Repertoire Project Rationale

Idumea
This song is meant for an all men's ensemble. I have hopes to have the oportunity to work with one of them at some point. The piece would be great educationally because it has quite a bit of doubling for the singer who may need more reinforcemnet than the other. It also opens the opportunity to talk about Shape note singing. The arranger is also alive and well, so being able to directly communicate to him about why he did what he did would be a great learning experince for the boys. There is also the opportunity to work with the band program because the music calls for two flugelhorns.

Dubula
This music would allow for an all girl choir to sing something not in the traditional style. The piece is a traditional Xhosa folk song. This would allow for the conductor to have a platform to talk about different cultures and ways cultures perform their music. The vocal color needed for this text would give the irls an opportunity to explore other sounds in their voice.

Lollipop
This was a pop song from the 1950's. It is well known by audiences and would be a fun bit for the girls to perform because it is light hearted and carefree. Altos have an oppotunity to read from the tenor clef (exposure to other clefs besides treble).  The music also calls for accents on NOT the down beat. The singers also have the option of soloing. It is also a cappella so the students won't be relying on the piano for their tuning or musicality.

Shenandoah
Written for 3 part treble this song will be perfect for a group of women. The music doesn't have any one part singing too low thus making it easily accessible. The arrangment has all the women sing the melody and ends with a major second interval that gets traded off between two parts giving intrigue to a folk song while also dveloping the young singer for more difficult music that doesn't always have the most consonant harmonies.

City Called Heaven
A pathway to exposure of the gospel music from the African-American tradition. This could lead to a discussion of what that means and the significance of its heritage. A conductor-teacher may have a very excellent soloist who would love to take on the challenge of the solo written in this piece. It also would give them opportunity for improvisation which is fairly rare in a choral setting.

Lullaby
This is a beautiful song that the student swould love to sing. The text is simple with lovely imagery and the music sets t up perfectly. The sopranoes and altos sing together in unison and so do the basses and tenors. Everyone is given the opportunity to sing the melody and sing supporting harmonic parts. The music gives the students lots of opportunity to have musical interpretation. There is an a cappella section for the singers to really test their ears. This song is perfect for the excelling SATB ensemble.

Zion's Walls
One of if not the most famous Copland choral piece. This is just standard repertoire for the choral singer. The music is well written while also having the singers in unison and also with each individual line. As the piece goes on it splits and then joins back together from parts to unison. It usually keeps the sopranos and altos together and likewise for the tenors and basses. This would reassure the singers if they felt insecure with their part.

Come Be My Love
Music for the ensemble with a ton of women and not enough men. The text is simple as are the harmonies. Each part will be able to sing the melody at some point. The piano reinforces the parts almost the entire time. Perfeect for a beginning mixed ensemble with tenors and basses that aren't as experienced as your sopranoes and altos.