Repertoire Project

Repertoire Project

1.    Exaudi! Laudate! SSA and piano, Beverly A. Patton

This piece is a fun and energetic piece that would be great for an intermediate women’s choir. The piece has a lot of stylistic contrast between legato, staccato, and marcato in different sections. Its tonal center is a little unclear, moving between major, minor, and mixolydian. All of the parts go to the high part of a young woman’s range, giving the opportunity for altos to use their upper register. The Latin text is a good opportunity for practicing pure vowels and discussing a new language.

2.    Cape Breton Lullaby SSA and piano, Kenneth Leslie, Stuart Clavert

Cape Breton would be great for a beginning high school treble ensemble or an advanced middle school treble ensemble. This piece is in mixolydian, in triple meter. Its melody splits gradually into three parts that stay generally in closed position harmonies, giving students a good opportunity to hear chords. The middle of the piece moves the melody to the alto part, which is a nice change for altos and gives them a change to sing higher in their range. The piece is calming and relatively simple, but is has a movement about it that young singers will find appealing.

3.    Res Cantos Nativos, Dos Indios Krao, SATB, arranged by Marcos Leite

These three short pieces combine to create a wonderful musical journey for singers and listeners. This music would be perfect for a beginning or intermediate high school mixed ensemble. The composer is himself Brazilian and has arranged three short songs from the Krao tribe of Brazil in their Native language. It is often difficult to find multicultural pieces that are authentic, but the composer’s nationality and the publisher (earthsongs) are good signs that this is authentic. The three pieces are different from each other but use lots of repetition and canon. There are sections of unison along with split parts and droning. The language is uncommon for choral music, but is not hard to learn to pronounce. The three pieces are all contrasting and have fun, different styles. The style of singing for the pieces is more spread and nasally than singers are used to in a choral setting but will provide a good lesson on singing this style healthily and might also be fun. The piece also calls for percussion and clapping. This is a could opportunity for singers to learn more about body percussion and learn to play percussion instruments. Alternatively, it could be an opportunity to collaborate with members of the school’s band.

4.    Sanctus, Antonio Vivaldi, SA arr. Robert Sieving

This is a great piece for a middle school choir of unchanged voices or a young women’s choir. It is an awesome way to incorporate traditional, historic music into the choral experience.  The teacher can spend some time talking about Vivaldi and the music of his time, including the concerto this is from. The parts provide stylistic challenges in style and require vocal flexibility. This piece promotes healthy singing and floatiness in both parts. The duet includes lots of call and response and imitation, which is a great thing to study with young singers. Latin text is an opportunity for practicing good vowels and learning the historic language. There is also great dynamic contrast which is a good learning tool for practicing the dynamic spectrum.

5.    The Awakening, SATB divisi Joseph M. Martin

This piece is an excellent piece for an intermediate or advanced high school mixed group. It has two contrasting sections, starting slow and somber and ending joyous and awakened! The text paints a picture of what a dream in which music did not exist and contrasts with the “awakening” and the realization that music lives. While this might sound cheesy, I believe this will be very relatable for high schooler, for whom music is often a getaway and a necessity. Knowing the way many high school students feel about choir and its importance, I think they would connect well with the text. The piece offers a great deal of contrast, through which singers will explore different dynamics and styles. Often when the choir splits into six parts, they are actually splitting into three parts, doubled at the octave. This makes it a little easier for singers to divide so much but still gives an amazingly full sound that those in the choir will enjoy. Much of the fast section is actually in unison, which gives a choir a good opportunity to unify their sound.

6.    The Tree of Peace, SATB Gwyneth Walker

This is relatively challenging piece that would be best for an advanced high school group. It has some divisi and some tricky time changes, but is the kind of thing that is not so hard once you get used to it. The tempo changes, time signature changes, and frequent use of triplets are all excellent teaching tools for those concepts. The piece has a very nice shape to it, building gradually from simple to more and more complex. It has some really dramatic moments toward the end that high school choir members would get excited about. The text has an excellent message about spreading love rather than anger, relatable to any age group. There is a beautiful effect in the middle during a section that repeats the word”listen” quickly, like a whisper. This text painting will be engaging and effective.

7.    For the Fallen, TTBB, by Mike Sammes

This is a beautiful, simple piece that would work well for a high school men’s ensemble. Though it is written in four parts, it is rarely actually split into four, but often has a part or two doubled. Each voice part calls for a light, lyrical sound, which will help promote healthy singing to young men. A lot of literature for men’s choirs is upbeat and energetic, whereas this piece will require a deep focus and sensitivity. The subject of the text commends those who have passed away and their remembrance. This is a good opportunity for young men to be vulnerable through their singing, which is good for them. The piece is relatively easy and very doable.

8.    Bonse Aba, SATB, Victor C. Johnson

This piece would be perfect for a combined choir at the beginning or end of a choir concert. It would work for any mixed choir on their own as well. The Zambian text is about welcome and unity. It starts with basses who call, and the rest of the choir responds. This is a great chance for basses to start off the choir and sing very independently. The parts are easy to catch onto quickly and could therefore be taught by rote. Each part has some opportunity to be the call while the other parts wait to be the response. After learning this song, it’s easy to get into it and feel good singing it. The piece also features at least three percussionists who might be acquired from the school band program. Or, perhaps members of the choir could learn these parts. This is a good multicultural piece, because it is a real song from Zambia and is marketed as such. (Sometimes multicultural pieces can get weirdly inauthentic.) Students would have lots of fun performing this feel-good song.