Queerly Joyful Noise

JULIA “JULES” BALÉN, professor of English and a founding faculty member of Chicana/o Studies, Freedom & Justice Studies, and Philosophy at the California State University system’s newest campus, Channel Islands (in Camarillo), has been involved in queer choral movement for almost 30 years and has dedicated her research, writing, service, and community work to creating greater equity for all. BalÉn's home is in the San Francisco Bay Area.

"I have spent many hours pondering how it is that our work as LGBTQ choruses impacts social change. Julia's book made me laugh and cry but most importantly informs our ongoing efforts to enhance our effectiveness at creating social change through the power of music."- Robin L. Godfrey (executive director, GALA Choruses) “BalÉn’s book sweeps you into the life of LGBTQ choral music. As a conductor in the GALA network for 30 years, it is a joy to see it so beautifully described in this important book. BalÉn is able to take the reader on a beautiful journey and educate us all along the path. Every person – gay or straight – who loves music should read this book.” - Dr. Timothy Seelig (Artistic Director, San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus) "BalÉn accurately unwraps our shared queer choral musiking with vision and depth while also tracing our connections to other contemporary movements for social justice and equality. In addition, she is able to capture familiar choral issues, events, rehearsals, and performance experiences with humor and aha moments. Wonderfully readable and well researched. Enthusiastically recommended."- Dr. Catherine Roma (founder of Anna Crusis Women's Choir and current conductor of Hope Thru Harmony Women's Choir) “A unique and seminal study, A Queerly Joyful Noise: Choral Musicking for Social Justice is exceptionally informative and extraordinarily well written. An important and primary work of original scholarship.”(Midwest Book Review) "BalÉn give[s] special weight to women’s and mixed choruses, which have often been neglected in this discussion....If you happen to be thinking about forming an LGBT chorus in your town, it might serve you well to study BalÉn’s treatise for useful direction."  (People's World) "Cultural Singing as Personal and Political," by Julia 'Jules' Balen(Gay & Lesbian Review) A Queerly Joyful Noise chosen as Choice "Outstanding Academic Title 2018" (Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2018) "BalÉn effectively establishes and substantiates a theoretical framework that illustrates 'a larger picture of queer choral musicking as a social practice with a purpose.' Because the movement centers LGBTQ stories in music designed for social change, BalÉn centers the stories of her interviewees for discussion here. She explores questions pertaining to why LGBTQ singers join gay and lesbian choruses working toward social change, as well as how those choruses both measure and achieve lasting social change." (Ethnomusicology)

• ContentsIntroduction: Why Choruses?Part I: Finding our VoicesChapter 1: Singing as Counterstorying PracticeChapter 2: Choral Musicking for ChangePart II: Queer Organizing for Social ChangeChapter 3: Practices of Identity: Queering Social InstitutionsChapter 4: Queer Choral Musicking: Cultural ContextsChapter 5: Choral Technologies for QueeringPart III: Communal Erotics and Social JusticeChapter 6: Emotions, Identities, and Choral MusickingChapter 7: Communal Erotics: Choral Musicking and Our Capacity for JoyAcknowledgmentsBibliography