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Anniversary Music: Glory

Well today, May 31, 2015, is a special day for my wife and I. It is our five year anniversary.

Being married to Heidi has been filled with much love, fun, laughter, and joy. We are truly best friends. She is devout to God, intelligent, steady, and very supportive. She is also a fabulous musician. After marrying we both studied and completed our masters of music together (her in piano, myself in conducting). Now she runs a terrific studio teaching piano to various students. I am admittedly biased, but I think she is one of the best piano teachers I’ve seen.

For our wedding recessional, I composed a joyous and celebratory piece of praise and thanks to God called “Glory.” Our wedding attendants plus some family members and friends made up a choir of about 40 singers for the recessional. A friend took a video of the wedding. I extracted the recessional to post here.

Here is “Glory” from our wedding! (Link to the Score: Glory)

Dear Heidi,

I love you and look forward to many more years of happiness, fun, music, and service to God together.

-Michael

Teaching a beautiful head voice to young children’s choirs

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Michael SandvikSeptember 20, 2015

Most of my posts have dealt with my compositions or other repertoire up to this point. This post is different and hopefully will be useful to conductors of children’s choirs.

Developing beautiful singing and quality musicianship with young children in a choral and classroom music setting is extremely rewarding. An important part of the process is helping the student’s discover their head voice and how to use it.

The techniques I will describe have worked well for me with all levels, but I will focus this post on ages 6 to 10 (Elementary: typically 1st through 4th grade). This will not be comprehensive, but rather mention four helpful tips/tricks to achieve a beautiful head voice from your young singers.

1. Teach what is beautiful

A lot of our children may have a very narrow aural palate. Perhaps they’ve only heard a specific music type such as pop music. The good news is that when they’re young, they are very open to various sounds. I will often sit at the piano, and for half a minute play a beautiful melody with simple harmonic accompaniment, or play a beautiful sounding progression of chords, or a portion of a beautiful piece (or play a recording of a fine choir, orchestra, singer, player, etc…). I will then tell them that this is beautiful music. Children must be taught what is beautiful, and as music teachers, we share part of that responsibility. When they are singing let them know when they make a beautiful sound, especially in the head voice. Timely reinforcement is so simple, but so effective. Let’s not forget it!

2. “Hooty” sound

I use much singing on an “oo” sound. One of the best techniques I’ve found is having students imitate animal sounds. Most love it. The target is to create a natural head voice sound on “oo.” “Owl” and “Mourning Dove” imitations are excellent. I will instruct them to hoot like an owl. Often this will be three “hoots,” with the first two staccato and the last one sustained (hoo, hoo, hooooooo). This is mostly on one pitch and needs to high enough in pitch that it is not easy to do in a “chesty” voice. Remember to let them know they sound beautiful when they get it right. I tell them this is “hooty” sound. Having them echo the teacher on various “hooty” exercises of one or more notes (often staccato) is effective. Keeping the head voice sound on sustained pitches is usually more challenging for them, but over time they will get it. Then you can move to other more difficult vowel sounds such as “oh,” “ah,” “eh,” and “ee.” When singing, it is so helpful to be able to remind them to use their “hooty” voices.

3. Start high and work toward low.

When teaching the “hooty” head voice, starting an exercise above the middle of the average child’s range will often promote use of head voice. Like I mentioned above, do high to low practice. I often start “hooty” voice exercises starting between the 2nd “b” and the 2nd “d” above middle c. Most young students will do one of two things, either really try to yell the note, or revert naturally into a “hooty” beautiful head voice (especially if done on staccatos). The yelling issue is easily resolved for most students by the next trick.

4. Soft Singing

Soft singing on the above exercises all but guarantees they will find head voice. (Most can naturally do it, they just need to learn that it is generally preferable for singing.) Remember to tell them how beautiful they sound when they get it right. They will be excited that you are excited about them! However, don’t be surprised if the quality of sound changes, and the head voice disappears when the volume goes up, or the vowel changes. This takes repeated practice.

Something that has helped me with maintaining beautiful tone in head voice while increasing volume is word imagery. I tell them to keep the sound soft even when getting louder. Example: “Imagine that you’re petting a soft cat, the sound should be like that soft fur. It is easy to ‘feel’ the soft fur when you sing quiet, but when you get loud, you must still ‘feel’ the soft sound.”

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I hope some of these teaching tips and tricks will be helpful for you. Be patient with your students, as this doesn’t usually develop immediately, but can take weeks, months, or even a couple of years. But with persistent and consistent practice, your young children’s choirs will discover and love using a beautiful head voice tone. Just make sure they have fun in the process!

