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Date Posted: 11:21:05 02/18/04 Wed
Author: Dr. O.
Subject: Choral Literature

What pieces have you done with your choirs (or performed yourself) which you think are especially effective? What difficulty rating (1-6, with 6 being most difficult) would you give to the piece(s)? How did you first learn about them?

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Replies:

[> Re: Choral Literature -- Devin Bramel, 14:05:44 02/22/04 Sun [1]

>What pieces have you done with your choirs (or
>performed yourself) which you think are especially
>effective? What difficulty rating (1-6, with 6 being
>most difficult) would you give to the piece(s)? How
>did you first learn about them?

Well, let me start out by emphasizing that I really haven't had much experience with "quality" choral literature. Back in high school, most of what we sang were 4-part arrangements of pop songs, so it wasn't anything terribly profound. However, we did do a piece one year called "Festival Sanctus" (at least, I think that's what it's called). It was entirely in Latin, and it featured some fairly complex rhythms; that's probably the reason I remember singing it. I'd give it a rating of about a 4, and I think it was a very powerful piece because of the harmonic language the composer was writing in, with quick modulations from major to minor to dominant and subdominant.

However, in Concert Choir this year I think we have done a number of very effective pieces. "O Comforter Supreme" is right up there on my list. I love the part in the women's section where the composer creates so many dissonances by (I think) stacking seconds on top each other, while simply having the men repeat the same three notes over and over and over again. It all adds up to a very ethereal, otherworldly sound, at least to my ear. I'd give it a ranking of a 4 or 5, because that dissonant section is extremely difficult to pull off.

I also love the "Salmo 150". Very, very fast, and a lot of text coming at you, especially in the tenors with the "magnitus dinis eius" (is that how it's spelled? I don't have my score with me). Definitely a diffuculty rating of a 5 right there.

Well, these are my thoughts on the topic. If someone disagrees with me, go ahead and post your grievance (politely, of course). I look forward to getting some feedback.


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[> [> Re: Choral Literature -- Sarah Frantz, 08:11:22 02/23/04 Mon [1]

First of all Dr. Owen, I give you kudos for starting this site. It gives me a chance to give my opinion without being interupted!! Well since I haven't had the opportunity to conduct any choirs I figured that I would comment about my highschool years. I was not very fond of my choir class because we got nothing accomplished in order to fine tune our performances. The one piece that I really enjoyed working on however was Poor Man Lazarus. It was up-beat and gave our choir some energy. We also worked a lot on dynamic contrast in this piece in order to make it more exciting. Well that's all I have to say about that. Thanks for the incites everyone!! Aux Revoir!!!


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[> Re: Choral Literature -- Amanda Schwab, 12:38:18 02/24/04 Tue [1]

>What pieces have you done with your choirs (or
>performed yourself) which you think are especially
>effective? What difficulty rating (1-6, with 6 being
>most difficult) would you give to the piece(s)? How
>did you first learn about them?


I think that to be an effective piece, a song needs to get a point across. Not only should it have some complexities to it, but it should have some meaning to it, it should make some emotions run through everyone's head. When I was in the District 1 honors festival we performed a song called "How Can I Keep From Signing," it was a very powerful song. There was a real connection between the song and the choir. We were all there for our love of music, and how can we keep from singing! The arrangement that we had wasn't too dificult, but it was awesome when performed. We also performed a lot of songs about friendship (especially around graduation) that meant a lot, and were very effective.


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