Archives for: March 2008

I am the primary chorister in our ward as well as the choir director. Our Primary President asked me a few weeks ago why we always have to sing about mothers being like flowers and having twinkling eyes. So, I have written a Mother’s Day song you might like. It hasn’t been posted on my site yet because my webmaster is behind in projects, but if you’d like to look at it, let me know and I will send it to you snail mail.

Music that will invite the spirit should be selected for Sacrament meeting; keeping in mind that a ward choir’s primary purpose is to worship through song, not to impress the congregation with their musical abilities. It is better to sing simple music well than to sing difficult music only so-so.

Some important things to look for in Ward choir music

1. Ward choirs and accompanists not professionals, so the music needs to be within the abilities of amateurs and volunteers.
2. Ward choirs usually only have from 10 to 20 singers so the music should not divide into more than four parts.
3. A ward choir is lucky to get 45 minutes to an hour of practice once a week, so the music should be easy to learn but still interesting.
4. Hymns and hymn arrangements are especially appropriate since ward choirs perform almost exclusively in Sacrament meeting.

I’m still waiting to hear if the recording feature on my keyboard is repairable. I can’t wait any longer to start working on an arrangement of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” for piano duet. We need it for July, so I’m slowly plugging away at it, trying to play both parts at once. Perhaps it is time to think about investing in a new keyboard.

From Utah
I sing in our ward choir and want to give our director more arrangement choices. Thanks!

My friend and I like to play a duet once in a while, so I have started arranging a piano duet of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” for us to play in July. Naturally, It will have lots of octaves and drum sounds. It is slow going without being able to record one part while playing the other part. I need my recording keyboard back from the repair shop!

Many of the projects I have been working on are delayed because my keyboard is still being repaired. Thanks for your patience!

The wonderful thing about ward choir music is that today there are many options. There are several composers who share their music on line at no cost. Many charge only a nominal fee to help cover their costs. Some go the traditional route and distribute their music through a publisher. All these methods are wonderful ways to share the music of the gospel throughout the world.

Since we will be singing this Sunday, I recently sent this message to all our choir members:

Others may come up to join us who have not been able to attend many practices. Please welcome them and be strong on your parts to guide them. And remember, It is more important to worship through music than to be musically perfect. If they feel included, it may be that they will feel comfortable joining us for more rehearsals.

It has now been 6 months since we first introduced www.freewardchoirmusic.com
The response has been tremendous and we have been learning as we go along.
Some of the improvements we are working on are:

1. Making it possible to see the music before deciding what to download.

2. Asking for less information before submitting in order to receive downloads.

Even though we only want the information for statistical purposes - we want to know where the music is being used and how easy it is to find the site, etc. Still, some people are uncomfortable giving their phone numbers and Country of residence on line. So, we are working on making the sign in page quicker to fill out with less information required.
Of course, you will still be able to click “submit” without filling out any information just as you can now and receive free ward choir music any time.

From California
A member of my ward choir found your website. We are also on a limited budget, so these arrangements will be very helpful for our Ward Choir to sing in Sacrament meeting. Many thanks.

One of the problems we have in many ward choirs, especially those that sing copied music on multiple sheets of paper, is the sound of those stapled copies being turned at the same time. The rustling of paper can be distracting, and it is truly difficult to turn the page with no sound at all.
One answer, and this is something I do with our ward choir, is to put the music into page protectors in a folder.
I use black, vinyl folders with three fasteners in the middle for the music in the page protectors. I chose black, because it is conservative and doesn’t distract from the solemnity of the Sacrament meeting service. But I have seen navy used and those looked nice too.
These are only about $1.50 a piece, and will usually last for years. Page protectors can usually be purchased for about $10.00 for 100. So, for a one-time investment your ward choir can turn pages easily and quietly. No lose pages are dropped or lost, and when we are finished performing one hymn, it takes only a few minutes for me to take out the old music and replace it with the new for the next rehearsal.

Many of you have suggested that we make it possible to look at the music before signing up to download. It may take us a little while to make the changes, but we are working on it! Thank you for all your helpful ideas and suggestions.

Many of you have made the suggestion that is would be nice to be able to hear and see the music before you choose to download. We appreciate your ideas and are working on making the site easier to use.

Next week our Ward choir is singing “O My Father” for our ward conference. I love how the choir sounds when they are singing the accapella verse.

From Nevada:
Thank you for this site. Too often I’m left feeling just like you said..small budget big dreams. Have a great day.

From California
I found the link to this website through Sally Deford’s website. I have no budget for music, but I wanted to find arrangements for my choir to do. I appreciate the service you render by providing your arrangements like this. Thanks!

How wonderful it is that we have the technology to share music and ideas all over the world. I feel connected to every one of you every where. We are all doing our best to serve the Lord in any way we can.
We really are a world wide family.

Thank you for all your kind words and suggestions. As many of you know, I write these arrangements for our own ward choir. And since we sing once a month, I try to keep at least a year ahead in music. That means that I have written at least ten arrangements that have not been sung yet by our choir, but are posted on the site.
When our choir begins practicing them, I may make small changes or correct small errors. For instance, I may decide to have a solo sing the first verse instead of all the women. Or I might decide to take out a key change I don’t like. I also work hard to fix misspelled words and notation errors.
Once these corrections and changes are finished, we take down the old music and post the corrected music in its place, so something you downloaded last month may be different than the same piece you download next month. Chocolate web studios is working with their staff in order to get the corrections up sooner, but there are still occasional delays. Thank you for your patience, and, if you find a mistake, please let us know and mark the correction in your copy!
Thanks!

From the Philippines:
Hi. I’ve been searching hymns that can be used in our ward choir, that are of course arranged for choir. I’ve visited sally de ford’s site and went to the links that’s why I found yours. I am really happy and blessed. Your works are truly a great help to us. Thank you very much, sister for sharing your talent.

As I have mentioned before, our ward choir is singing “How Great the Wisdom and the Love” for Easter this year. Today we were practicing with the obbligato when I would say, “Let’s start at the pickup to measure 64.” As we kept having to wait for the flute player to find the right place, it was pointed out to me that there are no measure numbers marked in the obbligato score. Sigh. Hopefully, we will be able to post the corrected score within the next week.

There has been a lot of interest in the new piano solos planned for wwwfreewardchoirmusic.com
Chocolate Web Studios has been experiencing some delays in getting these up on the website, but they should be posted soon.