* By the way, these same techniques work well with middle and high school levels, as long as they are adapted to their age level. They will shut down if they think you are treating them like “little kids.” However, if you acknowledge their maturity (no snickering now middle school music teachers), these techniques (modified) can help them also!

* A second note: nothing shuts down beautiful tone like a bad acoustic environment in performance. This is not because the kids switch tone, but because parents will complain about not hearing their children well (and they have a point) and often tell their children to just sing loud at the next program (this really happens). Most parents I know prefer bad tone they can hear well to beautiful tone they have to strain to hear from their young children. If you’re in a gymnasium, set up a shell or use mics (I hate amplifying the choirs with mics, but sometimes it is the lesser of evils) so they can be heard well. You want your students to be able to use that healthy beautiful tone (without parent complaint) as it will pay off big dividends for them musically as they mature.

Photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar / Foter / CC BY-ND

Composition Blessings In A Busy Time

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Michael SandvikJuly 27, 2015

Sometimes, the busyness of life makes it harder to compose and share my compositions. This is not necessarily bad, it is just a reality.

This past week was filled with dress rehearsals and a Spring program for my five choirs at the preK-12 Adventist Christian school in which I teach. It was all very fun, a rewarding finish to the hard work of the school year, and a nice capstone for the student’s 2014-2015 choral experience.

Despite the running to and fro (so to speak) of the past several days, many neat things have taken place with my compositions. Here are a few highlights.

* I finished re-editing my TTBB setting of the spiritual “Standing In The Need Of Prayer” and made it available on the website.

* I made strong progress in continued editing of the Life of Christ piece “Greater Love” which will hopefully be available soon.

* I begin work on a new blog post about developing a beautiful head voice in children’s choirs (be looking for this post soon).

**** I’m excited to share that my piece “Soon One Day” was featured in Jonathan Kopplin’s “Pick Six” article in the ACDA Minnesota publication Star Of The North! Link here: http://www.starofthenorth.net/ethnic-and-multicultural-pick-six. Published May 14.

**** My five part blog series (first post here) on finding great self-published choral music was also feature in the same Star Of The North publication. Link here: http://www.starofthenorth.net/digital-resources-choral-repertoire. Published May 14.

**** My piece “Soon One Day” is also being featured for the second time this week in the composition spotlight on choralnet. Link here: http://choralnet.org/view/411532. Published May 17.

To be honest, I feel very blessed. In what is one of the busiest times of the year for me, so many wonderful things have happened and are happening. May God bless you during your busy times also.

Conducting My Own Compositions

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Michael SandvikJuly 27, 2015

One of the blessings of being a choir conductor and composer is that I get the opportunity to conduct my own choral pieces from time to time.

Over the years I’ve had the privilege of conducting about 30 of my own choral pieces, including several premieres. Most recently, my mass children’s choir, at the private preK-12 school I teach in, premiered my children’s Christmas piece, “Sweet Little Jesus.” It was a delightful experience to hear over 100 children sing this lullaby for the Christ child.

** On a side note, I am aiming to have this piece and my children’s choir setting of “Swing Low” (which was a huge hit with the children) available on the website by the end of July or August this year. **

One of the most memorable experiences of conducting my own compositions was the second time I conducted one of my own pieces. During the Fall quarter of 2003, at Walla Walla University, where I had just began my fourth year of music study, I approached the new choir conductor, Dr. John Dennison, with my arrangement of “Away In A Manger,” asking if he would be interested in having one the university choirs sing it. He looked the piece over and decided to program it for the upcoming Christmas program. I expected to sing it in the choir, but he told me, “you conduct it.”

He gave me rehearsal time, tips as a conductor, and to top it off, made me his student assistant conductor for the next two and half years (we had no graduate program, and he wanted to mentor conducting students beyond the normal conducting class setting). I felt so humbled, grateful, and honored to be given this privilege. The piece came out beautifully, in fact closing the back to back Christmas programs, which easily had over 3000 combined listeners.

Dr. Dennison, if you ever happen on this blog, I want you to know that you made a profound impact on my life as a musician and as a person. Thank you for the opportunities, instruction, and for your personal example. God Bless you!

Spirituals: Songs of Hope and Heaven

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Michael SandvikJuly 27, 2015

I love singing and conducting spirituals. They are often vibrant, pious, express hope and a deep longing for heaven.

