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Examinations, Courses and Awards

Fellowship of the Guild of Church Musicians

Part One, Group C: Composition and related skills

Module C2: Writing for voices

Course SummaryThis module is intended to develop your skills and competence in writing for voices. This may, at your choice, include some original composition, but this is not a requirement. The work undertaken is directed primarily to writing music to be sung in Christian worship, and you are encouraged to write some of the music for your own liturgical situation.
Learning OutcomesAt the end of the module you should be able to demonstrate:
  • competence in laying out a clear vocal score
  • competence in writing for a variety of vocal scorings
  • grasp of texture, ranges and balance
  • awareness of the practicalities of writing for amateur musicians and the unskilled
  • awareness of idioms appropriate to Christian worship
Issues for studyAs a means of developing your skills in writing for voices you are expected to explore works by other composers, considering the ways in which they approach
  • use of resources
  • use and treatment of accompaniment
  • texture and balance
  • considerations for performers
  • presentation of score
You need to be clear about the conventions for the presentation of scores, and may follow the style guide prepared by the Guild. In vocal music The Oxford Spelling Dictionary can be helpful in guiding you over the division of words.

You need to be clear of ranges of voices and instruments and capabilities of singers and players of varying abilities.

You should become aware of issues of copyright and performance rights.
Study Although you may choose (or be directed by a supervisor in) your own pattern of study it must include those issues listed above, and you are advised to take account of the recommended items listed in the diploma course bibliography. Additionally the Guild offers a brief guide to study of the module with recommended reading, score study and listening based on the course bibliography, and suggestions of specific issues to be considered and exercises to be undertaken.

In preparing your scores for submission you are advised to consult the guidance for presentation in the general study notes.
Assessment and satisfactory completionYou are required to submit three pieces of work chosen from the following:
  • one movement of the Ordinary of the Mass/Eucharist (i.e. Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus dei);
  • a canticle or psalm (prose texts only);
  • a sacred text (prose or verse) set as a through-composed song or anthem;
  • a strophic hymn or sacred song  - either a single harmonized verse or an extended setting with variations of scoring and treatment of the melody;
  • a work for instrument(s) suitable for use in worship (e.g. entrance, communion).
The portfolio should include
  • one work for SATB choir with or without accompaniment
  • one work for three-part choir (i.e. SSA, TBaB, SAB) with or without accompaniment
  • one work for either two-part choir with accompaniment, or unison voices with accompaniment
Where there is an accompaniment it should be scored for organ, acoustic piano, or electric keyboard.

The submitted works should include one work for capable singers, and one work involving singers of limited ability. One of the works should last at least 5 minutes in performance. The portfolio as a whole should consist of music lasting 10-15 minutes in performance.

You may use existing melodic or harmonic material for your work, or compose original material. The assessment is bmargin:20px 30px;ased on your skills in writing for voices and the overall merit of the work as presented.
Select list of scores suitable for study (neither exhaustive nor exclusive) This is a very brief and restricted list confined to composers and works where (a) the understanding of voices is self-evident, (b) the writing uses an economy of means to maximum of effect. You may have particular composers and repertory which you favour as models, and this list is not intended to be prescribed or proscribed.

Writing for
SATB Unaccompanied: Richard Rodney Bennett, Carols, Verses; Joubert, There is no rose

SATB Accompanied: Britten, Rejoice in the Lamb, Te Deum in C and E, Jubilate in C; Joubert, 0 Lorde the maker

Arrangements of existing melodies: Folk-song arrangements by Vaughan Williams and Holst

High voices: Britten, Missa Brevis, Ceremony of Carols
Unison voices: Britten, Songs for Friday Afternoons, Jonathan Harvey, The Tree
Accompaniments: Britten - all of the above

Strophic songs and hymns: Lennox Berkeley, I sing of a maiden; Elizabeth Poston, Jesus Christ the apple tree: Howells, Michael

Other aids to study Maurice Waite (ed.), The Oxford Spelling Dictionary (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1986; 2nd edition, 2000). This includes recommendations for word-division, which can be used as a useful guide but with flexibility, bearing in mind the practical implications of pronunciation for singers. The ultimate authority on matters such as word-division, italicisation, hyphenation, etc. is Hart’s rules for compositors and readers at the University Press Oxford (39th edition, completely revised and reprinted with corrections, Oxford University Press, 1986).

Annie Gunning, The Composer's Guide to Music Publishing (London, The Association of Professional Composers, 1987; 2nd edition 1997). Includes information on copyright, PRS, MCPS, and the mechanics of publishing.

Copyright Rules and Regulations - Help for the Local Church, RSCM handbook. This is supplemented by an article in Church Music Quarterly, January 1997. Click here for the Guild’s own guide Copyright Issues.

The Churches' Copyright Directory. Published by Stainer and Bell for the Pratt Green Trust, and regularly issued with lists of addresses for copyright.

