June 2017

Merger with the Union Sainte Cécile choral database: 15,000 titles added to Musica

The Union Sainte Cécile music library, which is located in the diocesan seminary adjoining Strasbourg Cathedral, is now using Musica to manage its documentary holdings.

Under this arrangement, more than 25,000 titles (15,000 of them new) are referenced as held by the library and their records can be consulted in Musica. The holdings are managed locally in the Musica database by means of private fields which are only visible to the library administrators. However, information on the documents can be publicly accessed from anywhere in the world.

This is an excellent example of how Musica can be used collaboratively to streamline library work. Remember, whatever your operating system, you too can now use Musica to catalogue and manage your documentary holdings.

This is of real interest to choirs, choral directors, university libraries and many others.

Call for candidates for the Musica International music commission

Do you have specific knowledge of choral repertoire which could be of benefit to us?

We are currently seeking to partly renew our music commission – a formal body which advises on purely musical aspects of the Musica International project (setting of priorities for expanding the database, selection of pieces to be highlighted each month, data structure, the search function, presentations, etc.).

Members of the commission communicate by email or Skype, with an occasional physical meet-up as well.

 The next meeting is scheduled in July 2017 at the World Symposium on Choral Music in Barcelona.

If you are interested, please contact us at office@musicanet.org

New members

We are delighted to announce that three North American publishers have recently joined Musica:

- Cypress Choral Music (Canada)
- Earthsongs Choral Music (USA)
- See-a-dot Music Publishing (USA)

In the coming months we will prioritise or complete our description of these publishers’ editions and set up direct links to their shopping baskets.

Musica at major choral events

Musica was recently present at the following events:

- the ACDA National Conference in Minneapolis (USA)
- the Frankfurt Music Fair (Germany)
- the Cork International Choral Festival (Ireland) : The conductor prize for the performance of the most imaginative and artistic programme went to Islwyn Evans, of Cywair, Wales, who received our donation of full privileged access to Musicanet.org (see http://www.corkchoral.ie)
- the Lebanese International Choir Festival (Tripoli), including a meeting of the Erasmus+ “Sing Me In” project (more details below)
- the Harmonie Festival in Lindenholzhausen (Germany)
- the International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf (Germany). This was followed by a conductors’ masterclass (led by Volker Hempfling and Maria Guinand), at which those taking part were given full privileged access to Musicanet.org.

We used these events to network and work towards further developing Musica, which will also mean benefits for you.

Many thanks to all who expressed their support and enthusiasm for the Musica project.

Forthcoming events

Please come to our presentations and visit our booth at the following events, where you can learn all about what we do and the advantages and tailored services offered by Musica.

World Symposium on Choral Music, Barcelona
 23 to 30 July 2017: http://www.wscm11.cat/home

Chor.com, Dortmund
14 to 17 September 2017: https://www.chor.com/english

Launch of phase 2 of the Erasmus+ Sing Me In project!

The 11 partners in the “Sing Me In” project, coordinated by the European Choral Association – Europa Cantat (http://www.europeanchoralassociation.org), were gathered on May 19 in Tripoli during the Lebanese International Choir Festival.

During the first six months of the project, the partners researched, gathered and selected over 100 experiences involving the use of collective singing in the integration of young migrants. Based on this carefully curated feedback from the field, work will now start on four handbooks containing useful tools, tips and tricks for all interested conductors, teachers and singers.

Musica International’s particular role is to suggest a repertoire that is appropriate to these initiatives and experiences. If you can propose any pieces that could meet our needs, please get in touch!

We are still gathering information about interesting experiences, so please also write if you know of anything suitable, to office@musicanet.org or info@SingMeIn.eu.

Reminder from our members

Please note that if you are a member of one of the following federations or associations, you benefit from full privileged access to Musica through their website:

American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Deutsches Centrum für Chormusik, ECA - Europa Cantat, A Coeur Joie France, Choral Canada, Alliance des Chorales du Québec, Schweizerische Chorvereinigung, Chorverband Vorarlberg, A Coeur Joie Suisse, Sulasol, Koor & Stem, Federació Catalana d'Entitats Corals, Philippine Choral Directors Association (PCDA), Fédération des choeurs franco-allemands, A Coeur Joie Belgique, Union Saint-Pie X Luxemburg.