A choir is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which spans from the medieval era to the present, or popular music repertoire. Most choirs are led by a conductor, who leads the performances with arm, hand, and facial gestures.
The Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) is a doctoral academic degree in music. The DMA combines advanced studies in an applied area of specialization with graduate-level academic study in subjects such as music history, music theory, or Music education. The DMA degree usually takes about three to four years of full-time study to complete, preparing students to be professional performers, conductors, and composers. As a terminal degree, the DMA qualifies its recipient to work in university, college, and conservatory teaching/research positions. Students seeking doctoral training in musicology or music theory typically enter a DME or Ph.D. program, rather than a DMA program.
For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and divinity schools.
The Graduate Theological Union (GTU) is a consortium of eight private independent American theological schools and eleven centers and affiliates. Seven of the theological schools are located in Berkeley, California. The GTU was founded in 1962 and their students can take courses at the University of California, Berkeley. Additionally, some of the GTU consortial schools are part of other California universities such as Santa Clara University and California Lutheran University. Most of the GTU consortial schools are located in Berkeley area with the majority north of the campus in a neighborhood known as "Holy Hill" due to the cluster of GTU seminaries and centers located there.
Westminster Choir College (WCC) is a historic conservatory of music currently operating on the campus of Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Rider's College of Arts and Sciences, the college under which the historic institution has been reorganized, consists of Westminster Choir College as well as three additional schools.
The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance is an undergraduate and graduate institution for the performing arts in the United States. It is part of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. The school was founded in 1880 after Henry Simmons Frieze, founder and president of the Choral Union and the University Musical Society, urged leaders to include music among the school's offerings. The college was known then as the Ann Arbor School of Music. It was later incorporated into the University of Michigan with Calvin Brainerd Cady joining the faculty as the first instructor in music, after already being hired by Frieze to conduct the Choral Union.
Divinity is the study of Christian theology and ministry at a school, divinity school, university, or seminary. The term is sometimes a synonym for theology as an academic, speculative pursuit, and sometimes is used for the study of applied theology and ministry to make a distinction between that and academic theology.
Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
The University of Chicago Divinity School is a private graduate institution at the University of Chicago dedicated to the training of academics and clergy across religious boundaries. Formed under Baptist auspices, the school today lacks any sectarian affiliations.
Theological aesthetics is the interdisciplinary study of theology and aesthetics, and has been defined as being "concerned with questions about God and issues in theology in the light of and perceived through sense knowledge, through beauty, and the arts". This field of study is broad and includes not only a theology of beauty, but also the dialogue between theology and the arts, such as dance, drama, film, literature, music, poetry, and the visual arts.
Berkeley Divinity School, founded in 1854, is a seminary of The Episcopal Church in New Haven, Connecticut. Along with Andover Newton Theological School and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Berkeley is one of the three "Partners on the Quad," which compose a part of the Yale Divinity School at Yale University. Thus, Berkeley operates as a denominational seminary within an ecumenical divinity school. Berkeley has historically represented a Broad church orientation among Anglican seminaries in the country, and was the fourth independent seminary to be founded, after General Theological Seminary (1817), Virginia Theological Seminary (1823), and Nashotah House (1842). Berkeley's institutional antecedents began at Trinity College, Hartford in 1849. The institution was formally chartered in Middletown, Connecticut in 1854, moved to New Haven in 1928, and amalgamated with Yale in 1971.
Perkins School of Theology is one of Southern Methodist University's three original schools and is located in Dallas, Texas. The theology school was renamed in 1945 to honor benefactors Joe J. and Lois Craddock Perkins of Wichita Falls, Texas. Degree programs include the Master of Divinity (M.Div.), Master of Sacred Music, Master of Theological Studies (MTS), Master of Arts in Ministry, Master of Theology (Th.M.), Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.), and Doctor of Pastoral Music as well as the Ph.D., in cooperation with The Graduate Program in Religious Studies at SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences. It is one of only five university-related theological institutions of the United Methodist Church, and one of the denomination's 13 seminaries, offering opportunities for interdisciplinary learning, and accredited by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS). There is a hybrid-extension program in Houston-Galveston.
David Hill, is a choral conductor and organist. Since July 2013, he is Professor Adjunct of Choral Conducting and Principal Conductor of Yale Schola Cantorum at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. His highest-profile roles are as Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers from September 2007 until 2017, and Musical Director of The Bach Choir since April 1998.
The Master of Sacred Music degree is a two to five-year post-baccalaureate degree that combines academic and musical studies. The closure of graduate programs in organ performance across America has made the MSM increasingly the de facto degree for advanced studies in church music; MSM graduates who wish to continue their studies have the option of academic or applied (DMA) tracks. Most MSM programs are limited to choral conducting and organ performance, as these two applied fields are the primary occupations of church music directors. Piano Performance is usually taught as a subdiscipline or acquired separately.
Mark Bailey is an American conductor and baroque violist. He is the founder and artistic director of the American Baroque Orchestra. Bailey specializes in Slavic music of the 17th and 18th centuries, in addition to baroque, classical, and romantic repertoire, and is the current director of the Yale Russian Chorus. Bailey frequently guest conducts ensembles such as the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Cappella Romana, The Portland Baroque Orchestra, and Pro Coro Canada. He often gives presentations on Slavic baroque music and historical performance practice, and has been a principal guest speaker for the Great Performers series, the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center in New York City, the 2016 Musicking Conference at the University of Oregon, and the Indiana University International Performance Practice Conference.
Armando V. Salarza is an internationally acclaimed concert organist, harpsichordist, conductor and the titular organist of the Bamboo Organ of Las Piñas City, Philippines.
The Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, Drama, and Art is the school of arts with the School of Music, Department of Drama, and Department of Art of The Catholic University of America, located in Washington D.C.
Baby Varghese, born in India, is a Malankara Orthodox priest and a Church historian and scholar in Syriac Liturgical Theology.
Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan is an African-American womanist theologian, professor, author, poet, and an elder in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. She is Professor-Emerita of Religion and Women's Studies and Director of Women's Studies at Shaw University Divinity School. She is the author or editor of numerous books, including the volume Women and Christianity in a series on Women and Religion in the World, published by Praeger.
Bryan Douglas Spinks FRHistS is Bishop F. Percy Goddard Professor of Liturgical Studies and Pastoral Theology at Yale Divinity School, the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and Berkeley Divinity School. He is a British priest in the Church of England and officiates in the Episcopal Church in the United States.
