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(Recent Visits: 027 since Jul 1, 2008)

Manager's Note: These sources/resources have basically come from my own experience. Some have become outdated but I leave them here as reference materials. It would surely be wonderful if some AMCA Director(s) or Librarian(s) or knowledgeable choristers would help by submitting some musical materials for this page. Please consider becoming a resource contibutor to this page. - DT

It also helps to "keep going" if there is an occasional reaction to anything on this page! - Suggest

Music Purchases

Any purchase
benefits AMCA!

Recent | Publishers | Recommended | Events | Need Music Ideas? | A Place To Order! |
Recent Links Added .....
  1. Additional Reviews?
    The following is a note in the Chorister of February 2006
        [Editor's note] I'm pleased to announce the revival of a column that ran occasionally in the Chorister in the 80s and 90s, Dr. Al Robertson's Program Notes. Dr. Al provided reviews of music aimed to help singers understand the mood and context of the songs, rather than the technical nuances thereof ... I hope to continue this offering on a regular basis ...
        [Web Manager] I have provided a link to these NEW reviews. IF the reviews continue, I may keep the links coming with succeeding issues of the Chorister. (See: Chorister, Feb 2006 - December's Child & Wno's That Baby?)

  2. Choral Technics
    Texas School Music Project from Stephen F. Austin State University
    Worth checking this our for subjects such as Concepts of Breathing and Support, Choral Music for the Instrumentalist, Diction, Notation! The "Secret" Road Map to Musical Expression, Diction for Singing
    Includes some Video Clips for conducting technics........

  3. Chanson - Chanson Review
    Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 17:29:00 -0600 (CST)
    From: Brett McDermid
    Subject: Message To Web Manager
         I am with the men's group Chanson (who are please to be reviewed here, by the way) and want to let you know that we have updated our website information. I thought you may like to replace the link on the posted review by Don Crouch.
         We are now located at: http://www.chanson.org
         MP3s of our three CDs located at: http://www.chanson.org/listen.php
         I hope this is helpful and thank you all for your great support of men's music.
    Brett McDermid - Bass, Chanson

  4. Of Choristers - Ancient and Modern
    Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 14:35:24 -0600 (CST)
    From: Ted Page
    Subject: Message To Web Manager
         http://www.ofchoristers.net/index.htm
         Hi from England.
         I thought your readers might be interested in the above link (purely for historical reasons - this is not a commercial site!).
    Regards, Ted Page

  5. Ambassadors Male Octet - Ensemble from Amherst
    Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2005 15:32:00 -0500
    ... rehearsals with the Octet, see: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Ambassadors_Male_Octet/ it seems like I don't have much time for all the other hobbies and interests or the family stuff. (An AMCAer)

  6. Anyone Remember?
    Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 14:34:13 -0600 (CST)
         I am an old coot of 78, and a lifelong avocational musician, both instrumental and choral.
         When I was a child there was an old 78 rpm record of the "Associated Glee Clubs of America" performing at the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial celebration. The choral music was marvellous and snippets of it have remained with me throughout these many decades.
              Does anywone know if recordings of this even still exist and how I may obtain copies? (From: James Price)
    Contact the web manager

  7. Composer's web site
    Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 13:25:23 -0600 (CST)
         ASCAP award winning composer, arranger and author Donald Moore has introduced a new web site. Included are the latest news on Donald Moore music publications, scheduled events and appearances, top ten lists of best selling chorals, photos and much more.
    http://www.donmooremusicpublications.com

  8. Chorogrip - Does your group hold music when practicing or singing? This little device really helps keep things secure. There is even a "free sampler". Check it out.
    Developed especially for use by choirs and choral groups, ChoroGRIP® creates a secure grip for song books and folders.
    "Several members of our choir have trouble holding their music up, especially the hymnal. But with the CHORO-Grip this is no longer a problem. It's a great product." Bob Ramser, Choir Member
    "When I attached the CHORO-Grip to my folder, I could hold the folder with one hand at the correct height and angle without fatigue to my hands and arms. I found turning the pages much easier, too!" Steve Ramser, Choral Singer
    Ideal for... Choirs and Choruses... Educators... Presenters and Speakers

  9. Classical Music Navigator

  10. I Have A Dream Speech - This is a communication forwarded to me by Bill Bates. Bill indicates, "...the thought that it might be a worthwhile addition to chorus repertoires. You may make your own decision as to whether or not to contact the writer."
    From: MichaelHeath
    Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2003 6:31 AM
    To: InternationalOffice
    Subject: New work

