To see the “Top Five” posts from the previous two years click here: 2014 Top Five, 2015 Top Five
Happy 2017! I wanted to start the new year celebrating some of the finest blessings of 2016 as a composer.
Highlight #1: Having “One Thing Have I Desired” sung by the Walla Walla University Touring Choir Reunion in the Spring.
Highlight #2: Having “My Prayer” recorded by the Mennonite men’s group, Proclaim, and released on their CD, titled “My Prayer.”
Highlight #3: Premiering my new piece. “Run To The Manger” for elementary children’s choir with 100 children at Christmas time. I hope to make this piece available on the website soon!
Highlight #4: Having performances of “Soon One Day” in Indonesia in both the TTBB and SATB versions. Thank you to Ricky Recky for choosing this piece and performing it beautifully with your choirs. To God the Glory!
I wish you all a wonderful new year!!!!
There are so many pieces and works being written for choirs these days that it can be difficult to find great pieces. This has especially been true of artist owned music (self published music). However if a piece or work is great, it is worth finding it. Here are three worthy pieces and one excellent work.
The Rising, SSA accompanied (also available for TTB)
Composer: Andrea Ramsey
Personal website: http://www.andrearamsey.com/
This is a positively moving setting of Sara Teasdale’s poem, “Like Barley Bending.” The piece comes across as unaffected and allows the text to lead the music. Like many modern pieces, “The Rising” uses musical suspensions to create affect, however, when sung with innocence, the use of the device seems ideal for the music and does not seem overused. I think this piece is best suited for middle/high school age singers and would be great in festivals/all-states. This piece is available perusal, listening, and for purchase from musicspoke.com here: http://musicspoke.com/downloads/rising/
Nomina Animalium, SATB unaccompanied (advanced level)
Composer: Linda Kachelmeier
Personal website: http://www.lindakachelmeier.com/
“Nomina Animalium” is an exciting piece about Adam naming the animals for advanced level SATB choirs. In it she incorporates rhythmic modes from Notre Dame polyphony, and yet within a context that is thoroughly fresh and doesn’t eliminate her personal voice. “Nomina Animalium” is available for perusing, listening, and purchase from her personal website here: http://www.lindakachelmeier.com/works/nomina-animalium-adam-naming-animals
**This is the second time I have featured a piece by Linda Kachelmeier (as well as Kurt Knecht and Michael Kaulkin) on this blog (the first is in this post here) and I should give the disclaimer that I receive no remuneration from any composer for sharing their music, rather I just enjoy connecting musicians with great pieces.**
Drop, Drop, Slow Tears, SATB accompanied
Composer: Kurt Knecht
Personal website: http://kurtknecht.com/
“Drop, Drop, Slow Tears” is built on a nine measure ground-bass theme in the bass line of the accompaniment (similar idea as the “Crucifixus” from Bach’s b minor mass). The piece is neo-baroque, but does not seem formulaic or dry. The climactic build up is extremely effective as the piece slowly unfolds. The piece is available with keyboard, strings/harp, or keyboard/violin/cello accompaniment. Concerts are enriched when they include a piece that is exquisitely beautiful and even emotional. “Drop, Drop, Slow Tears” would fill that niche. The piece is available for perusal, listening, purchase from musicspoke.com here: http://musicspoke.com/downloads/drop-drop-slow-tears/
Cycle of Friends, Solo Soprano, SATB, Orchestra, 5 movements (approx. 25 minutes)
Composer: Michael Kaulkin
Personal Website: http://www.michaelkaulkin.com/
Here is work that could be the principle work for a choral concert. The work is a survey of various aspects of friendship. The work pivots on a short a cappella third movement for SATB that features the Emily Dickinson poem “Are friends delight or pain.” Opening the work is a jubilant movement celebrating friendship (soprano solo, choir, orchestra), followed by a more contemplative 2nd movement for chorus and orchestra featuring the meeting of two friends. The fourth movement is somewhat mournful and beautifully lyrical piece dealing with two friends parting (soprano solo and orchestra). This runs attacca into the final movement for chorus and orchestra which adds chorus to the instrumentation and once again celebrates friendship, but with a more solemn treatment than the opening movement. It grows to a grand climax and then gently fades away over the last couple of minutes.
