If, as a choral conductor, you have ever wondered what your amateur choristers were really thinking and how you can improve your choir’s confidence both musically and socially, then this book is for you. It provides an insightful view into the subjective perceptions and emotional experiences of amateur choral singers written with a view to empowering established, and aspiring, conductors with practical advice in order to build the confident choir. Like other excellent books and book chapters on choral pedagogy (e.g., Abrahams & Head, 2017; Garnet, 2009), Bonshor’s work is based on original research. However, in this case, it has been written with the non-academic audience in mind. The introduction starts by easing the reader in an accessible way into the study aims, details of the amateur chorister participants and the methodological approach of the research. It also provides reflexivity and background information about the author. Bonshor’s original research results are then discussed alongside the existing literature and presented within relevant philosophical and psychological frameworks. Each chapter concentrates on a specific aspect of confident choral building based on the thematic results from Bonshor’s interviews which grow into useful and practical lists of exercises and suggestions. His first theme is conveying and cultivating confidence, which explores what participants have observed about the embodiment and communication of confidence in other singers and also considers the contribution of the conductor. Practice, preparation and presentation cover areas such as performance anxiety, rehearsal strategies, considerations when choosing repertoire and the practicalities of getting ready for performance. Bonshor then discusses issues of choir formation and configuration both in the rehearsal room and on the stage from acoustics, confidence, communication and visual viewpoints. The next chapter highlights the socio-educational aspects of choral singing such as developing peer learning, welcoming new choir members and dealing with conflicts. The final section is dedicated to the investigation and development of conducting style covering, for example, different types of feedback and consideration of choristers’ diversity and individual needs. In conclusion, there is a short chapter outlining Bonshor’s personal philosophy of the ‘singer-centred’ (p.145) choral conducting approach and there is a final checklist for conductors who wish to follow his example. Of particular interest are Bonshor’s original findings which sometimes conflict with the existing literature. For example, he explains the principle of ‘self-to-other ratio (SOR)’ (p.58) which is the ratio of your perception of your own sound in relation to those singing around you. Previous research highlighted by Bonshor had demonstrated that choristers preferred to hear themselves more clearly in reference to those around them (positive SOR) (Ternström, 1994). However, Bonshor’s participants preferred the opposite, in other words, they preferred to hear other choristers rather than themselves. These conflicting results may be due to different types of choral participants responding to different research aims but what is clear is that choral directors need to be aware of these differences. To get the most confidence out of different types and groups of singers, it may be necessary to take this information into account when arranging choir configurations. Bonshor also highlights another area that is seldom addressed in the choral training literature and, in my opinion, is also rarely considered by choral conductors on the rostrum: the importance

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自信的合唱团：Michael Bonshor 的合唱团领袖手册。Rowman & Littlefield，2017 年，212 页，精装本。73 英镑。国际标准书号：978-1-5381-0278-7

如果，作为一名合唱指挥，您曾经想知道您的业余合唱团的真实想法以及如何提高合唱团在音乐和社交方面的信心，那么这本书就是为您准备的。它提供了对业余合唱歌手的主观感知和情感体验的深刻见解，旨在为已建立和有抱负的指挥家提供实用建议，以建立自信的合唱团。与其他有关合唱教学的优秀书籍和书籍章节（例如，Abrahams & Head, 2017; Garnet, 2009）一样，Bonshor 的工作基于原创研究。但是，在这种情况下，它是在考虑非学术观众的情况下编写的。引言首先以易于理解的方式使读者了解研究目标，业余合唱团参与者的详细信息和研究方法。它还提供了有关作者的反身性和背景信息。Bonshor 的原始研究结果随后与现有文献一起讨论，并在相关的哲学和心理学框架内呈现。根据 Bonshor 采访的主题结果，每一章都集中在自信合唱建设的一个特定方面，这些结果发展成有用和实用的练习和建议清单。他的第一个主题是传递和培养信心，探讨参与者对其他歌手信心的体现和交流的观察，同时也考虑了指挥家的贡献。练习、准备和演示涵盖了表现焦虑等领域，排练策略，选择曲目时的考虑因素以及为表演做准备的实用性。Bonshor 然后从声学、信心、沟通和视觉角度讨论了排练室和舞台上合唱团的形成和配置问题。下一章强调合唱的社会教育方面，例如发展同伴学习、欢迎新合唱团成员和处理冲突。最后一节专门研究和发展指挥风格，例如不同类型的反馈和考虑合唱团的多样性和个人需求。总之，有一个简短的章节概述了 Bonshor 的“以歌手为中心”的个人哲学（第 10 页）。145) 合唱指挥方法，并为希望效仿他的指挥家准备了一份最终清单。特别令人感兴趣的是 Bonshor 的原始发现，该发现有时与现有文献相冲突。例如，他解释了“自我与他人比率 (SOR)”（第 58 页）的原理，即您对自己声音的感知与周围唱歌的比率。Bonshor 强调的先前研究表明，唱诗班的人更喜欢听到他们周围的人更清楚地听到自己的声音（正 SOR）（Ternström，1994 年）。然而，Bonshor 的参与者更喜欢相反的情况，换句话说，他们更喜欢听到其他合唱团而不是他们自己。这些相互矛盾的结果可能是由于不同类型的合唱参与者对不同的研究目标做出反应，但很明显，合唱导演需要意识到这些差异。为了从不同类型和不同的歌手群体中获得最大的信心，在安排合唱团配置时可能需要考虑这些信息。Bonshor 还强调了合唱训练文献中很少涉及的另一个领域，在我看来，主席台上的合唱指挥也很少考虑：重要性