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CHORAL MUSIC

Kick-start your choir
Brewer, Mike

Kick-start your choir is for anybody who directs a choir. It presents a treasure-trove of ideas distilled from years of innovative work with singers of all ages. Offering practical strategies on almost every aspect of choral directorship, Kick-start your choir is an indispensable handbook for the choral conductor.

“Aimed mainly at school choir directors, this is a veritable pot of sound advice, bourne of common sense and wisdom. Designed as a ‘confidence-boosting strategies’ handbook, it offers ideas and strategems perhaps untried, and there lie this booklet’s strengths. …A first-rate publication.”

Choir and Organ, March 2002

Fine-tune your choir
Brewer, Mike

Fine-tune your choir offers yet more practical strategies for perfecting your choral directorship skills, distilled from years of experience. Following the huge success of Kick-start your choir, in Fine-tune your choir Mike Brewer goes beyond the basics to help you achieve a truly professional sound. The book covers the all important aspects of choral directorship at this level, including; how to make sound gestures and conduct effectively, tips for adding colour, singing authentically in different languages, developing communication and presentation skills and trouble-shooting.

Mike Brewer’s Warm-ups!
Brewer, Mike

Mike Brewer’s Warm-ups! is the indispensable handbook for singers and choral directors. Divided into thirty-six practical sessions, arranged progressively, each is packed full with physical and mental activities to tackle all aspects of vocal technique, including: posture, breathing, sound-production, velocity, virtuosity and flexibility, range, register and resonance, harmony and blend. With over two hundred warm-up ideas, including seventy music examples, you will find a veritable treasury of ideas all in Mike Brewer’s characteristically lively and innovative style.

“As anyone who has attended a Mike Brewer workshop will know, it is always fun and never dull…Perhaps Brewer’s work has not fully received its due in this country, so it is to Faber Music’s credit that they have set out to bottle the charismatic formula…Attractive and clear in lay–out, this publication really does live up to its billing as The indispensable handbook for singers and choir directors.”

The Singer, February/March 2003

Choral Basics

If you are looking for straightforward and rewarding repertoire for your beginner choir, then you need look no further than Choral Basics – the perfect series for singers of all ages. The simple 3-part choral arrangements for soprano, alto and a combined part for men’s voices make the series perfect for choirs with a dearth of males or whose male singers have unstable or changing voices. The rich array of repertoire is bound to be a hit with younger singers and the technical abilities of choirs at this level have been taken into consideration. Straightforward and idiomatic piano accompaniments have been included and are designed to support the vocal lines, without putting pressure on staff with less developed keyboard skills. Choral Basics are great value for money providing a contrasted set of arrangements for the end of term concert.

Choral Programme Series

The Choral Programme Series is a highly acclaimed repertoire series offering a wealth of sacred and secular choral music to both mixed and upper voice choirs. Designed with practicality in mind – keyboard reductions, translations and informative introductions are all included – the series also offers excellent value for money, with each volume containing a minimum of 32 pages and up to 40 minutes of music. An ideal programming tool for large and small choirs alike. The music is published in a handy "octavo" size (254x176mm) and distinctive coloured covers help to distinguish between genre and upper and lower voicing.

Faber New Choral Works

The Faber New Choral Works series aims to introduce new or recently composed choral music to choirs in search of fresh contemporary repertoire. Written by some of today’s most talented composers, the series includes both lighter and more challenging works.

Faber Carol Book, The
Arch, Gwyn and Parry, Ben

The Faber Carol Books are two exciting volumes of Christmas carols and songs with an original and contemporary twist – a book designed to breathe fresh air into Christmas concerts. They each contain forty pieces, expertly edited and arranged by Gwyn Arch and Ben Parry, capturing a variety of moods and styles through time – from contemporary arrangements of medieval and traditional carols, to spirituals, and music from around the world. There is also an impressive line-up of original pieces by some of today’s most highly respected choral composers, including Howard Goodall, Lin Marsh, Peter Gritton, Errollyn Wallen and Mike Brewer. The first volume is arranged in the SA(B) format of the Faber Young Voices series, perfect for youth choirs or amateur adult choirs who have a dearth of male voices, and the second is arranged for SATB. The keyboard arrangements are undemanding and suggestions for optional instrumental accompaniments are also included.

“Choirs on the lookout for new Christmas material that will engage their younger singers need look no further than this comprehensive and contemporary collection …This book captures a wide range of moods from humorous to…reflective, and contains carols from around the world… I would not hesitate to recommend this to any choir looking for fresh contemporary music to enliven their carol services and concerts.”

Church Music Quarterly

Naxos Book of Carols, The
Pitts, Anthony

This collection of melodies and texts offers both traditional carols and fresh, practical versions of old favourites, with reminders of a rich and forgotten heritage, alongside the brand new living and developing repertoire. This collection is arranged to progress from Advent to Christmas telling the story anew.

Faber Young Voices

In addition to the wide variety of curriculum based choral pieces presented by Faber Music, the Faber Young Voices series offers an extensive list of songs, ideally suited to the needs of young or newly-formed choirs looking for easy, yet rewarding new repertoire. Each volume offers a coherent group of pieces arranged for soprano and alto with an optional baritone line for recently changed or unstable voices. The series aims to span the fullest possible range of repertoire and will help to develop part-singing in a fun and varied way.

“Folksongs from the wild west is a collection of arrangements in the Faber Young Voices series…It follows the publishers goal of serving ‘Young or newly formed choirs looking for easy, yet rewarding, new repertoire. …The arrangements have great appeal and everything the publisher intended for the young choir. There are…other collections in the Faber Young Voices series. Based on this set they merit examination.”

Choral Journal, December 1999