Today there is often a misunderstanding about the genre of spirituals. Many persons, even educated musicians at times, assume that the genre is limited to black spirituals. Born out of a rich but tragic and oppressive experience, the black spiritual is a wonderful type of spiritual. Yet there are many other types as well.

Here are a few of the many classifications of spirituals along with a couple of representative pieces:

Black spiritual examples: “Deep River,” “Go Down, Moses”
White spiritual examples: “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks,” “Bright Canaan”
Appalachian spiritual examples: “I’m Just A Poor Wayfaring Stranger,” “Down To The River To Pray”
Second Advent spiritual examples: “You Will See The Lord A Coming,” “How Far From Home?”

Spirituals are not an antiquated art form, but these songs of hope can be and still are written today.

Over the past 15 years I’ve written and arranged many spirituals. For me, they are a tangible expression of my faith. The second advent of Jesus, when he will come and put an end to the suffering of this world, especially has been one of my favorite topics.

Currently, among several composition projects, I am working on another SATB second advent spiritual. I am super excited to share the piece when it is finished. It is thoroughly jubilant. I hope to have it ready to introduce by June or July!

Click the Spirituals link to check out my available spirituals.

Here is a recording of my well loved piece, Are You Ready? SATB (original spiritual, performed by Andrews University I Cantori, 2011)

Finding Great Choral Music 5: Self Published Composers and Their Compositions Part 2

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Michael SandvikSeptember 26, 2016

*** Many of the websites have changed in this series, and while the principles are still valid, the specific methods and links may no longer be relevant. However, the posts on composers and their compositions should still be quite relevant. ***

In the first three posts of this series, we examined ways to find great self-published pieces and the composers who write them. In the previous post and in this one we are considering some composers with quality self-published music.

Post 1: The Search For Self-Published Choral Music and ChoralNet Part 1
Post 2: The Search For Self-Published Choral Music: Using Music Distributing Websites
Post 3: The Search For Self-Published Choral Music and ChoralNet Part 2
Post 4: The Search For Self-Published Composers and Their Compositions Part 1
Post 5: The Search For Self-Published Composers and Their Compositions Part 2

I have purposefully not included my own pieces in any of the posts, for my goal is not direct self advertising, but rather to demonstrate what music can be found when searching “outside” the traditional publishing box.

Although I am not showcasing any of my own compositions in this series, you are welcome and invited to peruse them on this website.

* It should be noted that I do not receive any compensation for promoting these composers and their compositions. Some of the composers I have had personal contact with via email or internet forum, but I have met none in person.

9. Timothy Tharaldson – I See His Blood Upon The Rose, TTBB a cappella

I became acquainted with Timothy’s music by perusing the MusicSpoke website. “I See His Blood Upon The Rose” weaves in the familiar “Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming” and “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” with original material in way that does not seem gimmicky, but rather natural. Together it creates a reverent and beautiful reflection on the birth and death of Jesus Christ.

Website: http://www.timothytharaldson.com/
Link for I See His Blood Upon The Rose

10. Hildigunnur Runarsdottir – Psalm 150, SATB a cappella, cymbals

I became familiar with Hildigunnur and her music through the choralnet Composer’s Community and the Composition Showcase. “Psalm 150” was part of the group of compositions that received the first Silver Platter awards back in April of 2012. I conducted “Psalm 150” with my select highschool choir in 2013 and it’s exciting nature was well received. Her short piece “Vorlauf,” which is also on the Showcase is very beautiful and could be a relatively easy way to introduce singing in Icelandic to a choir. I have consistently found her compositions to be high quality.

Website: http://cyrad.is/Site/english.html (The music page is currently down, but will hopefully be working soon. If you contact her via email, which is listed on the Composition Showcase, she is quick to respond and easy to communicate with)
Link for Psalm 150 (a soundcloud recording for Psalm 150 is also available here)

11. Linda Kachelmeier – Rise Up To Greet The Morning Dawn SATB a cappella

I became familiar with Linda Kachelmeier somewhat serendipitously. While following a thread about the first readings project in the Composer’s Community on choralnet and then perusing the first readings project’s site, I happened upon Linda’s spiritual. I found the composition very appealing. While checking out her site, I noticed that while not a lot of choral pieces were being promoted, everything was of the highest quality. Interestingly, the recording for “Rise Up To Greet The Morning Dawn” is not on her site at this time, though the piece is still available for purchase. Her excellent SSA piece “Aer Enim” and her SSATBB piece “Nomina Animalium” which includes elements in the style of Notre Dame polyphony, are worth your examination also.

