The Choir Director Corner Podcast
The Choir Director Corner Podcast
093. Still Looking For Winter Choral Repertoire?
As choir directors, we always have to be one step ahead. Which means that even though it's fall outside, it's time to start planning for those much-anticipated winter choral concerts! In Episode 93 of the podcast, I share with you five hand-picked winter themed choir pieces, all of which would be great additions to your winter concert. Get set to introduce new repertoire to your choir, irrespective of whether it's an upper elementary, middle school, high school or an adult community choir!
And if after listening you are still looking for more winter repertoire ideas, our recent Monthly Mission inside of the Choir Director Corner Community Membership was all about searching for Winter and Holiday repertoire! In this training I share over 60 winter and holiday-themed pieces of choral rep, organized by voicing and experience levels!
To become a member and get access to all of our Monthly Missions, as well as Online Courses, a Resource Library with over 50 PDF's and Google Docs, head on over to:
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As choir directors, we are always looking ahead. So, even though it's fall, that means we are looking at winter choir repertoire. If you're looking for another piece for your winter concert, this episode is for you. Let's dive in. Here we go and hello my friends. Welcome to the Choir Director Corner podcast. My name is Matt Walker. I'm your host. Thanks so much for stopping by and joining me for today's episode. Well, yesterday was a lovely day, almost 60 degrees, and we used it to get a lot of outdoor work done, and most of that work was done in preparation for winter. So, even though it felt like a beautiful fall day, probably warmer than most, we were already looking forward towards winter. And that's what, as choir directors, we are doing all the time we are always looking forward to what's coming next. So, even though we're in our fall season, many of us have started, or will be starting, our winter choir repertoire, whether that's for a December concert, a January concert, maybe even February, and I see a lot of questions about choir directors still looking for pieces for their winter concerts. So I thought I would do a quick episode here today and give you five different ideas for winter choir repertoire. Now I know many of us are looking for more of a winter theme, some of us are open and looking for a holiday theme. These are going to be strictly winter, so no matter whether you're doing winter or holiday, these will fit into your concert as far as the other repertoire that you are programming, so let's dive in here.
Speaker 1:The first piece that I have to recommend to you is by Pink Zebra, december in my hometown. Now the voicing is available for this one. There's an SATB, there's also an SAB, there's also a two part, there's also an SSA, and one of the great things about Pink Zebra is there's almost always a piano track available. So if you're a little shorthanded as far as an accompanist goes, you can get an accompanist track for this piece. And most of the time almost all of the time really when I talk to or have a discussion about Pink Zebra with other choir directors, the vast majority of the time it is a positive conversation. The choir directors that I talk to are raving about the music, how it's accessible, how their singers really enjoy singing it, and this piece really fits that bill. A lot of the pieces by Pink Zebra are uptempo, but this one is a slower.
Speaker 1:What I would you get an Na'vi An была An avan Chipena David Wildder describe as a warm, sentimental ballad. It's kind of like a cup of warm cider by the fire is how I would describe this one. So again it has a level of sophistication but also like a lot of pink zebra music, sort of a contemporary sound that sort of draws from different pop influences that your younger singers especially will really relate to and really gravitate to. So this piece celebrates the nostalgia and sort of the cozy aspects of winter in one's hometown through the lyrics, along with sort of the the typical pink zebra catchy melody and some nice harmonies in it as well. So this would be great for your upper elementary choir, your middle school choir, even for an adult community choir maybe that is again looking for that type of piece that has a certain level of accessibility to it and again, a little bit of a crowd pleaser. So a wonderful ballad, pink zebras, december in my hometown and if you check this one out and it's just not your cup of tea, pink zebra has a number of other pieces that would fit that winter theme that we are looking for, but this is the one that I wanted to specifically mention to you. So that's idea number one.
Speaker 1:Idea number two is really one of my favorite stars. I shall find, and this particular arrangement by Victor C Johnson. So lots of different voicings available on this one S-A-T-B, t-t-b, s-s-a. There's also a two part, there's also a three part mixed and this one is with piano accompaniment. So this piece, very lyrical, very expressive, has just a wonderful harmonic language that Victor C Johnson uses to sort of evoke the, the tranquil, the peaceful, the introspective nature of the night sky. You're probably familiar with this text by Sarah Teesdale and Victor C Johnson does a wonderful job of setting. This text has very flowing lines and tender moments as it talks about the sort of contemplating and the wonder of the star filled sky.
Speaker 1:This piece I've done a number of times with my young tenor bass ensemble and I find my young tenors and basses they gravitate towards the upbeat end where they can sing out, you know, for the majority of the time sort of forcefully. You know that high energy, high tempo piece, and so they sing those fairly well. But then when we get to sort of the softer, more introspective, reflective legato, they kind of struggle with that style a little bit. And this is a piece where every time that I've done it we start off and the, the young tenors and basses. They're not quite sure about it at the beginning but by the time we get to the concert it's one of their favorites, if not the favorite on the concert. So check that one out. Stars I Shall Find by Victor C Johnson.
