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CHORTEACH

Selecting, Adapting, Writing, REPLAY

and Publishing Music

for the Middle School Choir

EMILY CROCKER

Emily Crocker is the former vice president of choral pub- Unbalanced choirs, the perfect work for a beginning
lications at Hal Leonard. She retired in 2017 after twenty- choir, no budget—these are the themes we often see on
nine years with Hal Leonard. social media. One thing has changed from decades ago
when I started teaching is that the middle school choral
Editor’s note: This section will appear in each issue of ChorTeach director has many options for choosing repertoire. Com-
and will preview a past article from the archives. You can view the full posers and publishers offer specialized series for middle
archives at acda.org/chorteach. (You must be logged into the website school ensembles. ACDA and other organizations now of-
with your username and password.) Following is a preview from the fer honor choir opportunities and repertoire recommen-
Winter 2020 issue. dations. If anything, it can seem like there are too many
choices.
This article is adapted from a session I presented at the
“My choir has one tenor and two basses. Neither 2019 ACDA National Conference in Kansas City. The
of them is confident enough to carry their own sec- four areas of concentration—selecting, adapting, writing,
tion against the sopranos and altos. What should I and publishing—are related, but they are all rooted in the
do?” basic elements of music selection.

“Looking for an upbeat, mostly unison piece for
my sixth-grade choir—nothing cheesy, can contain Selecting Music
a few splits but very minimal and easy. Multicul- Know your singers and their voices. Range and tessi-
tural would be cool, but I’m having a hard time tura should be appropriate for the singers’ ages and de-
finding something without extra instrumentation.” velopment.

“I’m in my first year at a school, and I have no mu- • Emphasize basic vocal technique. Music should encour-
sic budget. Also, my digital piano is missing keys. age healthy vocal production.
Whatdo I do?”

ChorTeach Volume 15 • Issue 3 22 Spring 2023