Choral directors have been among the most enthusiastic users of the Internet. I recall my colleagues in the choral department of Temple University getting excited about the mailing lists and discussion forums that emerged to serve choral directors in the mid-1990s. Today the resources are much more sophisticated, but the concept of an online choral community is no less exciting.

www.choralnet.org
ChoralNet (see Fig. 1) has been around since the mid-1990s. It offers three large, moderated mailing lists: Choralist, ChoralAcademe, and ChoralTalk. ChoralNet also maintains the rec.music.makers.choral newsgroup. These resources allow choral musicians to meet like-minded folks, exchange opinions, get advice, and even find jobs. The ChoralNet Web site also maintains 14 online forums where visitors can post job openings, announce auditions, and make contact with colleagues around the globe. Visitors to ChoralNet include K-12 music teachers, higher-education choral scholars, church-choir directors, and arts managers.

FIG. 1: With 14 online forums, three large, moderated mailing lists, and a huge list of links to choirs and choral organizations, ChoralNet is a marvelous central resource for anyone who works with choral music.

ChoralNet provides links to more than 4,000 choirs, as well as to organizations such as the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the International Federation of Choral Music (IFCM), and Chorus America. The site is huge and offers suggestions for repertoire, advice about rehearsals, tips on using technology, and reference materials to enhance all aspects of the choral conductor's life. If you are just beginning your career in choral music, ChoralNet is a great site to help you learn the ropes. If you have been active in choral music for many years, you can find lots of new ideas here to help you stay fresh and motivated.

www.cpdl.org
The Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL; see Fig. 2) began in December of 1998 with six choral-music scores. Today it has more than 7,600 scores. The database is searchable by both composer and title, and the music can be downloaded in several forms. PDF is great for quick printouts, but the MIDI, Sibelius, and Finale files are especially useful. You can download and adapt them for your own needs by transposing keys or changing lyrics.

FIG. 2: The Choral Public Domain Library provides more than 7,600 scores, many of them unrestricted. File formats include PDF, MIDI, Sibelius, and Finale.

Unless otherwise noted, there is no restriction on distributing, duplicating, or performing scores from CPDL. Nevertheless, be sure to read the copyright FAQ and the CPDL license page and to comply with any copyright statements that accompany the files you download.

The site is run by volunteers and funded by donations. Another way to contribute is to create your own arrangements of public-domain choral works and donate them to the site. Participating in sites like this is what the Web is all about.

www.musicanet.org
Musica (see Fig. 3) is an excellent repertoire database that is based in France. It was founded in 1998 by IFCM and the Centre d'Art Polyphonique d'Alsace (CAPA). This site is a great tool for music scholars, choral directors, music teachers, and anyone managing a choral library. The Musica team's mission is ambitious: they hope to compile information about all choral music of the world and make it available in French, German, English, and Spanish.

FIG. 3: Musica’s extensive repertoire database contains more than 135,000 records and 80 searchable fields. Lyrics are supplied in French, German, English, and Spanish.

The database currently contains more than 135,000 references and, as it grows, it is becoming more of a multimedia tool. Each record has more than 80 fields, including Composer, Arranger, Publisher, Title, Genre, Form, Difficulty, Choir Type, Language, Text Incipit, Composition Date, and Instrumentation. In the near future, you will even be able to search the database by theme fragment. Visitors can also purchase a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM version for use offline. Like the CPDL site, Musica relies on the work of volunteers and on donations from visitors.

Dr. Steven Estrella owns StevenEstrella.com and Shearspire, Inc., creating interactive media for business and education. He teaches for Villanova, Duquesne, and Central Connecticut State Universities and is on the National Board of Advisors and Board of Directors of TI:ME. Contact him at steve@stevenestrella.com. For links to more great sites, see www.stevenestrella.com/mused/websitings.html.