Suggestions for Choral Adjudications and Festivals Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The beginning of 2010 is a perfect opportunity to look back at what your students have learned so far this school year, and to look forward to the new and exciting musical challenges you will present to them in the coming months. As you prepare for your upcoming concerts, festivals or adjudicated events, our School Choral Music staff would like to recommend these repertoire choices, carefully chosen from many new publications as the “best of the best!â€
For SATB groups, David Dickau's Come Live with Me and Be My Love is a light-hearted but challenging work. Andy Beck's How Can I Keep from Singing? is great for developing ensembles, featuring some metric freedom that makes the familiar melody feel fresh. If you're looking for a piece in a classical style, try Palestrina's a cappella motet Sicut Cervus, Haydn's Dona Nobis Pacem from the Grosse Orgelmesse, or Awake the Trumpet's Lofty Sound from Handel's oratorio Samson.
Advanced treble choirs will excel with the legato lullaby Dream Song by Mabel Wheeler Daniels, and younger groups can work on part-singing and ensemble skills with the original Shine On or The Saint Train, a creative pairing of two spirituals. You can also explore American folk songs with Bright Morning Stars, Sail Away, Ladies! or He's Gone Away.
My Lagan Love is a captivating setting of a familiar Gaelic text - a great choice for young men's ensembles - or try a folk song from Korea (Arirang), Ireland (It Chanced When I Was Walking), or America (Pay Me My Money Down). Accomplished a cappella groups will shine with Demon in My View, a rich setting of a text by Edgar Allan Poe.
Click here for all of our suggestions for select pieces for adjudicated events - while we have specifically geared these selections to be appropriate for Ohio Music Education Association events, this quality repertoire is sure to be successful on any spring concert or other event as well! You can also check out our video below for suggestions for sight-reading resources for choirs.