I think this work is relevant and very well fitted to the times in which we are living. Some may say more serious topics should be explored, but I think with the great divisiveness currently existing in our world, a reminder to celebrate our common humanity and to cherish those we love and appreciate is just what is needed. The subject is treated skillfully by the composer, so including the work in one of your programs would be meaningful musically as well as being uplifting to musicians and listeners. Nearly every musician I know wants to make a positive impact on those around them. This is repertoire that helps accomplish that goal.
Michael Kaulkin has a nice blog write up of the work, movement by movement, with quality audio here: https://changingnotes.swirlymusic.org/an-old-favorite-cycle-of-friends-turns-20-4f490acd88a6#.cr8vw2q3r
“Cycle of Friends” is available for perusal, listening, and purchase from swirlymusic.org here: https://www.swirlymusic.org/music/choral-music/michael-kaulkin-cycle-of-friends/
I hope you enjoy these works as much as I have! God bless you this choral season.
-Michael Sandvik
Tension!
Vocal tension is generally a bad thing, often even a VERY bad thing. It is bad because it hurts voices. In graduate school I had some great teachers that helped me overcome some significant vocal tension issues. To them I will be forever grateful. I don’t claim to have arrived in the vocal freedom journey, but I have become a tension buster for my vocal and choral students, with highly effective results. I want to share three tips that can help you make sure your singers/students are progressing vocally in the area of tension/freedom.
Here are three things choral conductors and voice teachers can do to encourage and promote free singing in their choirs and singers.
***Note: I am assuming that those who will utilize the information in this post are already teaching proper placement, breath, support, and basic vocal techniques to their singers (or insisting on it with more advanced singers).***
Promote Physical Awareness
A major cause of vocal tension I have found when working with my singers (ages 5 to 19 in a variety of choirs as well as voice students) is a lack of physical awareness by the singers themselves. Many singers are desirous of pleasing and succeeding so much, that they will power through vocal tension and pain to their own detriment. Many need to be told that vocal pain is a bad thing, and if they feel pain, it is not ok. Furthermore, they need to know that the muscles around the voice and in the face should feel relaxed (there is engagement of facial and other vocally related muscles of course, which I will address later), and if it isn’t, something is not right. Awareness is not a specific fix for a problem, but it can often prevent little vocal issues in amateur singers from growing into titanic issues. Also, many individuals are incredibly adept at relaxing themselves or specific muscles, and having the proper awareness may be what they need (or mostly so) to prevent muscle tension from causing vocal tension.
Hit The Reset Button
A primary place of tension I have found working with developing singers is in the jaw. Muscles tighten and move or lock the jaw in unnecessary ways. I find this to be the culprit most of the time for the chin lifting, neck-tie tenor phenomenon. Another common place of tension is the tongue and the swallowing muscles (they often work together to negatively impact the voice). The last common place I will mention is the muscles of the neck.
For all of these areas of tension, “hitting the reset button” has proved effective for my singers. If they are aware of the tension, they can stop singing, relax the muscles and start up again. If the tension comes back, they reset again as often as necessary. This prevents habits from forming where the body associates certain pitches, dynamics, vowels, etc… with vocal tension. A person can insist on their own voice being tension free by “hitting the reset button”. The result is that they never allow themselves to sing with vocal tension (to the best of their awareness).
Many things we as conductors and voice teachers are prone to correct not issues of tension in and of themselves, but are rather symptoms of tension. We need to advance ourselves and address the cause, not just the symptom. Chin lifting is one such symptom of tension (almost always caused by jaw tension in my experience). We tell the singer not to lift the chin, but if we don’t address the cause, we may only be hiding the problem and never resolving it. In the case if chin lifting, remind your singers to use the “reset button” as often as necessary along with specific reminders about relaxing the jaw. Coupled with reminders not to lift or thrust the chin, and with the constant training (reinforcement for advanced singers) in proper vocal technique, the issue generally resolves.
Make sure that your singers understand the difference between engagement and tension. Engaging the voice, jaw, tongue, etc… for sound, movement, and articulation can be done with freedom and without tension. A great image that has worked for me in explaining this seeming dichotomy is that of a good batter in a baseball game. To effectively hit a pitch, the batter must be relaxed. However, there is a tremendous amount of engagement of many muscles to produce the swing. Though engaging muscles, the batter is always relaxed, never locking up any muscles which would create a hitch in the swing and perhaps an injury. The jaw, tongue, and other body parts will likewise engage when necessary, or sound will not be shaped and formed properly. But like the batter, there should be no locking up and unnecessary tightening of the muscles used.
