Moving towards a comprehensive model of choral director training development in the Hong Kong context

This paper draws together the central ideas and findings of three recent research studies, including a preliminary investigation, a peer support attachment scheme and school mentoring scheme by evaluating how primary level choral direction training can be formally integrated into Higher Education in Hong Kong. This seems especially important, given the historical context and the social and cultural significance of choirs in Hong Kong, especially the strong treble choir tradition, which has emerged exclusively out of classroom practices. To begin, a summary of these research studies be made, in which findings of these studies will be explored and used to shape methodological and theoretical discussions which move towards the development of a comprehensive model for choral training in the Hong Kong context. In light of the emergent theoretical and practical suggestions, I have decided to finish this paper by making what I believe is another step forward. It is an attempt to trace the process from chorister, to student director, and trainer through to expert, elite choral director development. It is achieved by synthesising all the literature and practical work undertaken so far in these research studies. Given the special situation in Hong Kong, I have decided to turn to the premises of five key elements drawn from the wisdom of the ancient Chinese civilization which is adopted from Sun Tzu’s War and Management as presented by Wee, Lee and Bambang (1996). The five key elements include Situation Appraisal, Formulation of Goals and Strategies, Evaluation of Strategies, Implementation of Strategies and Strategic Control. Indeed, there are limited studies relating the application of military strategies to choral teaching and learning has been undertaken. These are to operate from the ground level of the choral rehearsal (the situation), through to the formulation of strategies for the choral director, which of course implies how the student choral directors need to be trained– implementing strategies; and then through to professional development through mentoring and peer support. This then becomes another cyclical, research-like process.