertaining important information about the works.
Each listing identifies:
the composer’s name, dates of birth and death, and nationality
the approximate duration of the work in minutes
the original title of the work, with alternate titles if they exist as well as English translations of foreign language titles
the date of the composition, with commissions and premieres of historical importance
the language and source of the work’s text
the complete scoring of the composition, including soloists
the name of the publisher or publishers, including the online source IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project), which has numerous original editions.
Five appendices further aid the conductor by listing works in categories of choral scoring, orchestral scoring, duration, textual subject, and publisher contact information.