Very often I hear about the plight of a new Choir Director that is charged with getting a small choir up and running. This person may not have training beyond a few piano lessons plus a few years of singing in school choirs during their youth. They may have sung in some Church choirs, but really don't know where to start.
"How do I choose music?" "I don't feel confident teaching parts, what can I do?" "If I don't know what I'm doing, how can I inspire people to come be part of my choir?"
My advice is to start small. No use trying to start with elaborate SATB choral pieces by the Great Composers if you have only six women and a couple of men. Fortunately, there are many beautiful hymns and sacred songs that can be sung unison or two part, or possibly SAB. Start there and build your skills as well as your group's skills.
"How do I choose music?" "I don't feel confident teaching parts, what can I do?" "If I don't know what I'm doing, how can I inspire people to come be part of my choir?"
My advice is to start small. No use trying to start with elaborate SATB choral pieces by the Great Composers if you have only six women and a couple of men. Fortunately, there are many beautiful hymns and sacred songs that can be sung unison or two part, or possibly SAB. Start there and build your skills as well as your group's skills.
Work on Breath Management, Posture, Matching Pitches, Unifying Vowels, and Phrasing. Sometimes a choir director has to use Strange Analogies to get his singers to understand what to do. A song sung in one or two-parts beautifully is more satisfying for the congregation to listen to than a sophisticated piece done poorly. Keep focused on the most important choir goals. The point of preparing choir music for Church Services is to invite the Spirit into the meeting and to testify of Christ.
Another problem I hear about is that it takes too long to prepare pieces to perform. Well, obviously, if the choir members are having trouble learning --- the music chosen is too difficult. Choose something else more in keeping with their interests and skills particularly as you are building your directing chops. (The inexperienced director can take workshops in person or online or maybe get some individualized training.)
One wise choral director said that planning the choir's schedule was like juggling balls of different sizes, keeping them all moving through the air and dropping none of them. The key is to have variety in the mix. Have several straight-forward easy pieces to balance having a couple of "challenge" songs.
With that strategy, the choir can perform consistently and work up to some more interesting music, while building their skills. Unfortunately, I hear of many new choir directors who give up before they even give their group a chance to have any success.
Here's a place to start: Hymns arranged for Easy 2-Part Mixed Chorus
Another problem I hear about is that it takes too long to prepare pieces to perform. Well, obviously, if the choir members are having trouble learning --- the music chosen is too difficult. Choose something else more in keeping with their interests and skills particularly as you are building your directing chops. (The inexperienced director can take workshops in person or online or maybe get some individualized training.)
One wise choral director said that planning the choir's schedule was like juggling balls of different sizes, keeping them all moving through the air and dropping none of them. The key is to have variety in the mix. Have several straight-forward easy pieces to balance having a couple of "challenge" songs.
With that strategy, the choir can perform consistently and work up to some more interesting music, while building their skills. Unfortunately, I hear of many new choir directors who give up before they even give their group a chance to have any success.
Here's a place to start: Hymns arranged for Easy 2-Part Mixed Chorus
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