Some suggestions when writing vocal music
Presentation
  • 1. Leave space at the top of the score for the title, and details of text and composer.
  • 2. Indent the first system of staves to allow space to indicate voice types.
  • 3. Include appropriate style and tempo markings.
  • 4. Ensure that normal conventions of notation are followed.
  • 5. Ensure sure that all noteheads and stems are clearly formed.
  • 6. Only rule barlines through each individual stave of the vocal score: leave the space between staves clear of barlines, otherwise they can impede the text.
  • 7. In open score, write the tenor part in the G-clef.
  • 8. Short score is best avoided unless the music is entirely homophonic.
  • 9. There are several conventions regarding beaming and slurring. Most composers now favour beaming in accordance with metre. Slurs can be used to clarify underlay, but are best reserved for ties and phrase marks.
  • 10. It can be helpful to indicate breathing, either by an appropriate rest, or by a tick at the top of the stave.
  • 11. Place dynamics and other instructions above the stave.
  • 12. Write your text in upper and lower case, as normal. text in capitals IS not SO easy to read.
  • 13. Ensure that each word or syllable is placed under the first note on which it is sung.
  • 14. Consult a spelling dictionary for conventions of word-division.
  • 15. Se-pa-rate syl-la-bles by short dash-es at a height in the mid-dle of the let-ter.
  • 16. Where there is a melisma on a final syllable, complete the word, and any punctuation, and follow with a ‘extension’ or ‘continuation’ line at the bottom of the letter, e.g.: A-men.____
  • 17. Ensure that appropriate acknowledgements for copyright texts and music are included.
Practical advice
  • 1. For amateurs, ranges of voices are best restricted to Bass: F-d', Tenor: c-g', Alto: g-c", Soprano/Treble: c'-g". Use extremes with care: beware of restricting any voice to an extreme of the range for long periods.
  • 2. Have regard to spacing of voices, and the textural implications in the formation and spacing of chords. The same chord can have different colours according to its spacing.
  • 3. Have regard to balance and tessitura in a chord: for instance, one voice in a high tessitura against three in a low has a specific effect - ensure that it is what you want.
  • 4. Ensure that each voice has a singable line: exercise care in the use of ungainly leaps such as sevenths, augmented 2nds, augmented 4ths, diminished 5ths.
  • 5. Remember that singers need to breathe: breathing can be part of the shape and articulation of a piece.
  • 6. Writing passages for SATB choir in unison or two parts (Paired SA/TB or ST/AB) can be effective for short periods.
  • 7. The piano is not always a good guide to vocal effect: its overtones are richer than voices. Observe what other composers do and, more particularly, how it sounds.
  • 8. Have regard to word-stress and accent. There is always another way of setting a word or phrase, so do not be satisfied with false accentuation. Melisma is one solution.
  • 9. Consider the quality of vowels (in relation to tessitura as well as aural effect). Consider the quality of consonants, and where they sound.
  • 10. Be clear of the structure and dynamic shape of your piece: where is the climax? Is it reflected in the vocal writing? Think about what it sounds like, not what it looks like!
  • 11. Be clear of the shaping of each phrase on its own merits and within the overall design.
  • 12. Beware of 'stop and go' vocal music, where each phrase is followed by a gap. Dovetailing by overlapping the end of a phrase in one voice part with the start of the new phrase in another voice can enhance continuity. Then the breaks, when they come, are all the more effective.
  • 13. Stand back from your music and ask whether its style is coherent and consistent. This applies to harmony, texture, and structure.
Accompaniments
  • 1. Make the accompaniment part of the planning of the piece, not an afterthought.
  • 2. Consider the relationship between the voices and the accompaniment. Does the accompaniment substantially double the voices? Is it providing a separate, independent texture? Is it a mixture of the two?
  • 3. Remember that a bare fifth in the accompaniment, and a third in the voices (or vice versa), will sound like that they will not coalesce into a triad.
  • 4. Bear in mind the nature of instrumental writing (as opposed to vocal writing), and the particular instrument for which you are writing. If you want an accompaniment suitable for several keyboard instruments you need to bear into account their shared qualities as instruments. If you write for organ, remember that most organs are individual in character.
  • 5. Consider the balance between accompaniment and vocal lines: texture and tessitura need to taken into account.
  • 6. Make sure that the accompaniment gives suitable cues for voices, and that you do not expect singers to find obscure pitches out of thin air.
All three pieces should be submitted in notated score. Each piece should be accompanied by a short commentary of 150-400 words outlining the purpose and methods of the work, and evaluating its strengths and weaknesses. At least one of the pieces should also be submitted in a recorded performance on cassette tape.

Assessment will be based on the portfolio of music for voices, but you will be expected to supply additional evidence in order to complete the module satisfactorily. You should complete the report form listing the works of other composers you have studied and other exercises or pieces you have completed yourself as part of the course (these should not be submitted but may be requested for inspection by the examiners), and answer the questionnaire about copyright and performing rights. The report and questionnaire will not be graded but you must have completed them satisfactorily to complete the module.

If you are taking more than one module in Group C you need only complete the questionnaire on copyright and performing rights once.

All materials for assessment and establishment of satisfactory completion should be forwarded to the Course Secretary and postmarked not later than 31 January or 30 June in the appropriate study period.