    Dear Sirs,
    I am an English composer who recently had a commission for a new work for male voice choir and I was fortunate to be granted the rights to set Dr. Martin Luther King's famous "I Have A Dream Speech" from the lawyers of the King estate. This new work was premiered this week in a highly successful concert and I am now keen to offer it to other male voice choirs around the world and particularly in the U.S.A. Your organisation seems the obvious place to start but I would greatly value your advice and opinion as to the best way to go about doing this. I am sure that your members would be keen to hear about this new piece but I don't know if I should contact them directly or via your own methods of membership contact. I'd be most grateful to hear from you. Many thanks. Kind regards, Michael Heath.
    Michael Heath
    MHeath

  11. Morton Music of Austrailia has returned to the web world. I hope the new site proves to be as good as the old one was...... I have changed all of the old links for Morton Music to their new web site. (17 Sep 2003)

  12. New Music Box Web Magazine from the American Music Center. The May Issue (2003) of Music Box has this as it's lead:
    This month, NewMusicBox celebrates four years on the Web, which is as long as a Presidential term of office! As the mouthpiece for the American new music community, I can think of no better way to celebrate our "re-election" than with an issue devoted to choral music in America. Thanks to Kathy Saltzman Romey, our Guest Editor this month, we're featuring the most extensive In The First Person ever, a 20-part conversation featuring composers commissioned by the Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music, held in Minneapolis last August, as well as a wide range of other features on the state of choral music in America. The range of voices, pun intended, is truly inspirational.

  13. Check this link for Music and Stuff

  14. Nancy Telfer - Canadian Choral Composer (8 May 02)

  15. Ron Hannah - Canadian Choral Composer (18 Aug 02)
    Topic: Canadian Choral Composer
    Comments: Hello,
    I am a Canadian composer with many choral works in my catalogue, including some arrangements of Christmas music for Mens' Chorus. For the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Television production, "Christmas on the Prairies", filmed at Fort Edmonton in 1980, I was asked to arrange "The March of the 3 Kings" and "Les Anges dans nos Campagnes (Angels We have Heard on High)" for mens' voices. The results can be heard on my website - www.members.shaw.ca/rhannah1. Click on "Choral Works" to the right of my picture on the homepage. If you are interested in performing either of them, please let me know. I will be pleased to send the music via mail or email for perusal.
    Ron Hannah <rhannah>
    08/18/02 10:14

  16. Sixth World Symposium On Choral Music - Aug 3-10, 2002 (If you did not attend why not look through the web site to see what you missed - I will keep the web like here as long as their web site remains active. AMCA choral directors, like choral directors everywhere, should be interested in this symposium and their future events.)

    Check this link for Music and Stuff

  17. AmericaFest Festivals of Choral Music - This large Male (Men and Boys) festival performed in the concert venue at the (above) World Symposium on Choral Music. Watch the AmericaFest web site for future events. There was quite a representation of well-known Men's and Boy's choirs at this festival in 2002 (no AMCA Choruses though) - see their concert listings.

Recent | Publishers | Recommended | Events | Need Music Ideas? | A Place To Order! |
Publishers / Suppliers .....
  1. Agape/Hope Publishing
  2. American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP)
  3. Cantus Quercus Press
  4. G. Schirmer
  5. Hal Leonard Music
  6. J.W Pepper - See A Place To Order Music! (below)!
  7. Malecki Music
  8. Morton - See Need Music Ideas? (below)!
  9. Music Mart
  10. Sheet Music Plus - If you "click through" from the AMCA web pages, any purchases made here will benefit AMCA.

  11. Music Plus Corp Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
    Bill Labron, a long term member of AMCO, is a supplier of musical resources in Canada. AMCA choruses may want to support Bill and make chorus music purchases through him.
    Check out his web site! There's A Wideness In God's Mercy, AMCA Music Composition Contest winning composition, is published by Music Plus. Get your copy from them.

    From: Music Plus Corp
    Subject: MUSIC ORDERING
    Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 15:31:18 -0500

    I own a sheet music store in Ontario, Music Plus Corporation and I would be out of business if I couldn't keep up with Pepper. In Canada, ordering is not as quick the states since we do have to deal with customs, but we often supply our customers next day on mail orders.
    Bill Labron - Sales Manager
    1-800-608-5205 IN Canada and the USA
    info@musicpluscorp.com
    PS: I have been a member of the Fleming Gray Male Chorus in Cambridge, Ontario and AMCA since 1976.

  12. Modrana Music

    From: David.F.Golightly
    Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 06:20:55 +0100
    To: Bill Bates

    Dear Mr Bates,
    I was hoping to bring to your members attention the modrana web site which has a number of recording and sheet music for the male voice medium. As you may remember we work closely with the Soglasie Male Voice Choir of St Petersburg and on the modrana site there are a number of stuning recordings of Russian Sacred and Folk music as well as my own settings for the medium. We also hope to release a new Cd of Rites of Passage, Frontiers and Russian Folk music and I wanted to gauge your members reaction to existing material.

