Hi hi 👋🏼 looking at a relocation and hoping for some insight into the choral scenes in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Chicago.

For context, I'm currently in Atlanta and sing professionally with an Episcopal cathedral choir that is one of the most prestigious in the country (it's just facts). I do solo and small ensemble work as well, mostly along the classical/church music vein but also vocal jazz.

Does anybody have perspective on the scenes in the listed cities, what opportunities there are, and how difficult it would be to break in and start making connections as a newcomer to the area? Thanks for any tips/insight!

Hello All!

I’m considering repertoire ideas for my community choir. I have yet to settle on a concert theme but the idea that is floating in my head right now is “What it means to love.”

Not just the joy of love but also the the struggle, pain, and all the other storms of feelings that come from loving, being loved, losing love (or a loved one) and even wanting love.

There is a ton of repertoire out there, I know, but I’m interested in any recommendations you might have.

About my group:

• SATB Community Choir
• Mix of skills levels but we do sing collegiate level music quite a bit
• Divisi is okay for us

Composers we have sung and the group seemed to show keen interest in are:

• Frank Ticheli
• Morten Lauridsen
• Jake Runwstad
• Ēriks Ešenvalds
• Stephen Paulus
• Michael Barrett
• Ola Gjeilo
• Rihards Dubra
• Julio Morales
• Chengzhi Jin (Aaron King)
• Hideki Chihara

Personally, I would like to expand our repertoire with more “standard” rep. Composers that the group seemed to enjoy from past performances are Purcell, Bruckner, and Poulenc.

That being said, I am still open to contemporary repertoire.

Given our resources (read: “finances”) a cappella works best for us but we can also consider works with piano accompaniment.

Languages: we can do just about any language. We have native speakers of English, Spanish, German, Finnish, Dutch, Tagalog, Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese. We also have classically trained singers with training in lyric German, French, Italian, and Latin.

Hi all,

Any recommendations for traditional songs for soprano that would be suitable for a wedding? It needs to be either unaccompanied or with a guitar arrangement, as there's no piano available at the venue.

I was trying to think of the songs used for the traditional song section of ABRSM exams, but I only did ones that are pretty melancholic, so would welcome some more uplifting suggestions.

Thanks so much!

Hey everyone! I’m a choral director in Texas and I have been trying to find anyone with a copy of John Chorbajian’s “Three Poems from a Shropshire Lad.” I performed one of the selections from it years ago and wanted to take a look at it again and the other 2 pieces in the set. It has been impossible for me to find in a way that is easy accessible, since it has been out of print for some time now. If anyone can help me find it, I would appreciate it greatly!

Hi! It’s my senior year and my choir teacher really wants us to branch out! I normally sing a musical theater piece, but like I said, it’s a bit overdone. I would consider my voice type to be mezzo soprano through alto, if you guys can suggest some pieces?

And, as a bonus if you can, I really like that musical theater type of style!

Thanks!

Hi i'm reaching you to ask if anyone would know the name of a song played in a documentary (timestamp included) https://youtu.be/I1qfBb7GDls?t=53m55s It's seems like it is sang in russian I've recognized few chant from the Old Testament but i can't find this one and the end credits doesn't mention it. Please help

I’m looking to expand my playlists and welcome all recommendations.

This recording of “I Sing of a Maiden” is a recent favorite of mine:

https://youtu.be/WIfTHDcA08g

Hello,

I am looking for a specific arrangement of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" that I sang as a kid in a choir. It's in Ab and SSA. After the first verse and chorus, the voices enter one after another, singing the same words but starting at different times and pitches, like a fugue. I found this arrangement by John Rutter which is very similar (except for the end) but is not the one I'm looking for (in SSA, not SATB). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1VuIoFlmxQ&ab_channel=ChesterCountyChoralSociety

Would anyone know about this arrangement?

Thank you in advance

Sung in US public school choir in the late 90s/early 00s. The only line I can remember is “the sun moved southward in the sky above.” I can’t find it anywhere and all searches turn up the same songs which are NOT it (“In the Bleak Midwinter,” “Midwinter Noel,” “Solstice Carol”). Granted, the song I’m looking for may go by one of those names, too, but the top searches and the deep dive searches have yielded nothing. I’m starting to think I hallucinated this song! Please help save my crumbling mind. Thank you!

Adding a clip of the tune as best I can remember (please ignore the voice quality or lack there of) https://voca.ro/1atiJbXNfuOn

(Cross posting with r/namethatsong for visibility)

I've already posted this to r/classicalmusic, but I thought I might try the experts here.

There's a piece of choral music my music teacher played for me years ago which I'd love to listen to again and study... but I just can't think of the name or how it goes *facepalm*

It was unaccompanied and for 8 voices (I think) and came with millions of overlapping suspensions right out of the gate. It wasn't contemporary and I know it's a mainstream enough piece in the classical world because I know I've listened to it since. Pretty sure it was in Latin, but I could be wrong. It might have been by an English composer, but I'm not as sure about this.

I know that this is a vague enough description that I might be describing nearly anything, but I'd really appreciate any help I could get in finding this piece. I'd also be appreciative to hear other pieces that fit this description to see how they do it similarly/differently.

