My Masters Conference

The MAs at York have a mini-conference coming up. Here’s my abstract and bio. I should get on to writing the paper, you think?

Rajaton: A Cappella Ensembles in Today’s Musical Culture

From origins in Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony, the role of a cappella music has changed greatly. In the twentieth century, music for unaccompanied voices continued in the style of the previous choral tradition and also spawned new genres: barbershop, doo wop, R&B, and vocal jazz. Outside of these styles other groups combined features of classical and popular music, employing both centuries-old techniques of choral singing as well as new vocal methods. In this field, the success of small secular ensembles such as The Swingle Singers and the King’s Singers paved the way for current groups such as The Real Group and Rajaton.

The Finnish vocal group Rajaton is a model of a modern a cappella group in today’s musical culture. The group consists of six mixed voices and has been acclaimed by both choral and popular music listeners. Their style utilized techniques common in both classical and non-classical styles. Did their style emerge from choral music influenced by popular methods or was it the other way around? Rajaton is also known for its progressive as well as expert performances. They have been financially successful with many of their CDs achieving platinum sales. While these successes have been both commercial and artistic, is the motivation profit or musical excellence? Finally, as is increasingly the case with modern music, categorizing Rajaton’s music into common genres is no simple task: their music unmistakably encompasses aspects of classical, pop, jazz, and world music. Can this music be classified into one category? And does it matter?

Laura Kishimoto is from Toronto, Canada, and is currently completing her Masters in Vocal Studies with John Potter at the University of York. Her academic and performance experience spans both choral and solo works within the early and contemporary eras, and she particularly enjoys performing with small a cappella ensembles. In the spring of 2006 she graduated with a Bachelor of Music Honours degree in theory and early music performance from the University of Western Ontario.