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SONG LICENSING
Your church needs to buy a blanket song license to have the legal right to use songs in your services (and so the composers receive their royalties). This inexpensive license covers printing words to songs, recording this music during your Sunday services, PowerPoint projection, and more. The fee is based on the size of your average attendance (combined attendance if more than 1 service.)
CHOIR MUSIC ADVICE
Some choral directors use music from some of the mainstream church music publishers, such as Word Music, Brentwood Publishers, Integrity Music, Allegis, Lillenas, Hope, Alfred. If you know the publisher of a song, you can contact that publisher directly to order the music. (By the way, most choir songs purchased in this way also have an accompaniment CD or tape available for around $15-20. This is VERY handy if your accompanist can't handle this type of music or isn't available for choir practice. Sometimes it's nice to use those CDs regardless, as they are fully orchestrated and sound quite majestic, especially for special occasions like Easter.) Choral music distributors include:
Legally, you should buy all the copies of the music you need, and don't photocopy! Your church needs to pay for a song license to have the legal right to use these songs (so the composers get their royalties). It’s important to understand that the license does not cover photocopies of choir music or arrangement music. Music Publishers
Heart Wind Music www.heartwindmusic.com Word Music (800) 324-WORD www.wordmusic.com Sony/ATV Songs (615) 726-8300 www.sonyatv.com Alfred Publishing Co. (818) 891-5999 www.alfred.com Brentwood/Benson 800-846-7664 www.brentwood-benson.com Lillenas/Allegis Publishing Co. (800) 363-2122 www.lillenas.com Integrity Music Co. (800) 533-6912 www.integritymusic.com Hope Publishing Company (800) 323-1049 www.hopepublishing.com J & J Music Company www.jjonline.com Order music online & get info on music conferences around the nation. Kempke www.kempke.com Order music and sound equipment online & get info on music conferences around the nation. J. W. Pepper Music Company www.jwpepper.com A great source for ordering music online. Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation www.halleonard.com A great source for ordering music online. Church Music Websites: www.virtualresourcelibrary.org ("music" link) A Unity site, with good info by Gregg Akkerman, former director of Unity Church of Today, San Diego www.vocalcoach.com Chris & Carol Beatty tour the country giving vocal workshops & private coaching sessions. Sign up to receive monthly e-mail vocal tips. www.unitync.net ("music" link), then "Growing Your Church Music Program" Order this informative book by Lytingale, Music Director & minister's wife at Unity of Fletcher, NC. This is a must-have, an invaluable resource. (UnitySavannah HAS THIS) www.worshipchoir.com Sign up for this newsletter to receive great tips on directing a contemporary, praise & worship style choir, by well-known music director and arranger for national publishing companies, Dave Williamson www.agapelive.com Agape, a Religious Science church near Los Angeles, puts out GREAT New Thought music for solos and congregational singing. Some songs to look for: "I Release & I Let Go," "I Feel the Spirit," "Pour Yourself in Me," "I'm Choosing Heaven Today." www.tcmr.com The Church Music Report. Sign up for the newsletter, read interesting tips, find out about music conferences around the nation. Make sure you contact Judy Blackwelder in Nashville for choir music she has written, which comes with a CD. And get Lytingale's bookfrom the Fletcher, NC, Unity Church as well. (Margee) Contact Laura Watts in St. Pete, and Sondra von Gyllenband in Austin, to get put on their mailing list for the music conferences they host each year. |
Some Easter Music Possibilities
Palm Sunday
From Choir Directors/Music Directors
Response to a request for Easter choral music (info may be very dated!) My choir director's name is Garry Miller, and you can reach him at garry@mazin.net The choir director at Unity of Hollywood (Florida) is Karen Nagy, and she has gone through the same choir music dilemma with some success. You can reach her at Ku[at]peoplepc.com. Hope that helps! Love, Laura from Claudia, Jonesboro, GA: Carol Turner is our Choir Director. Her home number is 770-306-9442. She has done an excellent job of selecting music, year round. Claudia Naylor Try Don Discenza at don@unitynorth.0rg. Unity North has a large choir and a good repertoire of music. For my church my music minister Jennifer Ferren and I went to Sweet Spirit Christian Bookstore and ordered several accompaniment CD's for The Holy City. Since we have such a small music program we use background CD's to support our singers. There are even tracks with the vocal harmony parts so we always sound great even with a few singers. Check your local Christian Bookstores. For sheet music J.W.Pepper in Atlanta is a source for arrangements. They even send out a demo CD of various Easter songs so you can pick and choose what would work for your choir. Please contact my music minister Jennifer at jferrensings@aol.com for more information. If I can help any more on the music I would be glad to help. My college degree is a Bachelor of Music Education with a major in cello. I work with my musicians a lot. Blessings, Sydney (Gainesville, GA) Unity of Harrisburg, where I grew up, has a fantastic Music Director and Choir... call the church office at Fax: 717-732-9074 Phone: 717-732-9773 Music Director is Kate McCutcheon (from Donna Kopitsky) Richard Burdick in Sacramento. He is Michael Moran's music director: CONTACT Spiritual Life Center P.O. Box 160022 Sacramento, Ca 95816 Tel: 916.448.6508 Fax: 916.448.6308 (From Coco Ramos) [coco@cocoramos.com] Re choir music—Try phoning our Unity of Vero Beach Music Director. Jean Rasp. (7722) 567 7313. Love and blessings, G. Richard [from rmrieger@gate.net (G. Richard Rieger)] I really don't know of any Easter music except for the same old stuff. The music director at Unity Whole Life Church in Johnson City is Connie Wurster. Her email