A question could be asked, why is there tension in the jaw, tongue, neck, or swallowing muscles? I generally find it to be a compensation for vocal placement and/or support. It is a bit of a “chicken or the egg” dilemma as to which is causing which. Is the lack of support or improper placement causing tension, or is tension causing a lack of support and improper placement? My best results have come when addressing tension and support/placement together. Many singers find proper support when they successfully hit the “reset button” and eliminate vocal tension. Likewise, focusing on proper placement and support often helps many singers eliminate vocal tension.
At times I encounter a singer that has good support and placement concurrent with vocal tension. Stopping and restarting a sound once relaxed as often as necessary can be very helpful to this singer. Often they have physically associated the support and placement with tension. Using this technique of “hitting the reset button” greatly aids in disassociating the good physical habits from the unhealthy habits. They can thus be retrained to experience vocal freedom quickly and form habits conducive to a lifetime of vocal health.
Use the “reset button”!
Insist On Good Posture
Poor posture when singing negatively impacts the breath and support of a singer. If quality support is lacking, the body will find a way to compensate. The compensation nearly always involves tension, That tension, even if minor, can quickly become a habit which magnifies over time.
Standing or sitting with good posture can be tiresome at times, because often singers have been sitting poorly with rounded shoulders for extended periods of time in front of a computer, at a desk, etc…. Using some stretches to release and relax the muscles into feeling comfortable in good posture may be necessary. One such stretch involves bringing your arms behind your back, holding your hands together, lifting the arms, and then attempting to pull ones elbow together for a full 30 seconds. Be sure that the shoulders are relaxed and that one does not lean forward. A person way also wish to tilt the head back and look up during the stretch (if one has been looking down a lot during the day, such as at a tablet, phone, or book on a desk). This stretch is just one of many that work to pull the shoulders back, expand the chest, and relax the neck . The goal is that good posture will feel comfortable.
I hope these three ideas will prove helpful in promoting tension free singing and good vocal health with your choirs and singers. Remember to “promote physical awareness” of tension with your singers, “hit the reset button,” and to “insist on good posture.”
To date, I have made 38 choir pieces available on my website (with many more to come). I recognize that most conductors do not have the time to visit, peruse, and listen to every piece on my website. So I have decided to recommend six of these pieces for conductor’s special consideration.
The recommendations are for Elementary Children’s Choir, Advanced SATB, Church Choir, SATB, SSAA, and TTBB Chorus.
*Composer’s Choice #1: “Swing Low,” arranged for Elementary Children’s Choir and Piano*
For more details and a full perusal score (printable for further review) click here: Swing Low
I conducted this piece with my combined Elementary Children’s Choir and it was super loved by the students and well received by listeners. I think the piece maintains the dignity of the Spiritual while still being very fun. This piece is ideal for singers age 7-11.
*Composer’s Choice #2: “Are You Ready?” for Advanced SATB unaccompanied*
For more details and a full perusal score (printable for further review) click here: Are You Ready?
This original Spiritual fits in a program as an excellent closer or a climactic piece that energizes audiences. Though very exciting, I think it avoids becoming showy, rather maintaining its spirituality. It is intended to portray the feel of a camp meeting revival.
*Composer’s Choice #3: “Lord Have Mercy” for SATB Church Choir unaccompanied*
For more details and a full perusal score (printable for further review) click here: Lord Have Mercy
This piece was written to be used in the church service. It is a choral prayer that can be used as a choral response to a sermon, prayer, or even as a short anthem (about 1’45”).
*Composer’s Choice #4: “Set Me As Seal” for SATB unaccompanied*
For more details and a full perusal score (printable for further review) click here: Set Me As A Seal
This setting of the famous Song of Songs sacred love text fits in many performance scenarios. When writing this piece, I envisioned a chamber or medium sized chorus that sang with careful attention to choral balance and precise intonation (as opposed to a lovely grand sound with fuller vibrato). When sung this way, with excellent dynamic build up, I think the middle section featuring the words “many waters cannot quench love” and “neither can the floods drown it” would be profoundly moving as one hears the the swell and subsiding of the proverbial waters. This is immediately followed by a simple duet of two soloists on the original tune, the contrast of which is lost in the wonderful demo recording done by Matt Curtis (one voice, however skilled, can’t create the intended contrast of 30+ voices and two voices). I think this piece could be a capstone “heart” piece in many concerts.