Website: http://www.lindakachelmeier.com/
Link for Rise Up To Greet The Morning Dawn (3rd recording in the list)

12. Gordon Thornett – Gather Ye Rosebuds SSA, a cappella

Gordon Thornett wrote this little gem and has made it available via Swirly Music. I became familiar with Mr. Thornett through the choralnet Composer’s Community. However, I discovered this skilfully crafted piece while browsing Swirly’s site for women’s choir music. I think it sets the poetry well and could find a place in many programs.

Website: http://www.newcarols.com/newcarols/Home.html
Link for Gather Ye Rosebuds

13. Larry Nickel – I Know My Jesus Lives SATB a cappella

I first became acquainted with Larry Nickel’s music at an ACDA division conference interest session on choral music by Canadian composers (Northwest Division, Vancouver, BC 2008). Though Larry has since become the owner of Cypress Choral Publishing, huge amounts of his fantastic choral compositions remain self-published and available on his website. I have sung and conducted several of his pieces since 2008. “I Know My Jesus Lives” has to be one of the most sublime and spiritually moving pieces I’ve had the privilege of conducting.

Website: http://larrynickel.com/CanuckComposer/Home.html
Link for I Know My Jesus Lives (recording)

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Free Music

When I finished the first post in the series, composer Susan Partlan left a message about searching for new music on the Choral Public Domain Library, which includes a large number of self-published scores (including some of hers).

There are some fantastic self-published scores on CPDL. However I have a experienced very low efficiency in my success rate in finding the quality self-published scores amongst the thousands available. Granted, I have found some poorly put together self-published pieces on various distributing sites as well, but my experience at finding gems on these has been much more efficient than CPDL (and fairly similar in success rate to my search for gems in traditionally published music). I usually search CPDL for pieces for which I am familiar. With this said, if you are willing to spend the time, you can find free gems on CPDL and other websites. The next two composers offer high quality choral scores that are free.

14. Sally DeFord – The Lord Is My Shepherd Shepherd SATB piano, violin

While on CPDL I saw Sally DeFord’s name listed by a piece of music. On a whim, I clicked one of her scores and was taken to her website. I found her music lovely and well written on a consistent basis. Perusal scores are almost always available, as well as recordings. She generally writes songs, but very often has a choral arrangement (often for several voicings) of them. Her setting of James Montgomery’s paraphrase of the 23rd Psalm I found to be exquisite, with a simple but interesting piano part and accessible choir writing. I would say the piece (and many of her available choral pieces) reminds me of some of the writing of Craig Courtney or Mary McDonald.

Website: http://www.defordmusic.com/
Link for The Lord Is My Shepherd

15. Gwyneth Walker – More Love SATB (also available for SA), Piano

Gwyneth Walker likely needs no introduction to most choral conductors. However, many may not realize that she has self-published scores. Most of her self-published choral scores are free. She requests that you include no more than one of her free pieces in a program. “More Love” is a fun setting of Shaker texts (and not “Simple Gifts”) that embodies a lot of the qualities that have come to be associated with Walker’s music: joyful, melodic, and earthy; and an interesting, approachable, but not boring or easy piano part. A string quartet accompaniment version is also available.

Website: http://www.gwynethwalker.com/
Link for More Love (scroll down the alphabetical list, it is listed as SA, but is first promoted as SATB)

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This concludes the five part blog series! I hope it has proved both informative and helpful.

Happy searching and God bless you!

Finding Great Choral Music 4: Self Published Composers and Their Compositions Part 1

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Michael SandvikAugust 8, 2016

In the previous three posts in this series, we have examined ways to find great self-published pieces and the composers who write them.

In the next two posts my goal is to introduce you to composers that are writing quality self-published music. One quality composition will be featured per composer.

I am not showcasing any of my own compositions, but you are invited to peruse them on this website.

1. David Von Kampen – A Cradle Hymn, SATB a cappella

I became familiar with David Von Kampen’s music through perusal on the Music Spoke website (see post 2). I immediately loved this simple Christmas piece, “A Cradle Hymn”. Other’s have loved it as well, based on its receiving numerous purchases. He has a mix of traditionally published and self-published works, which can be checked out on his website.

Website: http://davidvonkampen.com/
Link for A Cradle Hymn

2. Wallace De Pue – The Fatherland, TTBB, solo, violin

I became familiar with Wallace De Pue and his music through the Composition Showcase (see post 1) and the composer’s community on choralnet.org. He has a huge catalogue of choral works that are consistently high quality. It can be a bit dizzying making your way through so much music on his new website. The best way I’ve found to acquaint with his music is through the samples tab, which has pieces with recordings. Much of his music is more serious than his fun “The Fatherland” featured here (especially his SATB music). He has ten pieces on the Composition Showcase on choralnet.

