A River rather than a road: The Community Choir as Spiritual experience

This book is an exploration of English community choirs, their music and their leadership from a very personal perspective, which brings together Sarah Morgan’s background as a folk musician, her career in training and facilitation, and her developing understanding of the world of the choir. Much of this book was originally submitted for a Professional Doctorate at the University of Winchester. Sadly, before completing the degree Sarah died. She was awarded the qualification posthumously. The literature upon which this book draws is hugely diverse, drawing on musicology, music therapy, community arts, spirituality, philosophy, theology, sociology and education. It is a cross-disciplinary or trans-disciplinary book and looks at the phenomenon of the community choir through a number of lenses associated with spirituality, in a way that draws on the methodology of crystallization. So this is a review of Sarah Morgan’s work in many fields, leading to her achievement of the position of a highly regarded performer, choir leader, arranger and trainer. It is the story of a journey that I hope will inform other people’s journeys in this area.