Difficulty as a criterion for repertoire selection for adult amateur choirs: trends in the literature

Abstract

This article is a report of the literature review stage of the author’s ongoing doctoral research, which addresses the problem of the lack of consistent assessment tools for evaluating the difficulty level of choral repertoire beyond preexisting catalogs. This article aims to examine how the literature approaches the issue of repertoire difficulty for amateur adult choirs and identify trends, as well as to list parameters for assessing such difficulty. It was observed that the difficulty of a choral work: is related to the rehearsal time needed to prepare the work; is evident especially in the small dimensions of the work; and is only manifested in the relationship between the work and a choir. An exploratory search confirmed significant inconsistency in existing methods for classifying choral repertoire by difficulty level. A literature search in academic databases demonstrated that difficulty is considered one of many possible criteria for repertoire selection – not the most important one, but a highly relevant criterion recurring in over half of the authors studied. Finally, a survey of parameters associated with difficulty in the bibliography was conducted. The items found were organized into parameters of composition and of choir and chorister’s skills and characteristics, along with several subcategories. Such parameters will contribute to the construction of an analytical index, which is one of the objectives of the aforementioned doctoral research.