Stacy Horn

“How would someone find a choir,” I was asked yesterday in an interview. I said something like, “Oh, they’re everywhere,” and quoted the number of choirs in America instead of giving a nice practical answer. Because there is one. There are a number of online resources, and I list the big ones below. But you can always google “choir” or “choral society” and your city or town to find more. It’s worth the effort, all the research consistently indicates you will feel better if you sing.

ChoirPlace
“We aim at being the ultimate place for easily finding information about choirs and vocal groups, for finding and watching videos of choral music that were added by the community members.” The videos are a really cool aspect of this site, but so is their blog.

ChoralNet
Run by the American Choral Directors Association, “The mission of the ACDA is to inspire excellence in choral music through education, performance, composition, and advocacy.” They maintain a comprehensive directory of choirs, including a directory of other directories of choirs!

Vocal Area Network
This is the place if you live in my part of the country. “Vocal Area Network is dedicated to the advancement of vocal ensemble music in the New York City area [except they also include New Jersey and Connecticut]. Our information-sharing services are offered for the benefit of the vocal ensemble community.”

The Virtual Choir
If you don’t want to leave your house, there is the wonderful Virtual Choir, started by composer Eric Whitacre. “The Virtual Choir began in May 2009 as a simple experiment in social media when Britlin Losee – a fan of Eric’s music – recorded a video of herself singing ‘Sleep’ and shared it on YouTube.” Whitacre invited others to do the same, and the videos were edited into a choir. It has become something Whitacre now does regularly. The next Virtual Choir debuts this month (and I’m in it)!

Chorus America
They don’t have a choir directory that I can see, but Chorus America is still a fabulous resource. I got a lot of great facts from them for my book. “Chorus America is the advocacy, research, and leadership development organization that advances the choral field. We support and serve choral conductors, administrators, board members, and singers with tools, training, peer networking, and access so that choruses are better able to contribute to their communities.”

Update: I’m adding other sources as I find them.

The Greater Boston Choral Consortium.
Choral Arts Foundation of the Upper Valley (of Vermont and New Hampshire).
The Association of Connecticut Choruses.
Never Stop Singing Choirs in the Twin Cities.
Seattle Sings.
Choirs in Washington State.
Triangle Sings Choral groups in the Triangle and Triad areas of North Carolina.

Britlin Losee, now a composer herself, conducting the Women’s Choir of the Aaron Copland School of Music, 2012.

A couple of people who have reviewed my book talked about the need to hear the music I wrote about. My publisher looked into including recordings in the ebook edition, but I think between getting permissions and the cost it just became unworkable.

I worry that people won’t find the right pieces. For instance, Victoria wrote more than one Agnus Dei and there are two in the mass I wrote about. The Agnus Dei I feature is the second one. I found a lovely version on YouTube, sung by the Choir of St Martin in the Field.

I thought of putting together a Spotify playlist. But how many people use Spotify? Perhaps I should make a page of links here.

Grace Church, the place where the Choral Society sings, in 1846, when it was just built …

Grace Church now.

I have gone back and forth and back and forth about how I want to spend my pub date and so far all I’ve managed is swimming in the morning and a few errands. I am out of my mind! What is wrong with me?? I think I will light a sparkler. No, I should wait until it’s dark. <—— SEE? I've been like this all day. This is Charles Street, which I sometimes take on my way home. Lucky are the people who live on Charles Street.

I didn’t sleep last night. This isn’t good. My publisher has set up a bunch of radio interviews, beginning today. Well, I’m sure I will rally.

My friends and I passed by this small makeshift shrine to James Gandolfini on our way downtown. According to the sign this is where the first episode of The Sopranos was shot (one of the scenes at least). I had the movie Fallen on in the background yesterday and Gandolfini was in it. It was weird to see him in a role that had none of the gravitas or depth of Tony Soprano.

For people following this blog, you might be surprised to learn that I’ve never been to the World Trade Center Memorial. (I was a volunteer down at St. Paul’s Chapel during the recovery period.)

This shot is of the north fountain, and on the far side you see treetops, and coming out of the treetops, a steeple. That St. Paul’s. If you bear in mind that this fountain represents the footprint of that massive tower, and you’re only seeing one section of the fountain, it becomes even more incredible that tiny St. Paul’s is still standing. More pictures below.

Even though there were signs asking people not to leave objects on the fountain, there were still a few here and there. I turned over this picture and learned that it was Robert Penninger, whose name was inches away. I googled Penninger and everyone talked about how he loved his green Mustang—the car he’s sitting in, in this photograph. Penninger was on Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.

I liked the spot and the memorial, although it still has a construction site feel to it. It will be nicer when it’s done, and all the buildings are built and this park feels more like an oasis.