    The Soglasie choir are my friends and I always try to help them when ever I can by promotion etc. Indeed my company would be interested in your "big sing" 2003 if you allow trade stands etc and the cost is not prohibitive.

    Through my efforts I have managed to organise a number of visits of Soglasie hosted by English choirs and would always want to support links for them throughout the world. Indeed it has been a desire to develop a recording project for the St Petersburg Mass with Soglasie and a host choir. I hope, if you think, any of the above would be of interest to your members you will pass it on. The modrana address is http://www.modranamusic.com/.

    With kindest regards, David Golightly, Director Modrana Music Promotions Ltd

  13. Other Personal Music Resources (DT)

Recent | Publishers | Recommended | Events | Need Music Ideas? | A Place To Order! |
Recommended .....
  1. Songs Of The Century:
    How many of these Songs Of The Century does your chorus know? (It is well-known among directors, of course, that the hardest part of music selection for chorus is not finding the Title of a composition but finding a "good arrangement" or "interesting setting" for male chorus. No chorus likes to just "sing along with a recording (or piano)" for very long. That is for the casual music user only.)

  2. Video Tape - from AMCA Talk - Tuesday, 26-Sep-00 11:04:02
    A resource that is new to me has proved very helpful this year. It is "Working with Male Voices" featuring the University of Michigan Men's Glee Club and their director Jerry Blackstone. It is published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing. - Stan Carlson, Staples, MN

Recent | Publishers | Recommended | Events | Need Music Ideas? | A Place To Order! |
Events .....
  1. World Festival of Singing for Men and Boys - Czech Republic - 2004
    Planning ahead? How about this festival for your chorus! Many of you started fund raising for Big Sing 2003 - can those funds be used and added to for a festival like this?

    Sponsor: The Alliance for Arts and Understanding

    Formerly AmericaFest (see below), the World Festival of Singing for Men and Boys has always been international. Now we move to international soil for the first time.

    Learn More About the 2004 World Festival of Singing for Men and Boys by going to their web site.

    Communication
    From: AMFST98@aol.com
    Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 11:01:02 EST
    Subject: Re: AmericaFest for 2003?

    See the website at www.allianceforartsandunderstanding.com

    Aliiance World Festival of Singing for Men and Boys in the Czech Republic in 2004, Alliance World Festival of Singing for Women in Salt Lake City 2004, AmericaFest at St John's 2005, and the Alliance World Festival of Singing for Men and Boys Australia in 2006.

  2. AmericaFest International
    This one is over. No AMCA Choruses attended but a couple of our Scholarship Recipients make reference to being at this tremendous festival.

    "AmericaFest 2002" will bring together male voice ensembles from all over the world (also at St. John's University, July 30 - August 5, 2002).

    Info from a Morton mailing (31 May 2000):
    "AmericaFest 2000" is an international festival for choirs. This year (2000) is located at St John's University, Minnesota, USA from June 27 until July 3, 2000. Widely regarded as the world's premiere festival for male voices.
    (2000) This year the International Choir is the Australian Boys Choir and Vocal Consort, led by Noel Ancell. No stranger to travel himself, Noel Ancell has written a lovely setting of the Australian poet, C.J. Dennis's poem "The Traveller" for SSAA choir. The poem mentions strange places - Burrumbeet, Beetaloo, Ballarat and Gundagai - which do in fact exist. Although harmonically simple, the metrical changes involve 7/8, 6/8, 3/4, 12/8, and 4/4 will keep a choir on it's toes.

    The king'singers will also be there!

  3. World Of Male Voices - Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales U.K. on 13th July 2003
    Cancelled and Archived

Recent | Publishers | Recommended | Events | Need Music Ideas? | A Place To Order! |

Need Music Ideas? .....

Morton Music
Link to the NEW Morton Music Web Site (17 Sep 2003)
(I will probably add some links to their site as I see what items appear that are useful.)

These references are to the "Old Morton Web Site" and many links do not work! (17 Sep 2003)

Morton Music - Recommended to peruse this excellent site! (This link tells you the site is not working!)
Morton Music (This new link may go directly to the music portion of the site! Try it - August 2002 - site still not up!)

TOO BAD!!! SORRY!! and all that!!!! (Nov 2001) It appears that Morton Music (in Australia) has "gone broke". Their web site is still temporarily active but will probably soon disappear also. Businesses do change these days don't they. I shall miss their excellent web site and the references on the web site to choral personalities, choral topics, and music lists. The email "e-zine" will probably disappear also. If you have not used this source, you have missed something.... If you have used this source, and will miss this source, see the AMCA Password Site for a private location of some of the lists below. I have saved some of them and have them available for your reference. (These things are copyrighted so I cannot/willnot make them public.)

These lists combined with the search and ordering tools provided by Pepper Music (see below) still provide wonderful combination sources for quality music .

