Pitch Perfect: A Theory and Practice of Choral Intonation

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Music, no matter how ordered, how technical, how precise, how detailed, how exquisite...if it doesn't have human emotion, and the humanness of our souls connected, the performance will not sustain our lasting interest. The surface of the performance may sound finessed and superior, but without the ability to make the music in the moment through a process of deep devotion to each note, the performance will lack depth and the deepest of human connection.” These are the words of Professor Emeritus of Music Donald Brinegar in his highly anticipated book, "Pitch Perfect: A Theory and Practice of Choral Intonation." In this manuscript, Professor Brinegar will share his love of music that has culminated in the lifelong dream of publishing a book on performance practices for choral ensembles. Be the first to experience the methods of this acclaimed maestro, conductor, tenor soloist, voice instructor, educator and masterclass clinician, as he demonstrates the success of his choral pedagogy and harmonic expertise.

Here is what the experts are saying:

“Donald Brinegar’s deeply scholarly, highly original Pitch Perfect is the result of his life-long study and practice of choral tuning.
His decades of choral workshops on this topic have become legendary and his book details numerous areas of theoretical and practical means that form the basis of his approach, including various tuning systems, scales and modes, tetrachords and the medieval hexachordal system, acoustics, text study, rehearsal techniques, and many others, all carefully organized through a system of nested hierarchies grouping related topics. Brinegar then applies his theories to a number of specific compositions from the Renaissance to the present day. Pitch Perfect is an essential book for the library of all choral conductors, written by an esteemed choral master.” Dr. Morten Lauridsen, internationally renowned composer

Add this to the purchase The Teacher's Companion to Pitch Perfect A Theory and Practice of Choral Intonation gives step by step lesson plans for the implementation of Pitch Perfect. Lesson plans include material for: Theory classes, Choral Seminars, Choral Rehearsals, Master Classes, and Conference Presentations.

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"Pitch Perfect brilliantly combines two of Don Brinegar’s lifelong loves – teaching and the art of comprehensive score preparation. He connects a wide variety of important technical data, puts it in his "teacher centrifuge," and the result is a unique and fresh new perspective on musical nature, with practical application to conducting, score analysis, and performance. Serious emerging and seasoned conductors need a copy of this book!" Dr. Z. Randall Stroope, Composer and University Professor

My musical life changed when I discovered that the major third my tenors were singing at the final cadence of a Renaissance motet WERE in tune, but it was in tune to a different tuning system than the tempered piano. THANK Y0U maestro Brinegar for sharing your tuning system with me more than twenty years ago and codifying it in “Pitch Perfect.” The tuning system outlined in this new book is cellular, functional, historical, lunar, mathematical, musical, natural, over-tonal, partial, philosophical, practical, scientific, solar, spiritual, tetra-chordal, under-tonal, hexa-chordal, and visual. Vocal colors emerge from a natural system of balancing and tuning chords. Functional and helpful conducting gestures suggest themselves from an understanding of the tuning hierarchy. Sharing this tuning system with my singers enabled them to sing more beautifully, more balanced, more resonant, and more expressive than ever before, and has influenced all of my compositions.