Website: http://www.wallacedepue.com/
Link for The Fatherland (scroll just past halfway down the page for a link to a recording)

3. Michael Kaulkin – Roll The Tide, SATB a cappella

I first became acquainted with Michael Kaulkin’s music through a composer’s community discussion thread on choralnet.org. I found “Roll The Tide” while perusing choral scores on Swirly Music (see post 2), which Michael founded. Described by the composer as a “quasi spiritual” I found the piece very compelling and well written. In the music, it is easy to sense the ocean swells. The two recordings do not do the piece justice, but the much superior (of the two) video recording on the bottom of the page gives a pretty good idea about it.

Website: http://www.michaelkaulkin.com/
Link for Roll The Tide

4. Dianna Robin Dennis – Air On The Old Dennis, SSA, harp

I became acquainted with Dianna Robin Dennis’ music through perusal of women’s chorus music on JW Pepper’s My Score (see post 2). I found “Air On The Old Dennis” to be absolutely charming. At this time, her personal website is under construction, but her My Score page gives a reasonable sample of her music with 13 titles being present. She has five pieces on the Composition Showcase on choralnet.org.

Website: http://www.diannarobindennis.com/, My Score page
Link for Air On The Old Dennis

5. Kurt Knecht – Pied Beauty, TTBB piano

Like with Michael Kaulkin, I became acquainted with Kurt’s music through a composer’s community discussion on choralnet.org. I found this piece while perusing music for men’s choir on the Music Spoke website (see post 2). Kurt Knecht is an accomplished composer with many traditionally published works as well as self-published works. Along with his wife, Jennifer Rosenblatt, he started the MusicSpoke distributing website. “Pied Beauty” sets Gerald Manly Hopkin’s unique sacred text and includes a challenging piano part. The piece has dynamite energy and a positive effect of praise.

Website: http://kurtknecht.com/
Link for Pied Beauty

6. Joy DeCoursey-Porter – Jesus SATB a cappella

I became acquainted with Joy’s music through the choralnet composer’s community and the Composition Showcase. A couple of years ago, I started a thread on the Repertoire forum (see post 3) looking for self-published Christmas music. I had programmed a number of traditionally published pieces and I wanted to search for scores “outside the box.” A staggering number of fantastic public and a few private replies arrived in a few short days. Joy responded with her piece “Jesus.” I had perused the piece before (on the Showcase) and liked it; with the exception of the occasional very simple piano part of which I wasn’t to fond for a number of reasons (probably just my taste). Since I had specified I was looking for a cappella music, due to the number of accompanied pieces already programmed, her reply offered a fully a cappella version of the piece. She sent me a perusal score of the fully a cappella version. With a bit of score study, I realized this was a truly amazing piece, for which the choralnet recording gives an idea, but doesn’t do full justice.

I programmed Joy’s piece as well as a couple of others. My high school singers loved it. For some of the singers, it was their favorite piece of the entire school year. I would say it feels musically like a cross between some of Eric Whitacre’s music with that of Dan Forrest. I am fully biased in favor of the a cappella version, which replaces the plodding piano part with a couple of “ooing” sections that are beautifully ethereal in context. Listen to the piece, but try to imagine it a cappella fully, with warm and haunting choral tone.

Joy has eight pieces on the Composition Showcase.

Website: none at this time, view some of her scores on the Composer Index of the Composition Showcase on choralnet.
Link for Jesus

7. Donald Patriquin – Island Spinning Song SATB piano

Donald Patriquin is a well known composer of great choral works. For example, his arrangement of “J’entends le moulin” is pretty standard repertoire for North American choirs. However, besides his traditionally published music, he has many self-published works that are equally high in quality. I became acquainted with “Island Spinning Song” through the composer’s community and the Composition Showcase on choralnet.org (see post 1), on which Mr. Patriquin has included two pieces. This piece, one of two pieces in a set titled “Scottish Contrasts,” has a bit of the “J’entends…” feel with a challenging piano part and exciting choral effect, but is more compact.

