K-12 Teaching: Repertoire Selections for School Choirs

ChorTeach is ACDA’s quarterly online publication, designed for those who work with singers of all levels but specifically K-12 and community choirs. A full annotated ChorTeach index is available online at acda.org/publications/chorteach. Over 160 articles are organized into seventeen categories. For more information, email  or visit acda.org/chorteach. Following is an excerpt from an article in the current Spring 2022 issue compiled by Cheryl Dupont titled “K-12 Teaching: Repertoire Selections for School Choirs.”

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*This is a selection of content from this article. Read the full list at acda.org/chorteach and choose the Spring 2022 issue. You must be an ACDA member and logged into the website with your username and password.

Submitted by Angee and Rick McKee

Mrs. Jenny Wren by Arthur Baynon
Boosey & Hawkes 1383804
Unison voices and piano, for elementary choirs. This piece is great for teaching contrasting dynamics and expression in younger choirs.

Submitted by Debbie Mello

Flight, Craig Carnelia (composer and poet)
arr. Ryan Murphy, Walton Music WW1869
SA divisi or SSA with piano or opt. string quartet; for high school or advanced middle school choirs. Contemporary text that is relevant for young female singers. It aff ords an opportunity for the singers to be vocally expressive while being supported by a lush accompaniment.

Submitted by Kevin Caparotta

Song of Peace, Vincent Persichetti
Theodore Presser
TTBB with piano or organ, appropriate for advanced high school singers.
Song of Peace utilizes modal melodic gestures and unexpected harmonic shifts to eff ectively paint the text. The recurring “Alleluia” motive provides an opportunity to refi ne unison singing, and the four-part sections are wonderful for practicing ear-training and intonation.

Submitted by Cheryl Dupont

The Pasture, Z. Randall Stroope
Colla Voce 45-21102
SATB with piano, appropriate for middle school/high school.
This beautiful Robert Frost poem is expressively set to music by Z. Randall Stroope. It is easily accessible to middle school singers, but also can be exquisitely sung by high school singers, who might be able to achieve more nuance and expressivity. It offers the opportunity for both the SA singers and the TB singers to sing separately in two parts, and then join together at the end, in SSATBB divisi for only a few measures.

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Read more in the Spring 2022 issue at acda.org/chorteach.