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Sight-singing for choirs, in two to four parts

A new exercise for your choir every time you press the button: SATB, SAB, SSA, TTBB or two parts, in a major key, with do re mi or scale degrees under the notes. Play all the parts or yours louder, print it or send the link to your section. Free, no login.

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How to practise with it

  1. Pick your choir and a level. Level 1 has only I, IV and V in long notes: start there if your choir is new to sight-singing, and go up a level when it reads level 1 without stopping.
  2. Before anyone sings, read the exercise for a minute: the key, the time signature, where your part starts, where it leaps and where the phrases end.
  3. Press Starting chord to hear the key and your first note, keep the count-in on, then sing your part on the syllables at a slow tempo, without stopping.
  4. Then press Play with your part louder to check, or alone to hear only your line. Practise between rehearsals with the link, or print the page for the next rehearsal.

Questions

Is it free?

Yes. No account, no login, no ads.

Does it sound like choral music?

That is what it is built for. The parts follow the rules of four-part writing: no parallel fifths or octaves, the leading tone rises to do, the seventh of V7 falls by step, inner parts move by step or hold common tones, and every part stays in a range singers read comfortably. Each exercise is built of phrases of four measures; from eight measures on, a phrase ending on V gets an answer that usually begins the same way and ends on I. We check these rules automatically on thousands of exercises. It is still music a program wrote, so if one sounds wrong to you, send us its link.

Which choirs?

Mixed choirs in SATB and SAB, treble choirs in SSA and SA, tenor-bass choirs in TTBB and TB. The tenor part is written in the treble clef an octave lower, as in most choral music.

Movable do or scale degrees?

Movable do writes do re mi fa sol la ti under the notes, with do always the tonic of the key, as most US choirs and Kodály programs sing. Scale degrees write the numbers 1 to 7. Or choose nothing, as in a sight-reading evaluation, where the syllables are the singers’ job.

What does the level change?

Level 1 has I, IV and V in root position, whole, half and quarter notes, and leaps of a third or a fourth in the upper parts. Level 2 adds V7, ii and vi, more quarter notes and a few passing tones. Level 3 adds first inversions, vii°6 and the six-four chord before a cadence, passing and neighbour tones in every part, dotted rhythms, a breath between phrases and the whole range of each voice. All levels are in major keys up to four sharps or flats.

Can I hear just my part?

Yes. Under Parts, choose your part louder to hear it in front of the others, or alone to hear only your line. The sound can be a choir singing “aah” or a piano, which makes the pitch easier to hear. Starting chord plays the first chord, so everyone hears the key and their first note.

Can I print it for my choir?

Yes. Print and Download PDF lay the exercise out on pages, black on white: US Letter if your browser is set to the US, Canada or another country that uses it, A4 everywhere else. The PDF links back to the exercise. To change it, download it as MusicXML and open it in MuseScore, Dorico, Sibelius, Finale or any other notation program.

Can I send an exercise to my singers?

Yes. The address holds the settings and the exercise's number, so Copy link gives you a link that opens exactly this exercise. Embed gives you a piece of HTML for your choir's website: there, every singer can play the exercise with their own part louder.

Does it listen to my singing?

No. It writes the exercises and plays them back; it never uses a microphone and gives no feedback on your singing.

Who makes it?

PhonicScore in Vienna, the team that maintains OpenSheetMusicDisplay. The choir generator draws its exercises with OSMD. On your own WordPress site, OSMD for WordPress shows sheet music from your media library.