Website: http://www.donaldpatriquin.com/Home.html
Link for Island Spinning Song (it can also be perused on his website under the catalogue tab)

8. Karen Marrolli – Patapan SATB guitar, fiddle, percussion

I became acquainted with the music of Karen Marrolli when she responded to the repertoire thread I started as mentioned above (see post 3). She presented her Celtic setting of “Patapan” in her private response. It was such an exciting arrangement and we had a fantastic violinist in our choir, I included it in our Christmas repertoire along with two other selections. The result was terrific. The piece is well written, has depth, and is fun for the singers as well as listeners. I just wish it was longer (1’45”) because it is so good.

Website: http://www.karenmarrolli.com/
Link for Patapan (scroll halfway down the page for a perusal score and great recording)

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Look for the next and final post in the series in a few days, featuring some more great composers and their compositions.

Finding Great Choral Music 3: The Search For Self-Published Music and ChoralNet Part 2

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Michael SandvikAugust 8, 2016

In our first post we examined finding great self-published choral music with the use of choralnet.org’s Composition Showcase. In the second post we looked at five music distributors that retail self-published choral music. This post will examine some other resources for finding great choral repertoire on the choralnet website.

Choralnet.org is one of the finest resources I know for finding great self-published choral repertoire (and also traditionally published music). Besides the Composition Showcase, there are some other great repertoire resources. In fact, what we will examine has been one of the most effective venues I have seen for connecting conductors with composers and compositions. These resources are the “Repertoire” forum and the “New Publications” announcement page. Many conductors and composers are using this resource, but even if you are one, perhaps you might find some helpful suggestions to utilize these to your best and most efficient advantage in this post.

The “New Publications” announcement page is fairly self explanatory. Composers and publishers post an announcement of a newly made available piece. It is common to see new announcements on a daily basis. Announcements usually include a short description of the piece (voicing, style, etc…), a link or contact for perusal and purchase, and often an embedded audio recording or audio link for the piece.

It can seem a bit tedious to check on new publications on a daily basis (go to choralnet.org, open the announcements page – 2nd tab from the top left, open the “New Publications” page, scroll through the new announcements, etc…). There is a more efficient way to keep up with the steady stream of new repertoire announcements. However, first we will examine the “Repertoire” forum.

The “Repertoire” forum has proved to be a very useful tool to find quality self-published choral music (go to choralnet.org, open the forum page – 3rd tab from the top left, open the repertoire forum). While using the the forum is quite easy, I suggest three search strategies when on the page to achieve your best results: start your own thread; use the search tab; and serendipitous searching.

If you are looking for suggestions for a piece meeting specifications of type, genre, topic, or program, you can start a new thread (for which you must have a choralnet account) asking for suggestions from fellow conductors and composers. Generally, many conductors and composers respond. Often composers will recommend one of their own compositions that meets your specifications, frequently with a perusal score link and a recording.

You also can view recommendations to many other queries for pieces by perusing and searching past threads. The search mechanism is quite efficient and very helpful. For example, try typing “Christmas,” “self-published,” “ssa,” or “ttbb”.

Besides starting your own thread and using the search feature on the “Repertoire” forum, you can become acquainted with many quality pieces serendipitously. Just scroll down the page and see what thread titles catch your eye. This is perhaps overly obvious, but I have become acquainted with quality pieces I would not have otherwise based on viewing thread topics I would not have thought of.

For efficiency’s sake, rather than checking the forum and announcements every day or two to keep abreast with all the new and recommended pieces, the best way to keep up is to simply sign up for a choralnet.org account, which is free. When you register, by selecting to have the daily highlights newsletter sent to your email, you can keep up with the previous day’s announcements and active forum threads with minimal effort. The email rarely takes more than 20 seconds to scan. If you see interesting threads and announcements for repertoire, simply click the link from your email to check it out.

There are other great ways to connect with great self-published choral music which I have not covered in this series. These ways include searching the music of self-published composer co-ops, word of mouth, social media, and others.

In the series’ next two blog posts I will highlight some fine composers of great self-published choral compositions. I will include links to perusal scores and demo recordings if available. I think the next two posts can demonstrate some of the great self-published choral music available.

God Bless and Happy Searching!

New Recording of Spiritual, “My Lord What A Mornin'”

Posted on March 27, 2015 by Michael SandvikJuly 27, 2015

I have a new demo recording by Matt Curtis of Choral Tracks for my arrangement of the Spiritual, “My Lord What A Mornin’.”

I will introduce the piece to the choral community at large in late summer/early fall of this year, but it is available for perusal and purchase now.

“My Lord What A Mornin'” is a Spiritual I love, and so back in 2003 I decided to create this straight foward delivery of the text and tune. I wanted the inherent hope and dignity of the Spiritual to come through with little distraction.

