Stef’s Choral Difficulty Levels Explained

Professional:

Suitable for professional ensembles, musically trained leisure-time choirs, first-study vocal undergraduate and/or postgraduate student ensembles. Primarily composed of challenging rhythms, harmonies, and melodic intervals; requires part independence, expert score-reading, breath control for sustained phrases, and control of tone in extreme registers.

Advanced:

Suitable for university-level student ensembles, highly experienced (usually auditioned) leisure-time choirs with confidence in score-reading, and professional ensembles. Includes some challenging rhythms, harmonies, and melodic intervals; requires competent score-reading and demands individual practice outside of group rehearsals.

Medium:

Suitable for high school, college and university-level student ensembles, leisure-time choirs with score-reading ability and/or expectation for members to practise individual parts, and professional ensembles. Includes occasional challenging rhythms, harmonies, and melodic intervals, within the context of generally conventional and intuitive part-writing; requires either score-reading or individual learning (aural, from notation, or both) outside of group rehearsals.

Easy:

Suitable for all levels of experience and can be taught orally or using notation, but designed to suit aural learning in particular. Appropriate for leisure-time ensembles, school/university/college choirs, and/or professional ensembles looking for encores, memorisable material, and fillers between longer pieces etc. Harmonically and rhythmically conventional/ intuitive and requiring little part independence (lines move primarily in rhythmic unison). May incorporate occasional, limited challenging features to add interest and/or help performers develop specific musical skills (e.g. syncopation, close harmonies, pronunciation challenges) through low-pressure learning methods.

Very easy:

Suitable for warm-ups, game-song team-building, rehearsal breaks, encores, audience participation, fast online learning, childrens’ choirs, and all ability levels. Can be learnt extremely fast by ear; notation for use by directors/teachers only; fun, fast, easy, accessible but still beautiful to sing and to hear! 😉