Choir sheet music

Reading the voicing label

SATB is a mixed choir — soprano, alto, tenor, bass. SSA and SSAA are upper voices; TTBB is men's voices; SAB is a three-part arrangement for choirs short of tenors. A div. marking means one or more parts split further in places, which needs enough singers per part to cover it.

Accompaniment is stated separately. A cappella is unaccompanied. A keyboard part marked "for rehearsal only" means the same thing in performance. Larger works list orchestral material separately, and the vocal score is not the full score.

Copies, licensing and the free alternative

Photocopying a copyright choral score is illegal and has closed a good number of small publishers. Most retailers discount above a quantity threshold, so it is worth pricing at the number you actually need rather than at one.

Public-domain repertoire is the genuine alternative and it is enormous: Renaissance polyphony, Bach chorales, hymnody, and most of the nineteenth-century anthem literature. Printing as many copies as you like of a public-domain score is entirely legal, and the archives we index carry these in quantity.