The Spiritual contains overt second advent references. I am fairly sure, although it cannot be confirmed, that this Spiritual was influenced by second advent preachers traveling from New England to the southern states in the early 1840s.

While there many risked their lives to preach not only to white citizens, but also to slaves. There message was that Jesus was coming soon and that the judgment would take place at that time.

Often when opening a meeting, the traveling evangelist or a singing companion would begin by singing a Spiritual (a cappella, solo) themes on the second advent to the listening congregation. Then the message would begin. (The a cappella baritone solo opening this arrangement is in imitation of this singing style.) What message would be more powerful to the poor suffering slaves then “Jesus will be here soon, your suffering will be ended”? It is no surprise that these meetings met with success in winning converts.

I think these meetings likely influenced (along with the greatest meteor shower in recorded history, which occurred in 1833) the creation of this Spiritual.

Today, I think the message is still relevant. Jesus has not come, but His coming in the clouds of heaven, when every eye will see Him, cannot be far off. I hope you enjoy this arrangement.

Finding Great Choral Music 2: The Search For Self-Published Music: Using Distributing Websites

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Michael SandvikAugust 8, 2016

When searching for quality self-published choral music, the use of music distributors can be very helpful. (Click here for the first post in the series which explains the purpose of the series in more detail)

In this post we will examine the services of five high quality music distributors of self-published music. Sheetmusicplus, JW Pepper, CadenzaOne, MusicSpoke, and Swirly Music.

For full disclosure, while I receive no compensation from any of these distributors for this post, I do currently have music being retailed with some of these services: Sheetmusicplus, and CadenzaOne (and since the initial writing of this series, MusicSpoke).

Sheetmusicplus.com Digital Print Sheet Music

Sheetmusicplus.com retails self-published music in it’s digital print program. Right now, they only retail self-published scores digitally, and hard copies are not available.

Searching For Self-Published Titles

To access the self-published scores from sheetmusicplus.com, nearly any search on the website will include these pieces. However, the best way to access these pieces is to press the tab titled Digital on the top of the page (second from the right). Once this is opened, I recommend using the search tabs on the left to narrow your search for scores. A high percentage (I think a majority) of the digital pieces are self-published, so if you find a piece you especially enjoy, enter that composer’s name into the digital search (consider opening a new tab for this) and see what other pieces they may have. You may also consider searching for that composer’s personal webpage on google.

Strengths and Weaknesses Sheetmusicplus has a very effective search system, which is easy to use, and can narrow down categories quickly. It also holds (I think) the largest collection of self-published choral music in any one place. They regulary have great sales on all music (sometimes as much as 25% off). As of now, while all pieces include perusal files, perusal scores rarely include an entire piece, which is a drag if the piece has no recording.

The current printing system of digital print is not great for ensembles, but it is being improved. Soon (they have said the target date is April 1, 2015) they will be switching the digital delivery system to allow you to print the score in a variety of formats, presumably along with a license for the number of copies you purchased. You will be forever able to replace damaged scores, and have rights to assemble the piece the way you wish. When this goes into effect, this will be a great digital print system for conductors and performers. Sheetmusicplus is aggressively trying to build up it’s self-published composition retailing, therefore, noticeable improvements are being made to the system on a regular basis.

JW Pepper My Score

JW Pepper retails self-published music through a program called My Score. They sell these scores both digitally and as hard copies.

Searching For Self-Published Titles

To access the self-published scores on http://www.jwpepper.com/, like Sheetmusicplus, nearly any search on the website will include these pieces. However, the results may bury self-published titles far down in the search, depending on the specificity. The best way to access these pieces is through the My Score link. On the home page, scroll down to the very bottom where there is a list of services. Under the category of “Additional Services” is a link for My Score. Once you are there, scroll down the page (past the featured composers section) to the See All Choral Titles tab. Once here, you can use all the search tabs on the left hand of the page to narrow your search. However, if you use the search bar on the top of the page, you will be taken out of the My Score section and placed into the database at large (which includes My Score, but can make these titles more difficult to find). If you find a piece you especially enjoy, you can go back to the My Score page, scroll down and click the See All Composers tab and find the bio and possible website link for that particular composer.

Strengths and Weaknesses

JW Pepper has a great self-published retailing system, once you can find it. The search system is quite effective, and you can order music digitally or as a hard copy which is fantastic. When looking at a score, you can nearly always peruse it entirely. Most of the scores also seem to include recordings. They also have very nice composer pages. As of my latest venture on this part of the website, the shop tab on the My Score page was not working correctly, but rather sending the searcher to the composer page. I’m sure this glitch will be fixed soon.

