I work with amateur choirs. I love amateur choirs. I try to help them achieve as much as they can while enjoying the process. One of the tools I like to use to help them improve is to play videos of choirs that are REALLY engaged. It’s powerful to see choirs not only singing well … Read More
Choral
A Sample Choral Program–My Last Term at EBI
As a choral conductor, I find it helpful to see programs that other conductors have assembled. It gives me ideas for how to structure a program and helps me find new choral sheet music. So here’s the latest program that I put together for the Elnora Bible Institute Choir. Since this is my last time … Read More
Who is Singing?
Have you visited the listening page and wondered who’s singing? If you have, this note is for you. I thought it would be good to give credit to the various groups who have contributed recordings over the years. It’s a huge blessing to have these recordings, and I send out a big thank you to … Read More
Tip #5 for Choosing a Theme
Here’s a wonderful tip for developing a program that follows a theme. Once you have chosen a theme and planned out some possible sections in the program, send an e-mail to some composers you know and ask them for suggestions about which of their pieces might fit into the program you are developing. I’ve done … Read More
Tip #4 for Choosing a Theme
A fourth tip for choosing a theme is to have themed sections of a program instead of an overarching theme. You can have three to five different sections of music that make up the program. This method can simplify the repertoire selection process. It’s easier to find three to five songs that go together than … Read More
Tip #3 for Choosing a Theme
A third tip for choosing a theme is to begin building a list of songs that fit your choir, taking into account range, difficulty level, voicing, appropriateness for your audience, and so on. These are normal considerations whether you have a theme or not. As you begin to make a list of potential songs, look … Read More
Tip #2 for Choosing a Theme
A second tip for choosing a theme is to choose a meaningful subject that you care about and dig into it to see if it has theme potential. You can start with a Scripture verse or passage, a poem, a painting, a person, a season of life or season of the year, an experience, an … Read More
Tip #1 for Choosing a Theme
If you’re choosing repertoire for a choral program, one way to choose a theme is to find one piece that you know the choir will love (and that you love, too) and build a theme around it. If you’ve chosen a good song, you should be able to pull thematic content from it to title … Read More
Why Plan a Themed Choral Program?
Have you ever struggled to choose music for your choir? If you have, join the crowd. I used to choose music pretty haphazardly. After collecting a stack of 15-17 pieces of music appropriate for the choir I was planning to direct, I would arrange the pieces according to subject and style putting praise pieces at … Read More