*Composer’s Choice #5: “Magnificat” for SSAA unaccompanied*
For more details and a full perusal score (printable for further review) click here: Magnificat
This Magnificat setting renders the biblical words of Mary in English. It is elegant, declamatory, sweet, reverent, and beautiful. Rather than making a grandiose musical spectacle as many “Magnificat” settings have aimed to do (and often quite beautifully), I aimed this piece to capture the wonder, simplicity, and sacredness of the moment shared by Mary and her aunt Elizabeth when she first spoke the words. This piece is the only SSAA piece from a larger SATB work depicting the life of Jesus.
*Composer’s Choice #6: “Soon One Day” for TTBB unaccompanied (SATB also available)*
For more details and a full perusal score (printable for further review) click here: Soon One Day
click here to view SATB version: Soon One Day SATB
Langowan 4 Male Choir, 2016
A bit of history: I wrote “Soon One Day” for SATB choir in 2010. The TTBB version was commissioned a couple of years later by the Naperville Men’s Glee club for their 25th anniversary concert. The SATB version of the piece was later featured (two different times) on choralnet.org, and then both versions were featured by ACDA Minnesota in their publication Star of the North (Spring, 2015) in a repertoire write-up by R&S Chairs titled “Pick Six.”
“Soon One Day” is a thrilling Second Coming Spiritual that contrasts trials of life with the hope of the better life when Jesus comes. It builds slowly, but relentlessly, until it reaches a climactic, but stormy section proclaiming “hold on to Jesus.” This has been my most decorated and one of my most loved pieces by singers, conductors, and listeners. It is not a short piece, but is a moving and powerful addition to a choral program.
I hope these recommendations are helpful and useful!
God Bless,
Michael Sandvik
The following introduction was included in part one (nearly verbatim), so if you have already read it, you may wish to skip to the recommended pieces.
This two part blog series will share ten different choral pieces, each by a different composer. Each piece has a link to a full perusal score and recording, as well as to each composer’s personal websites. Every piece in this series is artist owned (self-published), meaning the composer owns all the rights to their piece and that the piece is not traditionally published. The emphasis in this series is on Christmas music you may be interested in for the holiday season.
Included in these two posts are four pieces for varying levels of SATB choirs; two pieces for children’s choirs; two pieces for women’s choirs; and two pieces for men’s choirs. Part one introduced five of these pieces, with at least one in each category. Part two follows up with five more pieces.
For most people the holiday season starts in late November or early December. For us choir conductors, we start planning our holiday and Christmas repertoire now (or earlier). Enjoy!
***I have not included any of my own choral compositions in the posts, but I invite you to check out my Christmas pieces here: Christmas.***
Special Note: When perusing scores, it is so important to use one’s conductor ear to internally clean up imperfections in a recording and to imagine a quality sound with the piece. Remember that not every great piece has a quality recording. Always be sure to “hear” the music as if it were sung beautifully!