CadenzaOne

CadenzaOne is an online sheet music retailer of only digital scores. It includes both traditionally published and self-published music. Imagine sheetmusicplus.com’s digital print service as it’s own company, and that is essentially CadenzaOne.

Searching For Self-Published Titles

CadenzaOne makes no distinction between traditionally published and self-published scores. However, it includes a high percentage of self-published music. From the http://www.cadenzaone.com/ homepage, click either the search button or the “about us” button at the top. A row of musical genres will appear across the top of the page. You can click the choir tab, or (better) you can drag the mouse over the choir tab and see a variety of options for browsing appear (voicing and ocassion). You can further narrow your search by typing into the search bar.

Strengths and Weaknesses

CadenzaOne retails music only as digital files, but has a great delivery system. They deliver the music as a file to your email with a license to print/copy the desired number of scores. They also offer great discounts for ensemble orders. When viewing, perusal scores always include the entire piece. Many scores also include a recording. I do find the search system to be rather mediocre compared to other systems on the web, but the company is rather young and I’m sure will improve with time.

MusicSpoke

MusicSpoke is an online sheet music retailer of only digital scores. However, unlike other retailers, they only market self-published music, aiming at facilitating a relationship between composer and performer, conductor, or ensemble. It is worth reading the “about us” section on the website to truly grasp what they are about. MusicSpoke is selective in who can sell on their website, rather than allowing any composer to use their service. In a sense, they fulfil a publisher role without being a publisher. It is my understanding that they do not vet compositions, but rather composers, which is very different than a traditional publisher. Composers also retain copyright of all their music and receive a high percentage of royalties.

Searching For Self-Published Titles

From the http://musicspoke.com/ homepage, you can search effectively by clicking the tab below the search bar that says “start browsing” or by holding the mouse over the top left tab titled “all scores” and selecting choral music. From here, you can narrow the search by ensemble type with the right hand tabs. When you open a score, on the right is a box labled score details. In it is included tags, which if clicked will select every piece with the particular chosen tag. If you click on the name of the composer in the box above the score details box, you can view every piece by that composer on the website, as well as a bio, and a way to contact the composer.

Another way to search is by composer, which can be typed in the search bar. However, better than using the search bar is to hover the mouse over the “about us” tab on the top of the page and select all composers. As of this post, there are 22 composers listed on the website, with most of the compositions being choral (along with a few vocal pieces). As MusicSpoke diversifies and grows, this may not be an effective search tool for choir conductors. For now it works reasonably well.

Strengths and Weaknesses

MusicSpoke offers (in my opinion) a consistently high percentage of quality music among their scores. I also like the ability for conductors to connect with composers right on the website. In my opinion, their layout and search system needs improving as they grow. Currently, they only display 10 pieces plus 3 popular pieces (in very large graphics that tells you very little) per page after a search. However, once you select a piece, there is a myriad of information available that is quite excellent, including a tag system which can be quite helpful (if not a bit serendipitous) in the search. As of the last time I checked, while every page of a score is able to be perused, a glitch in the system is making the scores nearly unreadable. Most scores include full recordings thankfully. I’m sure this glitch will be fixed soon, as regular improvements are being made. Overall, I think MusicSpoke, now in it’s infancy, will be highly successful and a great tool for finding quality music.

Swirly Music

Swirly Music is unique in that it is a non-profit service. It facilitates retailing both hard copy and digital files of compositions for self-published composers.

Searching For Self-Published Titles

From the http://www.swirlymusic.com/ homepage, click the top right picture for Choral Works. There are a number of search tabs on the left part of the page as well sort options in the top center (it defaults to a sort by popularity). There are not that many pieces on the website as of yet, so searching is pretty easy and fast. If you find a piece you particularly enjoy, click on the composers name to see a bio, all their pieces being retailed on the site, and often a link to their personal webpage.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Swirly Music aims for a particular nitch in the sheet music world, and, in my opinion, is filling it very well (read the “about us” section on their website). The entire website is intuitive and easy to use. Every score can be fully perused and recordings are often available. They have an easy to use and effective search system, and great composer pages. Regular improvements to the website are being made. Although they have a quite small database of choral music at this time (84 titles currently), I have been pleased at finding some high quality scores there.

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The retailing of self-published music by music distributors is still a relatively new service, but one that is quite effective and will continue to be improved over time.

God bless and happy searching!