Chorusmaster

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A musician who leads, trains, and directs the singers in a choir or choral group during rehearsals and performances
2. The director responsible for teaching and conducting a chorus, ensuring proper technique and unified musical expression
3. Someone who trains and conducts a group of singers, managing both the musical interpretation and vocal quality of the ensemble

Etymology: "Chorusmaster" is a plain compound of "chorus" and "master," joining the Greek-derived word for a group of singers with the English word for one who leads or controls. "Chorus" comes into English through Latin "chorus" from Greek "khoros," originally a dance performed by a group of singers, and the sense of a body of singers came later. "Master" is an older English word meaning someone in charge, a teacher, or an expert. The compound describes a person who directs a chorus, and it is closely related to "choirmaster," which carries the same idea. The two are doublets in the sense that they arose from the same pair of ideas, with "choir" coming to English through Old French from the same Latin and Greek ancestry as "chorus," while "chorus" arrived through a more learned route. The two words therefore differ mainly in which of those routes each took, and in which of them became common in ordinary speech.

Synonyms: chorus director, choir director, maestro