How to Start a Flute Choir Library
You already have flute music, so start there. At first duets, trios and quartets work fabulously well as you get used to playing together – just double or triple up on the parts. In fact I still use some of our favorites on programs even though we have full flute choir arrangements as well now. These pieces which require fewer players are so valuable when the full choir is unable to play a gig. The venue is always happy to have the live music in any form. Be sure to check with other flute choir members who may also have music to contribute to help grow the library.
The next step is to decide how to purchase new pieces. Will you pay for these yourself or will you charge a fee to members? Here is a great idea – We hosted a flute choir sight reading day, invited choirs from neighboring cities and had the choirs bring music to exchange from their libraries which they were not going to play anymore. Every attending flute choir’s library got a fresh update.
The site www.sheetmusicplus.com has a huge selection of flute choir and flute ensemble choices. You can listen to many of them before purchasing and some are downloadable and printable. This site maintains an on-line library of your purchases so that you can print more parts for new members or reprint any damaged or lost parts. This is really an invaluable service for a flute choir. Again paper and ink usage may require collecting an annual flute choir music fee.
How to Decide on Music for Your Flute Choir
What type of audience do you expect to have? A Senior Living facility audience may love some jazz standards. For example, there is a good quartet arrangement of Satin Doll and we even have some fabulous standards arrangements for two flutes which we use. Church performances will require sacred or classical pieces. With so many flute choirs and so much music for flute ensembles you will find you have many options.
As to difficulty, be sure you include some pieces which are easily played and some which are more of a challenge. I add new pieces to our library every year to keep things interesting for the players. I do not play the same pieces every year say for Christmas. I make a program for the players for each performance so they know what to practice and keep program copies so I can track when we have played a piece.
My library information is stored in an excel spread sheet. I list the title, composer, instrumentation, difficulty, genre and whether I liked the piece or not i.e. would I want to program it again. I have the music separated by duets, trios, quartets, flute choir and other, like pieces that have piano or other additional instruments.
As time goes on I think you will find your choir can play harder and harder music. They will get used to playing together, playing in public and maybe just playing their flutes again, as being in a flute choir will certainly up their practice time. Rehearsals and performance preparation are great teaching opportunities and a chance for growing the skills of your members.
So, the music you program will depend on what is in your library, the level of your players, the type of venue in which you will perform and the type of audience. Our choir never performs contemporary music due to our audience make-up and the types of venues. Our programs include classical, jazz, holiday, international, and folk. There is also music for flute choir and – i.e. string bass, drum kit, piano, hand drums, hand bells and other instruments. Think about musicians you know in your community and ask them to join you for some performances. It will be so entertaining!
Binders or Folders
Our choir uses individual, 1”, 3-ring binders with plastic sleeves to hold music. We have a binder for music we might play at the Holidays and a binder for our other music. Our Holiday binder now has 45 songs from which to create our programs and we add a couple new ones each year and remove some to refile as well. These binders are easy to store and keep the music in good condition. The two work-arounds are that there is often glare from lighting – you have to tip your stand to overcome this – and that you must remove the music during rehearsal to make any notations.
These music binders have a contents page. When I started, I just started a numbered list of music so when the songs are added to the binder they need to have a penciled number in the upper corner and that is their place in the binder. This allows people to find a song by number fairly quickly and as new ones are added they are inserted at the back of the binder and added to the end of a new contents list for that year.
Other choirs use paper band or orchestra type folders. The music is loose in the folder which can allow it to fall off the stand, can allow it to become creased or ripped and must be moved around on the stand for performance. Also I think it would be hard to keep many pieces of music in the folder at once. You can try the folders first as there is a financial investment in binders and plastic pages and music stores may be willing to give you folders. For gigs that have very few songs I have used colored paper folders from the office supply store. They are low cost and binders add some weight to your flute bag.
PHYSICAL SET-UP OF YOUR LIBRARY
- Keep you original parts in individual file folders. It reduces wear and tear and is uniform to store and use. You will need to have a place to store them.
- Make sure each member has their own music. I like individual binders with music in plastic pages.
- We perform basically two seasons – Holidays and other events. We change between two different sets of binders. I collect them all at the time we change so they do not wander off with someone who is not returning to flute choir. I can also add music, new contents pages and the list of songs for our next programs. Again you will need to keep these binders somewhere.
- I use a rolling box to transport binders as needed to rehearsals or performances. I include the file folders for music on our current program. If someone does not show up, you have the music at hand so you can hand a part to someone else.