For SATB
Composer: Jack Jarrett
Piece: Go Pretty Child, SATB unaccompanied
Personal Website: http://www.jackmjarrett.com/
This piece is most interesting as it was published in 1970 by Lawson-Gould and went out of print. However Mr. Jarrett acquired the copyright in 2015 and is now self-publishing the piece through MyScore at JW Pepper. “Go Pretty Child” is not an easy piece to sound excellent on for most choirs, but when performed well, will prove to be a terrific and “different”addition to a holiday program. It uses very interesting harmonies (often highlighting augment triads) without sounding like someone trying too hard to not use a traditional harmonic framework. The whole piece seems natural and flows well, and certainly has a fresh sound (even though it was first published over 40 years ago). This piece is available for purchase at JW Pepper here: http://www.jwpepper.com/Go%2C-Pretty-Child/10554700.item#.V0Jh0LgrKM8
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Composer: Timothy Michael Powell
Piece: O Magnum Mysterium, SATB accompanied
Personal Website: http://www.timothymichaelpowell.com/index.html
Mr. Powell’s setting of the well known “O Magnum” text slowly unfolds and builds to a glorious musical climax that is truly moving. This piece could be a capstone “heart” piece in a holiday concert. There are versions available for SATB + 2 part chorus, SATB, SSA, SAB, and 2 part. This piece is accessible to many choirs, but still has interest for higher level groups. It is available from his personal website (orchestrated version included) and from MusicSpoke.com here: http://musicspoke.com/downloads/o-magnum-mysterium-5/
For Children’s Choir
Composer: Gordon Thornett
Piece: The Sleepy Shepherd Boy (unison/two-part) accompanied
Personal Website: www.newcarols.com
Here is a truly delightful elementary level children’s choir piece. Available with orchestral or piano accompaniment, this piece will be a joy for your children to sing, and for audiences to hear. I think it is ideal for children’s choirs with singers in the 8-11 year old range. However, emphasizing use of a beautiful head voice is key to a successful performance. (Here is a link to a post on ways to develop a beautiful head voice in young children’s choirs). This piece is available for purchase from swirlymusic.org here: http://www.swirlymusic.org/music/choral-music/gordon-thornett-the-sleepy-shepherd-boy/
Women’s Choir Pieces
Composer: Kathleen Allan
Piece: Ring Out, Ye Bells, SSA unaccompanied
Personal Website: http://www.kathleenallan.com/
Here is a jubliant Christmas piece that could make a great opener in a holiday program. The poetry is delivered well and in a relatively straightforward musical way, but with enough nuance to not at all seem formulaic. Musical interest is created by metric and key change, along with short periodic usage of musical devices such as canon. I found this piece while perusing on MusicSpoke.com. Ms. Allan is a talented young conductor and composer who’s music and work is worth knowing. This piece is available for purchase from musicspoke.com here: http://musicspoke.com/downloads/ring-out-ye-bells-2/
Men’s Choir
Composer: Kentaro Sato
Then Christmas Comes, TTBB unaccompanied
Personal Website: http://www.wisemanproject.com/music-e-top.html
“Then Christmas Comes” is a lush and warm homorhythmic men’s chorus piece that just seems to fit the spirit of the Christmas season. Simple and not forced, the piece is truly lovely. Perusing and purchasing the piece could be a bit of a challenge (but is worth it). To purchase the music, one needs to follow the instructions on the above linked page for his website. One should note that the performing license only grants performance rights for 10 years. This is certainly a bit unusual in the choral world for those who sell artist owned music, but be sure to follow proper legality (In other words, if you choose to purchase this piece, be aware that the licensed copies of the piece cannot remain in your choral library indefinitely). To look at a full perusal score, and listen to a good recording, you need to click on the “Choral/Vocal Works” tab at the top of his music page. Once there, you will see an impressive amount of (high quality) choral and vocal works that would take quite some time to peruse in entirety. You need to scroll about 3/4 of the way down the page to find the piece. It may feel a bit serendipitous finding “Then Christmas Comes” as the titles don’t seem to be listed in alphabetical order or by category (hopefully this will change in the future). However the piece is of such a quality that the search is worth the time. As noted, directions for purchasing scores is on the personal website link above. Here is the link to his choral scores: http://www.wisemanproject.com/music-e-choral.html (remember to scroll 3/4 of the way down). The composer sent me this link also: http://www.wisemanproject.com/comp-workinfo-ThenChristmasComes.html
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I hope you have found this series useful in acquainting yourself with new holiday pieces and seeing the work of some high quality composers retailing artist owned choral music.
This two part blog series will share ten different choral pieces, each by a different composer. Each piece has a link to a full perusal score and recording, as well as to each composer’s personal websites. Every piece in this series is artist owned (self-published), meaning the composer owns all the rights to their piece and that the piece is not traditionally published. The emphasis in this series is on Christmas music you may be interested in for the holiday season.
Included in these two posts are four pieces for varying levels of SATB choirs; two pieces for children’s choirs; two pieces for women’s choirs; and two pieces for men’s choirs. Part one will introduce five of these pieces, with at least one in each category. Part two will follow up with five more pieces.
For most people the holiday season starts in late November or early December. For us choir conductors, we start planning our holiday and Christmas repertoire now (or earlier). Enjoy!
