Choral Collections on a Budget Wednesday, May 13, 2020
recommended by Jen Sper and Lora Moore, School Choral Music Specialists
Don’t lose your valuable budget dollars! Invest in choral collections to build your library!
Concert Chorals for the Developing Choir by Greg Gilpin, SAB reproducible collection with Audio Access
The developing choir is a unique ensemble and ranges in size from many to just a few, in age from younger to older and from the experienced to brand new singers. Both male and female are a part of these groups with ever-changing vocal challenges. Educators who teach this wide group of musicians know there is a need for many “tools of repertoire” that build bridges to the art of choral singing. Concert Chorals for the Developing Choir is designed to help teach harmonic singing through sophisticated melodies and distinguished texts with a more limited voice range for Part III or Baritone voice. Each choral is designed to have a separate part for Part III or Baritone, without the use of cue-sized notes, which can create visual complications if used too often for young male singers. This reproducible collection also contains helpful rehearsal suggestions and warm-ups for each choral work. Online access to Full Performance and Accompaniment Only audio recordings is available, along with Singer PDF Parts for both 3-Part Mixed and SAB vocal scores. The full Piano/Vocal scores have both Part III and Baritone notes for easy use by the director. These terrific concert works can be used all year long with spirituals, folk songs, famous texts, Latin, Christmas, Hebrew and Spanish as well as phenomenal concert openers and closers! Titles include: “A la Nanita Nana,” “All Night, All Day,” “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?,” “Ha Shalom,” “Joshua Fit the Battle,” “Kyrie,” “Let Music Live,” “Sing a Mighty Song,” “So Take This Song of Joy,” and “Think On Me.”
A Cappella! Volume IV 3-part mixed reproducible collection
Volume IV in the popular A Cappella! series features nine concert and festival selections for young and developing Three-part Mixed choirs from creative writers Jerry Estes, Victor C. Johnson and Mary Lynn Lightfoot. The Complete Edition is reproducible and also includes a Rehearsal Resource Page for each piece, a unique teaching/rehearsal tool which features Solfege; Vocabulary; and Preparation and Extension activities carefully crafted for each selection by Victor C. Johnson. Comprised of one spiritual arrangement, two folk song arrangements and six original selections in a variety of styles, this collection is an exceptional value and a great resource for your music library. Titles include: “Cantate!,” “Rainsong,” “Little Liza Jane,” “An Irish Blessing,” “Elijah Rock,” “Home on the Range,” “A Joyful Alleluia,” “Afternoon on a Hill,” and “Song Down in My Soul.”
Let the Women Sing! A Cappella by Greg Gilpin, SSA reproducible collection with Audio Access
“Let the Women Sing! A Cappella” is a new collection of reproducible choral works for SSA a cappella choirs. Spirituals, distinctive texts, multicultural, folk songs, Christmas and general concert works fill this ten-song collection. In addition, there is digital access to four audio rehearsal mixes for each piece with part-dominant and full SSA performance, along with singer PDFs for projection and reproducible options. Whether you have 10 or 100 singers, this must-have a cappella collection will keep you on budget while supplying your program with excellent choral literature for your female singers for many years to come. Titles include: “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?,” “In Flanders Fields,” “Jingle, Jingle Bells,” “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning,” “Mary Sat A-Rockin’,” “Ning Wendete,” “Nothin’ Gonna Stumble My Feet,” “Sing a Mighty Song!,” “Star of Wonder,” and “The Water Is Wide.”
The City and the Sea by Eric Whitacre, SATB with piano
Assembling five songs previously published separately and all with texts by e.e. cummings, this set is a real bargain. Originating as a Chorus America commissioning project, the sum is greater than its parts. Titles include: “as is the sea marvelous,” “i walked the boulevard,” “little man in a hurry,” “maggie and milly and molly and may,” and “the moon is hiding in her hair.”
Find more collections to build a varied choral library on our website, and shop Stanton’s for all your sheet music needs!
About the Authors:
Jen Sper has been with Stanton’s since 2006. A former middle school and high school choral director, she holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Baldwin Wallace College Conservatory of Music. An active choral singer and accompanist throughout the Central Ohio area, she also enjoys good food, running (to counteract the good food…) and the Muppets.
Lora Moore joined the Stanton’s choral staff in July 2018. A former middle school and high school director of 32 years, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Choral Music from Capital University and a Master’s of Arts in Choral Music from The Ohio State University. Currently she is a church choir director, operates a private voice/piano studio and is active as a clinician and accompanist. During the off hours, Lora enjoys scouting out new day trips in Ohio to balance what her budget allows for her frequent trips to New York City to visit family and take in a Broadway show or two!