Choral Clarity, founded by Adam Paltrowitz, strives to offer high quality choral literature that can performed well by both self-selected ensembles and advanced ensembles. All choral works on this website are well-crafted, artistic, and musically rewarding. Every work is accessible for choirs of varying abilities due to the clear delineation of vocal lines, accessible voice-leading, and repetition when musical expression will not be compromised.

Here are some of the issues that Choral Clarity Sheet Music strives to address:

1.Frequently, choral music is hard to follow, as voice parts are not clearly spelled out

All the notes are on the page, but who moves to the new added line of notes?  Why does the bass and tenor part converge into one line? The women are now in 3 parts, but does the composer want even distribution or just the sopranos to split? Publishers save space with awkward repeat signs and converging parts. Choral Clarity doesn’t want you to waste time figuring out the composer’s intent or explaining to the choir issues that are the fault of the poor layout.

2. Similar sections that repeat with minor, useless variations that take endless rehearsal time correcting

A chorus or verse, for example, may repeat three times and each time the rhythm and pitches are ever-so-slightly different. One time it’s “ti, do” and then next time it’s “sol, do”.  It’s an eighth note pick-up and then it’s a quarter note pick-up. Frequently these alternations in the music have no effect on musical expression and end up costing must-needed rehearsal time. This also adds stress for singers and directors. Choral Clarity music doesn’t want you to waste time rehearsing trivial details whenever possible.

3. Voice-leading that doesn’t lead us anywhere

Many choral pieces are more focused on the choral sound than they are on each individual vocal line. The chords themselves are beautiful, but the voices arriving at the new notes are a journey, and sometimes even a mystery.  Sometimes the composer doesn’t even explain who jumps where, as four notes become 12. Assuming everyone knew where to go, self-selected ensembles will struggle when the leaps are illogical. As a result, these pieces sound great on professional recordings but flop when sung by self-selected and un-auditioned choirs. Frankly, many pieces don’t even work with select high school ensembles when the sound of the piece is more important than finely tuned voice-leading.

The story:

Adam Paltrowitz, a high school choral director, believes choral music today lacks common sense. He understands the amount of time it takes to teach a piece of music versus the corresponding reward. Mr. Paltrowitz founded Choral Clarity where every one of the compositions available for instant download will be worth the time investment. Choral Clarity will soon offer resources that can aid in building a successful choral program for all students.

All sheet music and resources are available for instant download, licensed to you, and priced to fit into your budget.