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Choir Notice Board - Rehearsal Music
Music in “midi” format that can be played on the computer for rehearsing is available for Handel's "Solomon"
Using the Computer to Rehearse
Most Personal Computers can synthesise various instruments and play music. The synthesiser uses a language called “Midi” (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) to store music as it is written. Music stored in this form takes a minute fraction of the computer space that a CD or MP3 recording takes. Midi cannot reproduce the human voice pronouncing words but it can play the vocal lines with distinctive instruments or a choral “aah”.
Click on the link at the top of this page to get rehearsal music for the next concert.
For other choral pieces the most comprehensive sites are Cyberbass, The Silvis Woodshed and The Choral Public Domain Library. These give you an index to all the composers’ works available at that site. These tend to contain only the choral sections, often the accompaniment is only included for bars when there is no choral singing (for copyright reasons).
Cyberbass
Midi files on the Cyberbass web site can only be played using the Cyberbass player while you are online. The Cyberbass player lets you specify the play speed and you can drag the "Seek" button to the left to replay or to the right to skip portions.
If you have a broad band connection you can play midi files directly from your browser simply by clicking on the underlined name of the piece otherwise download the music as described below so that you can play it later.
When using a PC if you click on a piece and it is not automatically played by Windows Media Player and you want to slow it down for rehearsing then you will need to download the piece for playing later. To download the file right click on the section you want. This displays a menu, select “Save target as” or "Save link as" then select the folder to store it in (this is not available for files on Cyberbass) –
- If the file name ends “.mid” then save it to "Music" (Windows Vista) or "My music" (Windows XP) in "My Documents" so that you can find it easily later.
- If the file name ends “.zip” it is a
compressed file
- if you are using Windows Vista then choose to save it to "Music"
- if you are using Windows XP then choose to save it on the desktop. This allows you to "unzip" the file so you can use it. When the file is downloaded it will be shown as an icon on your desktop. Double click on the icon; this will run your unzip program. Click on Extract and specify the unzip location as the folder called "My music" in "My Documents". Once the files have been extracted the zip file is no longer required, so click on the zip file icon and drag it to the Recycle Bin.
On a Macintosh just download the file by a long click on the link. The file is available in the "download folder" you defined in your browser's setup. If the file doesn't have the .mid extension but for example the .zip, .hqx,.sit extension, drag it on the StuffIt Icon to decode it.
Playing Midi Music with Windows Media Player
The Window Media Player is free and allows you to play, pause and resume by clicking on the play button. You can drag the moving button on the Seek Bar backwards or forwards to different parts of the piece.
To use the Windows Media Player for midi files saved on your computer
- in Windows XP click on "Start", "Programs", "Accessories", "Entertainment", "Windows Media Player"
- in Windows Vista click on Start, type "media player". A list of programs will be displayed, click on "Windows Media Player"
- if the top line in the Windows Media Player does not show "File View Play Tools Help" type on Ctrl + "m"
- if the bottom left of the screen does not show "Play speed settings" then click on "View", "Enhancements", "Play speed settings"
- click on "File", "Open" and locate the file you want in your “Music” folder
Playing Midi Music with Melody Assistant
There are programs that display the musical notation while playing it. The best for its price is Melody Assistant available as shareware from http://www.myriad-online.com/melody.htm it is free to try and costs €20 if you decide to keep it. This also allows you to
- Select a number of bars to play repeatedly
- Select the bar to start from
- Use a metronome
- Vary the playing speed to practice the tricky bits
- Emphasise your vocal register by reducing the volume for the other registers
- Play an individual note to check the pitch
- Change the instrument used to play a vocal register
- Change individual notes
- Transpose selected notes or the entire piece
For detailed instructions for this program see “Using Melody Assistant To Rehearse Choral Music”.
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Last revised 11 November 2009