BBC SINGERS / SOUND AND MUSIC

WRITING FOR CHORUS

TEN BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR CHORAL SCORES
1. Pieces should be notated using the appropriate vocal clefs: treble (for the soprano and alto parts),
treble octave (for the tenor part, sounding an octave lower than written), bass (for the bass part)
2. Tempi, dynamics and other marks of expression should be indicated above each stave or pair of
staves (not simply at the top of each page)
3. If you are setting words which are in copyright (in the UK until 70 years after the death of the author;
in US law the copyright term is more complicated) you need to obtain the permission of the copyright
holder before you can legally set the text, let alone perform or publish it.
4. Texts should, ideally, be printed beneath each line of music, with each syllable clearly aligned to the
note(s) to which it refers. Most singers also like to have the text printed as part of the prefaratory
pages of the score (with translations if necessary) so that they can see it whole and complete.
5. Words should be clearly notated using hyphens to indicate syllable division.
NB: there seem to be no hard and fast rules about how to do this (and different music publishers
have different house styles) but as a rule-of-thumb, in divided words each syllable should start with a
consonant (eg har-vest, not harv-est; gi-ven, not giv-en; pre-cious, not prec-ious); in words
with central pairs of consonants, one consonant is placed either side of the hyphen (eg sor-row;
lit-tle; twink-ling); the suffix -ing is usually kept as a separate syllable (com-ing, not co-ming;
e-ver-last-ing). Some observed exceptions: li-ving, not liv-ing; no-thing, not noth-ing; righteous, not righ-teous; chang-ed, not chan-ged; touch-es, not tou-ches (all Novello); with-in,
not wi-thin (Faber).
6. Likewise, the prefix un- seems usually to be treated separately (un-ending, not u-nending). Some
multi-syllabic divisions: cre-a-ted; jea-lou-sy; plen-te-ous-ness.
7. Beware of final syllables which are sometimes elided eg power: usually pronounced as a
monosyllable so some composers will set it to a single note, and/or spell it powr, or notate the
final syllable (if set as a melisma) as a short note.
8. Melismas and melismatic final syllables are conventionally indicated in the text using underscores for
the duration of the melisma (eg hope______; love-ly______) and with slurs in the notation.
9. Its worth remembering that singers read their lines horizontally (though of course being aware of
what is happening, vertically, in the parts around them) and so enharmonic pitch notations in the
spelling of chords (or small-type equivalents alongside the main note) may make the individual lines
easier to read and perform. For example, if the prevailing accidentals in a particular line are flats, its
worth considering whether for example A# might not be better notated as B-flat, even if it is part
of a chord using sharps in other parts.
10. Page and type-size (words and notes) is critical for legibility!

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