***I have not included any of my own choral compositions in the posts, but I invite you to check out my Christmas pieces here: Christmas.***
Special Note: When perusing scores, it is so important to use one’s conductor ear to internally clean up imperfections in a recording or imagine a quality sound with the piece. Remember that not every piece has a quality recording. Always be sure to “hear” the music as if it were sung beautifully!
For SATB
Composer: Daniel Hughes
Piece: Creator Emmanuel, SATB accompanied
Personal Website: http://danielhughesmusic.com/
I became familiar with “Creator Emmanuel” when it was featured as score of the week on MusicSpoke.com. It is elegant, simple, profound, and beautiful. I used this piece with my high school choir and found it very effective. It is available for SATB + string orchestra, or SATB + piano/organ. I love the inclusion of strings, but I conducted the piece with piano accompaniment and it still worked well, although organ would have been more effective. This piece is available for perusal, listening, and purchase here: http://musicspoke.com/downloads/creator-emmanuel/.
_________________________________________________________________________________Composer: Sanford Dole
Piece: Hodie Christus Natus Est, SATB unaccompanied
Personal Website: http://www.sanforddole.com/
Here is a setting of the well known “Hodie…” text that is rhythmic, exciting, and even a bit quirky. This piece will be exceptionally exciting with a quality ensemble singing at a high level of artistry. “Hodie…” would make an excellent opener or even a closer for an advanced SATB group. I found this piece while perusing scores on the excellent artist-owned distributing site, Swirly music. This piece is available from his personal website as well swirlymusic.org here: http://www.swirlymusic.org/music/choral-music/sanford-dole-hodie-christus-natus-est/
As an interesting aside, Mr. Dole was one of the founding members of the all male SATB choir “Chanticleer” (noted in his personal website bio).
For Children’s Choir
Composer: Benjamin Kornelis
Piece: In The Bleak Midwinter, two-part accompanied
Here is a truly sensitive treatment of the well known Christina Rossetti poem. The accompaniment is for either harp or piano, and either would work very well, although the linked recording uses harp. Besides being an effective option for a children’s choir, this piece would work well for a more mature women’s choir that is capable of singing with innocence (the piece was actually written for a Dordt college women’s ensemble, although it is promoted on MusicSpoke.com as both a children’s choir and women’s choir piece). This piece is available for purchase here: http://musicspoke.com/downloads/in-the-bleak-mid-winter-2/
For Women’s Choir
Composer:Thomas Quigley
Piece: Entre Le Boeuf Et L’ane Gris, SSA unaccompanied
Personal Website: http://thomasquigley.musicaneo.com/
Thomas Quigley is an Irish composer with an impressive catalogue. I found his music while searching on JWPepper’s MyScore webpages. I should note that I am generally turned off by computer generated recordings, not because I am unwilling to look at the scores they go with, but because they are so often filled with writing errors (I once found such a piece with a D major chord spelled d-gb-a). Mr. Quigley’s choral music is promoted with computer generated recordings, however, the pieces are consistently well written, so don’t be fooled into thinking otherwise before you check out the scores. This arrangement of the French carol is absolutely lovely and would bring the best out of a treble choir, especially in a live acoustic environment. So use your conductor’s ear as you peruse the score and you may find it very compelling, as I did. A translation of the carol is available on wikipedia. The piece is available for purchase here: http://www.jwpepper.com/Entre-le-boeuf-et-l%27ane-gris/10544147.item#.V0Jqu7grKM8
For Men’s Choir
Composer: Casey Rule
Piece: Huron Carol, TTBB, unaccompanied
Personal Website: http://www.caseyrule.com/
There have been many settings of the “Huron Carol,” especially in recent years, but this one is terrific and your men’s choirs will likely love this earthy setting. I found the piece while searching SMP press on sheetmusicplus. Casey is a young and talented composer. He has several other great pieces on his personal site for listening. “Huron Carol” is available for purchase and perusal on his personal website and from SMP Press here: http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/huron-carol-ttbb-arr-casey-rule-digital-sheet-music/20209604
What makes for an effective music teacher? Every music teacher has up and down days, and even some school years that are better than others. However consistent excellence is what we all can and should strive for. To accomplish this, consistent habits that lead to excellence need to be practiced.
I wanted to suggest some habits that I think are important for effective music teaching.
Effective Music Teachers make habits of:
There are many more good habits of course, but missing any of these could cause significant difficulty is some area of one’s music teaching experience.