Are the pronunciation guides (for English-speaking choirs) printed with many pieces of music generally regarded as being true to the foreign language of the work? I ask because the choirs I sing with have highly-qualified members who challenge the pronunciation of the non-English language pieces we work on, and we inevitably adopt their revisions. I'd starting to question if we should be accepting their scholarship over that in the published works. Maybe we should, I would just some perspective. Are they typically written by a composer or publisher who is fluent in French, Estonian, old English, or who has knowledgeable sources?

Hey, I (15m) am going for district choir auditions tomorrow, any tips on what I should do in the morning to prepare? I know drinking tea helps and I plan on doing that, but is there anything else? Additionally, any tips on controlling nerves before and during the audition? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

https://preview.redd.it/tow2e243jh2e1.jpg?width=1856&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dde1fb6af663ce5fcfe8d8fbe51e0a100da3cba5

Hello all! I'm a sophomore choral music education major. My CNAfME group is doing a choral conducting masterclass in the spring and our advisor is allowing us to pick a piece in advance to score study. It needs to be SATB, a cappella, and simple/accomplishable for our group of about 20-25 college students (a decent mix of instrumental and choral music education majors). I'm definitely thinking more of a slower piece tempo-wise.

My first two ideas were "Set Me As A Seal" by Rene Clausen and Pilgrim's Hymn by Stephen Paulus, but I'd love to know what other pieces y'all have in mind. Thanks for any answers.

A conductor I'm playing for wants to do Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium for choir, but with piano accompaniment (there's a version Lauridsen made for solo voice and organ). However, the sheet music is on back-order. Does anyone happen to have a copy they could shoot over to me for perusal before my original copy gets here?

Would really appreciate some help getting some insight into how UK Choirs source music and distribute it to their singers! Its completely anonymous and should only take 4-5 minutes.

The survey is here: pmll.info/ChoirSurvey2024

Thank you to anyone who takes part, it is so very much appreciated.

Me and three friends of mine sing in a choir regularly but are planning to do a few songs just the four of us for the choir yearly party. Any of you guys have any good tips for fun/jazzy songs We could do? The choir usually sings somewhat serious classical pieces, so it would be fun to do something less serious for the party.

Like the title says, an absolute long shot but, I'm not above asking favours of complete (internet) strangers. Pictured is one half of a set of Pippin octavos, published by Belwin Mills in the early 70's. I've got Corner of the Sky. Now I'm in hot pursuit of the opener, Magic to Do... My recollection says it will have the exact same cover, save for it being MtD. Like I said...long shot. Maybe someone out here might help...! Thanks to all who stopped to read.... These arrangements are long out-of-print.

Me and my friends are looking for a good trio song, we are SSA. We are open to any kind of song but we really like crunchy harmonies and powerful songs. Please if you have any suggestions 🙏🤞

Hello choir people!
I lead an vocal octet over here in Stockholm, Sweden. Many years ago, I sang a TTBB arr. of the spiritual Deep River when I was in the Penn State Glee Club.
I think it was this one. https://youtu.be/MBp0Ts23AGI?si=bRG6LWHPW7T0uxAZ

It has always been my favorite. And I wanted to do it again with the men's quartet in our group. Does anybody know anything about the arrangement and where I can find sheet music? I can't find it.
Thanks so much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP9yIAVBzIY

Let me know what you think!

Hi! I’m still in my bachelors but I want to start building my library now because I know books are expensive but I also think that they are some of the best resources out there. I was wondering if yall have any good recommendations for books on choral conducting, composing, treble choirs, choral resources in general, and even self-care type books for this field if you know of any. I’d love books that are more recent and preferably published within the last 10 years, but if you have a fire recommendation and it’s older that’s totally fine :D

Thank you for your recommendations <3

This is super specific, but I'm hoping someone has something. I'm looking for an SSA trio (yes, it has to be a trio, no 4 parts splits) specifically about loving music/needing music

I strongly wanted to do "I Am In Need Of Music" (David L Brunner) but any arrangement I find is 4 part, and then I wanted to do "We Are The Music Makers" (Reginal Wright) but there's too many parts in there that 2 part for too long and it feels to simple for regional competitions.

So does anyone know something that either fits the criteria or has an SSA song they loved and want to share? Thanks!

I’m not really looking for advice, just a little rant to the community 😂

So my choir program has finally seen some growth. And it wasn’t just a couple of kids. My ensembles doubled, tripled, and quadrupled in size (3 different groups, non-auditioned) Which is amazing BUT none of the new kids have ever sung in a choir before and class has been so much slower than newer students are used to and it’s been hard.

With new students comes new behaviors and - while things are getting better; it’s still not like it used to be. The ensembles don’t sound like usual (with good reason, most of them are brand new!) and so I’m dealing with some returning kids complaining and icing put students that they perceive don’t try as hard and are “ruining” chorus. What used to be a warm inviting community of students is just not that this year.

Things ARE slowly getting better! Two of those three groups are finally starting to grasp a cohesive, consistent sound but now our concert is a week out so morale is down a bit when our concerts are usually so celebratory.

Again I’m not looking for advise on how to build ensemble sound or community building. Just wondering if any other choir people (students or teachers/directors) have been through a big shift in culture and sound like this. How did you get through it?!