June 2020
Choral singing: your passion!

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected choral life. In many countries, rehearsals have been interrupted and concerts cancelled. However, the passion for choral singing continues to thrill you, conductors, choristers, organizers of the choral world! One of a choral director’s most important tasks is to design future programs of music; with 194,000 titles described in our virtual library, Musica International is there to help you. During the lockdown, we have not stopped enriching this tool, already the work of 40 years, and continuing to develop our software. All this to better satisfy your eagerness to discover new choral repertoire, with ever more functions and user-friendliness

No "MUSICAMAIL" newsletter has reached you since 2019! But the painstaking task of academically referencing the choral repertoire has never let up. On the contrary!

Some figures: more than 2,000 new titles have enriched Musica since the beginning of 2020, thanks to online input from Switzerland, France and Germany in particular! Composers' biographies have been expanded to include thousands of additional details. Several choral music publishers are actively participating in this process from their own homes: a special mention goes to Éditions Labatiaz (Switzerland).

This temporary impediment to the practice of choral singing can be transformed into an opportunity.
Visit Musica and use our vast resources to plan your future programs!
Visit the Musica International website https://www.musicanet.org
Quench your thirst for knowledge of the choral repertoire by regularly visiting our website.
  • To find potential repertoire corresponding to the theme of an upcoming concert or choir gathering, simply search the database by inputting the theme in the "Keywords or Words of the title" box. Refine your search by using the "More criteria" form to add a period or style, a text language, a type of choir, a country, etc.
  • Discover our multimedia links for the pieces you choose: a page of the score, a video by a competent choir, text, translations of the text, correct pronunciation of the text…
  • Find biographical information on a composer, and see which of his/her choral scores are described in Musica.
  • Once a month, listen to our "Favorite Piece", “THE" piece to take with you to a desert island.

Many national and international choral federations are members of Musica International. See who they are at www.musicanet.org/en/members/active-members and the www.musicanet.org/en/members/contributing-members. The following members will offer you full privileged access to Musica, without restrictions, from the "Access for Members" section of their websites:

  • À Coeur Joie Belgique
  • À Coeur Joie France
  • À Coeur Joie Suisse
  • ACDA
  • Alliance des Chorales du Québec
  • Choir Alberta
  • Choral Canada
  • Choral NL
  • Chorverband Vorarlberg
  • Deutsches Centrum für Chormusik
  • European Choral Association - Europa Cantat
  • Federació Catalana d'Entitats Corals
  • Fédération Fribourgeoise des Chorales
  • Koor & Stem
  • Koro Kültürü Derneği, Turkey
  • Making Music, UK
  • New Zealand Choral Federation
  • Nova Scotia Choral Federation
  • Philippine Choral Directors Association
  • Schweizerische Chorvereinigung
  • Sulasol
  • Verband der Deutsch-Französischen Chöre

Can’t find your federation in this list? Get in touch with them, and ask them to contact us!

Video tutorial to discover Musica
At our homepage www.musicanet.org, you will now find a video that will give you heaps of information about the site, with no need to log in.
New members of Musica International
Since our last MusicaMail Newsletter, we have had the pleasure of welcoming a number of new members, which therefore benefit from special advantages (such as global privileged access to musicanet.org for all their members, or management of their own documentary holdings in Musica using private fields). New since last time:
  1. Making Music, United Kingdom: members of this major federation now have full privileged access to Musica from the page www.makingmusic.org.uk/resource/musica-international-choral-music-database.
  2. Westminster Choir College, Rider University, Princeton, USA: a joyous reunion with a founding member of Musica International from the time the association was set up in the 1990s! All computers on the Westminster Choir College campus now automatically have full privileged access to Musica, with no need to log in. www.rider.edu/wcc
  3. Archiv Frau & Musik, Frankfurt, Germany: this association has a library which mainly holds musical works by female composers. Referencing and management of this library's choral scores in Musica, with a private location field, has started. www.archiv-frau-musik.de
  4. Collegium Records, United Kingdom: a company created by composer John Rutter, which mainly distributes recordings by the Cambridge Singers: www.collegium.co.uk.
Musica Sessions

A Musica session is nothing less than a workshop involving composers, publishers, documentalists, music librarians and choir directors who want to improve their knowledge of Musica and take an active role in promoting the choral heritage. Working in a friendly and enriching atmosphere, participants improve Musica in quantity and quality with works of their choice.

Two Musica sessions have already taken place in 2020. In January the Federation Fribourgeoise des Chorales organized a session in Fribourg (Switzerland), and in February our new member, the association Archiv Frau & Musik, welcomed us to Frankfurt (Germany).

The next session will be international, and will be organized by Musica International from 26 to 31 October 2020 at the Institute of Phonetics of the University of Strasbourg (France). This is an annual meeting whose success is undeniable, an opportunity to share the pleasure and passion of the choral repertoire.

Musica workshops ⋅ more details

Interested? Contact us!
Favorite pieces of the month in Musica

Don't forget to visit our favorite piece every month - the piece every choral conductor should take to a desert island.

The last 3 pieces we promoted in this way:

June 2020: Good Night, Dear Heart by Dan Forrest (USA)

May 2020: It was a lover and his las by Matthew Harris (USA)

April 2020: Missa Brevis (2012) by Krzysztof Penderecki (Poland)… In memoriam (✝ March 2020)

… and visit our month-by-month archive of favorites since February 1998

Cancellations due to Covid-19
We always look forward to meeting you at major international choral events. Sadly, this year many have been cancelled. Musica International was intending to be present at:
  • Podium 2020 in Montreal, organized by our member Choral Canada, in May 2020
  • World Symposium on Choral Music, organized by our member, the New Zealand Choral Federation, in connection with the IFCM (International Federation for Choral Music), in July 2020
  • Choralp in Briançon, organized by our member A Cœur Joie France, in July 2020
  • Congrès (inter)national des Chefs de Chœur, in Puteaux (France), organized by A Cœur Joie France, in September 2020
Now for the good news…
In 2021 we are already planning to attend:
Reminders

You can now manage your choral holdings without having to input all the data: ask us for a private field in Musica database, where you can store your locations; you can then manage your choral library with full advantage of all the functions and details that are available in Musica. Contact us at office@musicanet.org.

Are you responsible for a choral federation? We offer global privileged access to musicanet.org for all your members, from your website! An advantage which your choir directors will thank you for. Contact us at office@musicanet.org.

PARTICIPATE IN THE REFERENCING OF YOUR CHORAL HERITAGE, ONLINE! Musica International is a collaborative project, by and for people involved in choral singing. We need volunteers who want to share their passion with the choral community by actively participating in the project. There are many ways you can help. Do not hesitate to contact us at office@musicanet.org

This newsletter may also interest your friends. Do not hesitate to distribute it widely and invite them to subscribe by going to the musicamail subscribe page.