We all should desire to improve and grow as music teachers, and by dedicated effort and learning, we can. But, good habits do not form randomly, but by definition must be repeated over and over. Let us be intentional about practicing good habits in the classroom/rehearsal room.
A saying I am fond of sharing with my singers is, “If you want to be a good choir, you do the things that good choirs do, because doing those things are why they are good.” (my saying) In other words, good choirs aren’t good, and then have excellent habits in rehearsal, but rather good choirs are good because they have excellent habits in rehearsal. This is true of music teachers and conductors as well. One is not a “good” teacher/conductor and then has excellent habits, one is good because one has and practices excellent habits.
If you want to be a good music teacher, do the things that good music teachers do.
I believe God gives us our talent, it is up to us to cultivate and use it.
To Him be the glory!
In a choral rehearsal, better organization means better efficiency. Better efficiency means higher achievement in rehearsal. Higher achievement in rehearsal means higher quality performances. So, organization and efficient habits can really be helpful.
Before sharing three ways to be better organized/efficient in rehearsals I want to make a disclaimer. Choir directors work with people, not machines, which means things don’t always happen according to plan. Even with great organization, flexibility and a willingness to improvise and adapt to a music need immediately in rehearsal is often necessary. (I have also posted this post on another blog of mine, Michael’s Whole Notes, that is being used for a class.)
Way number 1: Have an efficient check-in system for singers.
When they enter the rehearsal room and check-in, have a quality system that allows you to spend the least possible time. If you have a reliable student, have them take attendance, or have a self check in system. If you must do it yourself, have it be something that you can do in a minute or less (as in a system that assumes everyone is present and you only mark those absent and adjust for those who come late after rehearsal). If you can save a minute or two per rehearsal (as opposed to a traditional system that requires personal check-in every time for every person) you can easily gain between a half hour to an hour and a half of practice over a nine-week span.
Way number 2: Write the piece rehearsal order on a white board for all to see.
This can especially be valuable if you have a large amount of repertoire. If singers have their music in the correct order when rehearsing, it vastly cuts down transition time when switching between pieces. You could save 10 to 15 seconds every switch which could add up to a minute or two per rehearsal. Again we’re talking about a half hour to an hour and a half of additional practice per quarter.
Way number 3: Use wait time when giving instructions.
This is a bit of a paradox. I tend to move fast in rehearsal, so this is something I work on constantly. When you stop the choir, wait for a couple of seconds before giving instructions. After giving instructions, wait for a couple or few seconds before starting up again. I can testify firsthand that when you don’t do this, some singers will get lost with where you are in your instructions or even with a starting point in the music. This will force a repeat and create lost time. With younger singers that may have attention issues, not having the wait time is exceptionally challenging for them. By using the wait time at starts and stops, though it seems like an eternity at times to the director, you will move much more efficiently through the practice and actually save time.
A recent forum thread on choralnet.org has generated much discussion and interest on the issue of the legality of photocopying choral music [the link no longer works so I have removed it]. As this is a pertinent issue for music teachers, church musicians, and really anyone that is dealing with sheet music at anytime, I have decided to weigh in on the issue with some of my thoughts. However, the legal issues have been largely discussed, written about, and clarified many times over (in many places), and so I will be approaching the issue from a more practical standpoint. I hope it can be of some help for those who may not be so sure how to approach the issue and enlightening for those who may not thought about it. There are other legal music issues that can also be discussed, such as performance royalties, mechanical licenses, etc…, but this post will focus exclusively on sheet music. (I have also posted this post on another blog of mine, Michael’s Whole Notes, that is being used for a class.)
Copyright law can appear daunting and intimidating at times, especially to young music teachers. There are lawyers that make careers specifically working with copyright law for a reason. However, if one follows the guidelines I lay out here, I believe one would be in compliance nearly all of the time (I don’t write 100%, because it is always possible to make an ignorant mistake, which of course should be rectified if learned about).
In this post I will refer to any printed score (whether from a composer, publisher, or photocopied yourself) as a copy.
Disclaimer
I am not a lawyer. What I write should not be considered legal advice, nor as a final say in any way.