See the Morton lists of "Male Chorus Music" recommended by "well-known" Male Chorus conductors.

(July 2002) I have been on this site and there is no change - nothing updated - but I found the Consultants List (see below) to still be available. Click this link to go directly - http://www.mortonmusic.com/ChoralConsult.asp to the index of the Choral Consultants. None of the links work for me so if you want their lists, check the AMCA Password site.

  1. Robert Scholz, St. Olaf College, a frequent clinician and consultant for the Upper Midwest District, is a Morton "featured consultant"! (19 Oct 00). - Bob's recommendations of Masterworks For Male Chorus is available. You should know all these compositions!

  2. Frank Albinder, Chanticleer Male Vocal Ensemble based in San Francisco, is a Morton "featured consultant"! - Frank Albinder recommendations include Music From Chanticleer. What a superb singing group and what excellent music! You need to see this list!

  3. David Jorlett, Blake School in Minneapolis, is a Morton "featured consultant"! (11 Mar 01). - David's recommendations of Music For Young Men's Chorus is available. You might find some pieces on this list to be of value in your chorus!

  4. Allen Crowell, University of Georgia, is a Morton "featured consultant". - Allen Crowell recommendations of Music For Male Chorus is available. This list include some sophisticated selections! Does your chorus sing "languages" (other than American or Canadian)?

  6. Nina Gilbert, Layfayette College, Pennsylvania, includes some Male Chorus selections in her Favourites page. Nina has had experience directing Male Chorus even though her specialty is in Treble Voices.

  7. (In addition to the lists above, I also have available lists from Phillipe Brunelle, Simon Carrington, Bob Chilcott, Rodney Eichenberger, and David Jorlett.)

***As Bill Bates points out on the AMCA Talk site, the Choral Snippets Page should be a regular place to "shop for knowledge" about choral singing. (Note - May 2001: The links have changed on the Morton site so this link not longer works directly. Just go to the site and poke around for choral information/ideas.)

Highly Recommended: Subscribe to the Morton Music email mailing list by sending your email address to: subscribe-musings@mortonmusic.com

Recent | Publishers | Recommended | Events | Need Music Ideas? | A Place To Order! |
A Place to Order Music .....
  1. Music Plus Corp
    Music Plus Corp Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
    Bill Labron, a long term member of AMCO, is a supplier of musical resources in Canada. AMCA choruses may want to support Bill and make chorus music purchases through him.
    Check out his web site! There's A Wideness In God's Mercy, AMCA Music Composition Contest winning composition, is published by Music Plus. Get your copy from them.

    From: Music Plus Corp
    Subject: MUSIC ORDERING
    Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 15:31:18 -0500

    I own a sheet music store in Ontario, Music Plus Corporation and I would be out of business if I couldn't keep up with Pepper. In Canada, ordering is not as quick the states since we do have to deal with customs, but we often supply our customers next day on mail orders.
    Bill Labron - Sales Manager
    1-800-608-5205 IN Canada and the USA
    info@musicpluscorp.com
    PS: I have been a member of the Fleming Gray Male Chorus in Cambridge, Ontario and AMCA since 1976.

  2. J. W. Pepper
    Personal Note from DT:
    I have ordered much music from J. W. Pepper and have always been impressed by their online services. I started using their music ordering services in the early days before the days of their web site (I used a dialup connection - and later used Telnet - at that time through the Pepper National Music Network - pnmn). The Web site is now very complete and a terrific resource for ordering music at any hour of the day (or night).

    I set up accounts with them for all the groups that I directed as well as a personal account for ordering single copies. I found it so convenient to be able to browse their lists and order music at any time of the day or night at my own time. They always handle orders quickly (response is always in the next business day) and ship from their many different facilities throughout the country. If they did not have the selection, they received it just as fast (or faster) than any other music supplier and I had the convenience of ordering from my computer (at my own time - which many times is late at night) with delivery directly to my home, school or church.

    Recommended: GIVE PEPPER A TRY!!

    ***Try a Pepper Search for a selection by title or composer.***
    They have a "large data base" and you will find most musical selections. If you don't find it in their data base, send an email message and they will get it!

    Look at

    Composer's Gallery.
    State/Festival List for some music ideas.
    Resource Center for some music publishers and sources.
    Resource List for some excellent musical "links".
    Music Forums

    For best results, set up your account and get your password, etc. to access the Pepper National Music Network (PNMN). I have accessed Pepper in this way since their beginnings in the late 1980's and highly recommend it. There are many music things here (i.e. Finale Files, MIDI Files, etc.)

  3. Sheet Music Plus
    I have had some good success with this site - (web manager)
    Sheet Music Plus - If you "click through" from the AMCA web pages, any purchases made here will benefit AMCA.

Recent | Publishers | Recommended | Events | Need Music Ideas? | A Place To Order! |

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