address is: WursterCW@aol.com You also might try Rev. Terry Dearmore at Unity of Fairfax in Virginia. He's really familiar with a lot of music. His email address is: terry@unityoffairfax.org from Carolyn Claiborne, TN mtnlady11@earthlink.net Hello, Dear One - I am forwarding your message to Susan Kroupa, suekroupa@earthlink.net, our Music Director here at Unity Church of Clearwater. Sue is also the Music Committee Chair for the 88th INTA Congress, and new member of the Association Music Team. She is awesome, and I believe she will have some good ideas for you. Spirit has it all worked out! Love and Light, Leddy (Clearwater) from leddy@unityofclearwater.org I recommend you contact Dixie Hickman at dehickman@mindspring.com. She is a wonderful musician and a leader in our choir and in the church. I am sure she could give you some ideas. Many blessings, John Strickland, Atlanta Why don't you give our choir director, Garry Miller, a call. His home number is 727-522-4540. Or better yet you can email him at garry@mazin.net He can tell you anything you need to know. Blessings, Alan Rowbotham, St. Pete FL, minister@firstunity.org Hi, I don't know who is in charge of the choir at Unity Temple on the Plaza in KC but they have a large and effective choir /music ministry. I have been the Music Director at Unity of Panama City for almost 5 years. We have about 20 people in the choir and a lot of soloist and musicians who come in. We have tried a lot of different styles of music over the years depending on her message. Pop, jazz, gospel, sacred etc. We have found that the music from the Agape International Spiritual Centre in Culver City always goes over well. It is basically pop R& B, very up beat with totally appropriate lyrics for Unity. They have 3 song books and their phone is 877 999-9802. I have written 2 concerts for the church in which I used several of their songs and they always went over really well. [I Rise in God, Light Chant, Spirit says to sing Your song, I walk in the Love of God, etc. It might be on their web. I have collected songs for Easter from other choir directors. One pop song we often do is "With You I'm Born Again. Other songs: Every morning is Easter Morning. Halle Halle, Hallalulah now be Joyful, In the garden, I can mail you some stuff it you'd like. I'm just planning for Valantine's day now and then Easter. You can call me at 850-215-9390 if you'd like. Hope this helps. Mariah Picot, lucidblue@earthlink.net We've centered our music that the choir sings around the Agape Church's music written by Ricki Byers-Beckwith. We sent our director out to Agape in August for training and we have been beautifully repaid. Ricki sells her music. The telephone # 1-877-999-9802. Let me know if I can help further. Neusom 919-832-8324 (Raleigh, Unity Church of the Triangle), neusomh@yahoo.com I would contact Judy Blackwelder at 615 847 4082. She put together a great choir with wonderful music etc. She is in Nashville. love, Sondra, svgunity@yahoo.com (Texas) We used a song called SING YOUR PRAISE TO THE LORD (Amy Grant) last Easter. It's a joyous song which does have a bit of the traditional flavor. But is Contemporary Christian. Dana Schultz does most of the selecting of music for our choir and she has been to the AGAPE workshops in Los Angeles. My background is more in a traditional and Contemporary Christian venue. I'm just not afraid of using the familiar because there's no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to Jesus and Easter. Some people really like to have a more purely Metaphysical message. Dana is more prone to know more about this kind of music. Dana's e-mail is schultztroupe@aol.com You might want to drop her an e-mail and she can give you some suggestions of other music. A resource for me is the FAMILY CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORES here in town. Sometimes we will use the songs via tracks that are available and other times I will program the music on the keyboard the church has provided for me to use in the services. Other times, it's just me at the piano with the choir. Many times I will make special arrangements for the choir, but that has been less and less lately. I hope this helps you. Write anytime with questions and feedback. Have a great night/day Sincerely, Doug Gazlay www.douggazlay.com A great lady who did the music at a retreat I attended is Lucille Lucimusic@aol.com She may have some ideas for you. Dan [UNITY MONTGOMERY] You can contact our music director, Karen Nagy. Her address is Ku@peoplepc.com. Our choir is small and doesn't sing that much but she might be able to help. We are one in Spirit, Carla Golden, carlagolden@yahoo.com Rev. Larkin sent word that you were in need of ideas for choral literature for Easter. I'm the choral director at First Church Unity in Nashville. I like to use Pepper Music to obtain music and ideas. They have a website and will gladly furnish you with free catalogs. They will also send your order to you within 10 days. I have also used pieces from "The Creation" by Haydn, from "Messiah" by Handel, and "Alleluia" by Randal Thompson. Darryl Nettles (Nashville TN), darryl543@yahoo.com Sharon West is an excellent long time Unity choir director. The last I heard of her she was in the Columbus, Ohio church. Love and hugs, Mary Storm The choir leader in Tallahassee might be able to help. Her name is Gwethlyn Jones. She can be reached at the Unity there that the Worth's started. Emily Gillespie, revvyrev@atlantic.net A Song List
Hi, I am the choir director at Unity Church of Palm Harbor in Florida. I am lucky to have a very talented assembly of singers/musicians and together we have produced some good music. When we are all there, we have about 15 singers. My song list is always out of date. Attached you will find the list we had 2 years ago. I will be happy to send you a copy of anything that perks your interest. Some are easy and some are challenging. I went through the same search when I started this choir 10 years ago. I did not find any help, so I did my own thing. Michael Potts - michael.potts@usa.net CHOIR REPERTOIRE (Updated August 3, 2001)
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