OUR PROGRAMMING

requirements and choices

Our standards require us to sing in a variety of languages and styles. In three years, every choir will sing between 23 and 27 pieces. Those pieces will include text in English, French, German, Italian, and Latin. Additionally, choirs will choose a handful of pieces from several other languages.

We perform music from the following periods:

Medieval (500 - 1400)
Renaissance (1400-1600)
Baroque (1600 - 1750)
Classical (1750 - 1830)
Romantic (1815 - 1910)
Contemporary (1900 - Present)

Contemporary will include concert music and all popular styles.

Every choir will sing pieces in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 2/2, compound meters, mixed meters, and changing meters.

The majority of our pieces will be in major and minor, but every choir will sing at least one piece in other modes like Dorian, Phrygian, Mixolydian, etc.

We sing every style appropriately; so we will not pronounce English in a Renaissance piece the same way we would pronounce it in a pop or country song.

REPERTOIRE EXAMPLES

Here are samples of our repertoire:

MEDIEVAL

Cuncti Simus, Llibre Vermell/Soto, Unison, SBMP 306
Christmas Song (Personent Hodie), Piae Cantiones/ Arr. Holst, Unison, Pepper # 394650
Alle psallite cum luya, Anonymous, CPDL
Gregorian Chant (often paired with a piece of the same text from another time period).

RENAISSANCE

Angelus, Monteverdi/ Arr. Snyder, SAB, Hal Leonard, 08551264
My Heart Now Gives Itself To You, DiLasso/Arr.Rentz, 3 pt mxd, BriLee Music, BL258
Free I Am Once Again (Nun bin ich einmal frei), Regnart/Ed. Snyder/Trans.Good, SAB, Belwin, Inc, SV8615
Laudate Dominum, TL de Victoria, SAB, Belwin, Inc, SV9153

BAROQUE

Come, Live With Pleasure, George Frideric Handel/Liebergen, SAB, Belwin, SV9422
Der Herr Sengne Euch (May God Smile On You), J.S. Bach/Ed. Arthur Mendel, TB, Peters 6079
I Will Rejoice (Ich will den Herrn loben), Telemann/ arr. Perry and Perry, Three Part, BriLee Music, BL176
Sing for Joy! (from "Judas Maccabaeus"), Handel/ Arr. Spevacek, SA, Heritage Choral Series,15/1286H-1
Hallelujah, Amen, Handel/Arr. Taylor, 3 pt mixd, Cambiata Press, M17312
Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Vivaldi/Galvan, Unison, Roger Dean, 15/1857R

CLASSICAL

Sanctus (from Mariazellermesse), Haydn/Liebergen, SAB, Alfred 4791
Regina Angelorum, Mozart/Bennett, 2-pt, Hal Leonard, 08551006
Sanctus, Schubert/Arr.Weck, SAT, Somerset Press, SP767
Laudate Dominum, Mozart/Rentz, 3 pt mxd, Heritage, 15/2394H

ROMANTIC

Ecce Fidelis Servus, Faure'/Proulx, SAB, GIA Publication G-4753
Ave Verum, Faure/Mansfield, SAB, Heritage Music Press, HV116
Tollite Hostias, Saint-Saens/Mulder, TTB, BriLee Music, BL193
Tantum Ergo (Op 65, No 2), Faure'/Ed. E. Harold Geer, SSA, ECS Publishing 861

CONTEMPORARY

This includes any "concert music" in neo-classical styles written by composers after 1900. This also includes choral arrangements of popular music like jazz, pop, R&B, country, etc., be it a single song or a medley arrangement. These pieces are usually performed at the end of the 7th grade and 8th grade years.

FOLK MUSIC

Folk music can come from any time period, from any part of of the world, and can be considered a part of any style. We will sing at least one African-American Spiritual and/or American Folk Song. Folk songs are often our opportunity to sing in various other languages as well.

HISTORY POSTERS: A VISUAL TIMELINE

See the history.

In our chorus room, we have a timeline for each grade level choir to allow students to visually recognize our repertoire in chronological order. On the timeline, we see "history posters", single page documents with all the pertinent information about each piece including title, composer, composer years, arrangers, information about the subject matter, historical significance, or composer biographical information, the language(s), time signature(s), keys and modes, tempo, time period, subgenres (i.e., folk music), and what concert the piece was performed.

History Posters

View

WE VOTE!

Our students choose our music!

For every concert, our students are given a "menu" of pieces to choose from! Students often research pieces and add to the menu themselves. We take a few days to listen to recordings, view the scores, and learn about the pieces and composers before we vote and select our repertoire.

PAST CONCERT PROGRAMS

2020-21

This was the first full year of COVID. We presented one concert at the end of the year in the bus port. No program was printed. This is only a record of what was sung.

The Sixth Grade Chorus sang "Wakko’s America" and "Fairest Lady" by Nick Page. The Seventh Grade Chorus sang "Little David Play On Your Harp" arr. Crocker. They sang "If There’s A Song" by Arlene Ydstie. This piece was taught and conducted by Jeremiah Robinson. He was our student teacher in the fall, and came back to conduct the piece at the concert. They sang "A Million Dreams (from “Greatest Showman”), arr. Mac Huff. The Eighth Grade Chorus sang "Homeward Bound" by Marta Keen, and "Turn The World Around" by Belafonte and Freedman, arr. Emerson. They finished the concert with "Disney Dazzle" arr. Mac Huff.