Speaker 1:Number three is another setting of a Shakespeare text. This is Blow, blow that Winter Wind. This particular arrangement is by Jennifer Lucy Cook. Now, this is strictly for SSA. The beginning of this. If you're familiar with this text, you've got sort of a medieval feel at the beginning. But then the second half, when it gets into the high ho, sing, high ho section of the text, it turns very energetic and very dance-like in its rhythms. It does have a sort of a sense of accessibility to it. It's very homophonic throughout. So even though it does get very rhythmical, typically everyone's singing very similar rhythms at the same time. And also a nice addition to this one is that there are some parts for percussion which really adds to that sort of that joyful rhythmical feel of the second half. Thank you, you know, cook's composition does just a wonderful job of, if you know this text, it's sort of that juxtaposition between the harshness of winter and then also, you know, as you might describe it, the warmth of the human spirit, and so she does a wonderful job of really bringing this text to life.
Speaker 1:You see some modern settings of these Shakespeare texts and sometimes they just feel kind of kind of stodgy. You know, they don't really have sort of that texture or that style that your singers are really gonna gravitate to. That is not this. It really has a wonderful sort of a modern feel on this old text from Shakespeare. So if you've got an SSA ensemble that is ready to dive into a little bit of a challenge, particularly with rhythm, then this arrangement of Blow, blow that Winter Wind by Jennifer Lucy Cook is one you should check out.
Speaker 1:Idea number four is a piece called Winter's Cold by Michael John Trotta, and so if you have a three-part SAB or three-part mixed ensemble, this is a great one for you to look at. Or if you're looking for something that's just two-part for your treble ensemble, there is a two-part arrangement of this as well, now, similar to the last piece we talked about. This is similar in that it sort of describes the contrast between the harshness of winter and in this case it's sort of the warmth and that regenerating, rejuvenating power of the sun's rays. It uses a text from Samuel Longfellow but then also has some text from the composer mixed into it as well. And one of the things I really appreciate about Michael John Trotta's works many of his works it's sort of a combination of sort of a structure and a form that's rooted in sort of that what we would consider that classical canon, that classical choral tradition. But then you've got some really sort of some vibrant rhythms and some contemporary harmonies. So again, like the last piece, it's sort of the combination of the old and the new, and so this winter's cold, very much a vivid and descriptive piece, again, talking about the starkness but also the beauty of winter, and it uses this text from Samuel Longfellow to sort of bring that to life, as well as some wonderful texture in the harmonies from Michael John Trotta. So again, very much suitable for choirs looking for sort of that modern sound but still has that connection to what we might think of as that classical choral framework. It does have a few optional notes in the soprano part, some high notes that are optional there as well as in the bass clef part. So if you're bass clef singers that would be looking at this are a little bit more of the lyric baritone or even the tenor. There's a few spots in there where they can bring out that upper register. So again, a lovely piece for that three part mixed or that two part treble, if you're looking for something where the parts aren't necessarily split into three or four parts. So that's Winter's Cold by Michael John Trotta.
Speaker 1:And then, finally, idea number five for you is Seasons of Light by Jacob Narverud. Now, there's a number of options as far as the arrangements on this one, the voicings, there is an SATB acapella. So if you have an SATB where they're a little bit more independent, a little bit more experienced, this would be a great one. Maybe, if they haven't done acapella yet, to give the acapella version of this one a try, as it is mostly homophonic as far as the texture goes. So everyone's pretty much doing the same thing at the same time. Or there are versions of this four SATB, ssaa, so four part treble and then also SAB, all of those with piano accompaniment.
Speaker 1:And what I really like about this Seasons of Light, it has this very charming feel. It's like the feeling of an old carol that you've known forever, and the piece is very festive, has sort of an uplifting feel to it. So very wonderful melodies, very typical of Jacob Narvrud and his work in that. Very wonderful melodies. Has a rhythmical accompaniment that sort of helps capture sort of the brightness in the celebratory nature of the piece and the theme is very much revolving around joy and peace and talking about the changing seasons as well. Has a wonderful sense of forward momentum in this piece, using sort of the rhythmical piano as well. As this is very much a sense of forward momentum in the phrases from Jacob Narvrud. So very accessible as far as the vocal lines go and you know, again, a lovely text that would be a wonderful fit with the rest of your repertoire on your winter concert. So that last one again, seasons of Light by Jacob Narvrud.
Speaker 1:So those are my five ideas for winter repertoire. If you're still looking for something accessible that you want to add to your program, or maybe there's a piece that's just turned out to be a little bit too difficult, you need to switch it out, right. If you're looking for more winter concert repertoire ideas, I just did a training inside of our Choir of Director Corner community membership that has ideas that are geared towards the winter theme but also has a bunch of ideas that are more of the holiday variety, and these are all pieces that I've programmed previously that have been very successful, or pieces that are on my to-do list in the near future, and there are over 60 different repertoire ideas between the winter theme and also the holiday theme as well. So if you'd like to get access to that training, all you have to do is become a member of our Choir of Director Corner community membership, and you can do that over at ChoirDirectorCornercom. Forward slash membership.
Speaker 1:Well, thanks so much for listening to this episode, my friends. I hope you got some ideas about pieces that you can add into your winter concerts. Thanks again for listening and until next time, keep being awesome. Are you looking for resources that will save you time and frustration? Want to dive deeper into topics related to your teaching? Then check out the Choir Director Corner community membership over at ChoirDirectorCornercom. Forward slash membership.