The Fundamental Principle When Dealing With Sheet Music
*Purchase or acquire usage rights to EVERY copy of music you possess.*
In my opinion, this is the simple idea that drives sheet music copyright law. If you bought one copy of a piece of music, you only use/have one copy. If you bought fifteen copies, you only use/have fifteen copies. In other words, you pay for your product or license. If it is free, you acquire permission for use. I would dare to guess that 90% of sheet music copyright issues can be taken care of by applying this one principle. I’ll share later what to do with the other 10% of the issues.
A person may think, what does it matter if I purchase six copies of a score and then make 20 more copies of my own? The company or composer still gets paid some money, and the music gets learned and performed? That is good right? And besides it only represents a few dollars.
The truth is that this is not right.
Consider this. Lets say you own an apple orchard that specializes in selling a few apples at a time primarily to tourists who want a tasty and healthy snack. We’ll say the average sale is ten apples. Part of the experience allows for visitors to walk through your orchard and see how meticulously it is cared for. However, most visitors are regularly picking an apple or two themselves when they go on the orchard tour. The extra apples seem insignificant to them, they are buying ten apples after all, and everyone seems to be doing it. Yet when you do your accounting, you discover that you had 20,000 visitors who besides buying apples, also took one or two each during the tour, meaning that around 30,000 apples were taken from your orchard for which no one paid. This becomes a significant financial hit for you. This would not have happened if the visitors applied the principle that says, “if I have it, I bought it.”
Though not a perfect analogy, this is regularly happening with sheet music. One composer on the above mentioned choralnet forum thread (see link) wrote this: “I estimate that I lose about $10,000 per year due to the illegal stealing of my intellectual property, either via photocopying, avoidance of performance fees and avoidance of paying mechanical licenses for recordings. $10,000 EVERY YEAR is a lot of money to me and my family and I become very frustrated and angry when I think about it. Every living composer I know is suffering from this and every one of those composers is a real person, with monthly bills, many with families to support just like everyone else. Publishers are, of course, also affected and are struggling to stay in business.”
Sometimes photocopying is legal. Many websites, like www.musicspoke.com, www.sheetmusicplus.com, other companies, and many composers, including myself, regularly retail digital scores. Purchasers there buy a pdf file and a license which gives them rights to print/copy the purchased number of the file. If you bought rights to 40 copies, you can legally print/photocopy and use 40 copies. If you print/photocopy a 41st copy however, you are now taking an extra “apple.”
I hope readers are seeing how easy copyright law is to comply with. It is thoroughly based on common sense.
A Note
I have found that most people that have been acting out of ignorance in taking extra “apples” of music. When I’ve explained the situation to them, most are happy to reform and do things the right way.
What About Complicated Situations?
For the 10% of the time (or less) that it may not be clear what to do in a copyright situation, the best thing is to contact the publisher, distributor, or composer you bought the music from and let them tell you exactly what you can do in a situation. If you are dealing with a special case that you can not contact the original retailer or copyright owner, you can contact a lawyer, or even a music retailer for advice (who would be likely willing to advise someone trying to do the right thing). There is no reason not to know what to do in a situation.
Here is an example of a somewhat complicated situation (that in reality was not that complex). When I was in graduate school, I had an assistantship in the choral department. We had ordered a particular piece of music from a publisher which was on back order, meaning the piece would not be arriving for several weeks. However it was needed for use more quickly than that by one of the choirs. We had one score in our possession that had been used for perusal purposes. By calling the publisher, we obtained permission to make 100 copies (or some similar number) of the piece, which was the number we had purchased, with the agreement that we would destroy the photocopies as soon as the order arrived. They gave us a long numbers and letters code to print on the copies along with the words “copied by permission…” for reference purposes. The actual copies did eventually arrive and we destroyed the photocopies as directed.
Another situation happened when I wanted to use and perform an out-of-print piece for a Christmas program with a choir. I had one score in my possession. I contacted the publisher, who gave permission to photocopy the piece of music for a price and again the inclusion of the words “copied by permission…” and a reference number. Like the previous situation, the key was to contact the proper person (a publisher in both of these cases) for information about how to proceed.
Remember, copyright law for sheet music, though very nuanced and complex at times, in practice can nearly always be followed by applying the simple principle of “purchase or acquire usage rights for every copy of music you possess. For the rare times the situation is not clear, there are many places to obtain advice/permission specific to your situation.
I hope this has been informative and helpful for music teachers, directors, performers, and anyone else who may be interested.
