Choral Resource

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I few months ago I decided to start a new choir. I’d thought about it for a long time and had many reasons for wanting to do it, including:

• Since being a member of several advanced choirs when I was younger, I’ve longed to sing that kind of vocal literature. I’ve directed a church choir for most of the last 17 years, and though I am glad to serve in that capacity, I do not find the literature we are capable of (or the level of singing we are able to maintain on a strictly volunteer basis) very fulfilling.
• As a voice major, I courted OPERA for a long while, but have never been able to get into the standard repertoire (which is mostly all they do). I’ve written 2 operas and I still love what I think opera could be, but most of the time isn’t.
• My first love, the medium that introduced me to new great music (and classics, renaissance, etc.), is choral music.
• I’ve written a lot of choral music and have noticed that some of the biggest names (past and present) in the choral world have their own choirs or prominent choral positions. They program a lot of their own music (Mack Wilberg, Robert Shaw, etc.). Why shouldn’t I follow suit.
• I’m seriously entertaining the idea of doing my doctorate in choral conducting; the new choir would be great experience helping to lead up to that (my other degrees are in vocal performance and composition).
• I love the social aspect of choir. I love getting to know people that way. I’ve loved getting to know people in opera as well, but when a production is over it is time to say farewell; in a choir, people only say farewell when they’re sick of singing with you.
• I didn’t know of any choirs like what I wanted to start in our area/county: a chamber choir focussing mainly on Renaissance and Modern literature.
• I figured there were other singers out there that wanted to participate in something challenging, exciting and small, not just in one of the many large concert choirs. I’ve never enjoyed singing in a large concert choir, but have enjoyed almost every experience I’ve had with chamber choirs.

Good reasons? I hope so. Next time I’ll talk about how I organized the group and then maybe I’ll post some recordings from our first concert.