Exercises in Open Score Reading for Choral Accompanists

Choral accompanists facebook group

After attending my How to Read Open Score workshop (still available!) and practicing the exercises in the accompanying Student Workbook, you might want more exercises in SATB open score reading. Here are some that I recommend:

Brahms Liebeslieder - These are wonderful dances. I have them scored for SATB and piano duet accompaniment! Some go quite fast, but you don't have to practice them fast. Often you just have two voices moving at a time. When SATB all sing, it's usually homophonic, forming chords. It would be a good next step after my workshop for continuing your practice with some of the things we talked about. 

Schubert Magnificat - This is also quite accessible. It is a 3-movement work. A good one for marking unisons and making choices as to which 2-3 voices to prioritize out of the 4 on a first reading. There is a little bit of practice here for prioritizing vocal entrances as well. 

Haydn Creation - We worked from "Awake the Harp" in our workshop. There are a number of solo movements in this piece. I would suggest looking at #13 "The heavens are telling the glory of God" and #26 and #28 which are two settings of "Achieved is the glorious work." All three of these movements are for chorus only, set in SATB, and which will require you to make decisions about what you want to play. 

Haydn Nelson Mass - This is a multi-movement work for soloists and chorus that combines all the elements from above - marking unisons and parts, homophonic movement, deciding which 2-3 parts to prioritize, some individual vocal entrances but not too crazy. 

These are all good starting places, if you're not quite ready to dive into more complex work like the Bach fugues! 

Want more resources? Check the Choral Piano page or join our new Choral Accompanists facebook group! 

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