Have you ever struggled to find the perfect repertoire for your choir concert? In this article, I’m outlining how I select songs for my choir program, to ensure variety, accessibility, and engagement.

A little background: I have a choir of third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders, who I see once a week, for 35 minutes, and we have two concerts at school each year, as well as community events as those arise.

I was a trumpet player all through school, and before my Kodaly training, I had only been in one semester of choir. Because of this, it has taken me quite a while to feel comfortable selecting repertoire, as well as directing the choir!

Here are some questions to ask yourself as you choose choral repertoire:

Is it quality?

As Zoltan Kodaly once said, "Only the best is good enough for a child."

I think about this a lot as I choose repertoire. I don't want to choose anything that's cute for the sake of cuteness; I want to choose music that is beautiful, that is timeless, and will touch a child's soul.

Is it accessible?

Because I only see my choir once a week for 35 minutes, I have to choose music that will be accessible in that amount of time. You won't see me choosing many pieces in parallel thirds for that reason.

I love to select unison pieces (which can be more difficult than you'd think, as the students really have to have a unified sound), rounds and canons, partner songs, and two- and three-part pieces that have melodies and countermelodies that are easy to layer. For example, "Minka" by Jill Ann Jones, has a melody and a countermelody; and "Kookaburra" by Malvar-Keylock and Friedersdorf has three parts that are super easy to layer on top of each other.

Do I love the piano accompaniment?

I often will sit down at the piano and play through the piano part (as best as I can). If I love the piano part, chances are it's a great selection for the choir!

Can students extend their musical learning through the song?

My third-graders, at this point in the year, only know the do pentatonic scale. This doesn't mean that I only choose music that is in do pentatonic, as I do sometimes introduce my choir members to solfa and rhythms that their peers not in choir haven't learned yet.

But I am mindful as I choose the pieces that there are extractable patterns that I could use to help extend their understanding of rhythmic and melodic concepts. Parts of “Old King Cole” by Perry and Perry, for example, could be used to teach/practice low sol and the extended do pentatonic scale. "Shake the Papaya Down," arranged by Dwyer and Waller, could be used to practice syncopa.

Can students read the song?

Along those lines, are there parts of the song that students could sight read?

Because of the minimized time I have with my choir, I don't have them hold octavos for every single song, but I do like to have at least a couple songs where students have the music in their hands, to sight read, to practice melodic and rhythmic concepts, to learn musical terms such as crescendo and fermata, and to learn how to track their part.

Am I choosing a variety of songs?

Have you ever sat in a choir concert in which students sang beautifully, but everything sounded the same? I have, a few times!

For this reason, I try to be very mindful that I'm choosing music with a lot of variety: at different tempi, in different languages, and in different styles. Writing the list of songs down, as well as the origin of the piece, the language, and the tempo, can be a wonderful way to ensure variety.

I hope this has been helpful as you create your repertoire list for the year. Happy planning, and happy singing!