Classroom Songbooks

Teachers keep coming back to The Vocalize! Canon Collection and Concert Canons, both by Andy Beck, for canons that teach technique while building ensemble cohesion. Sally K. Albrecht's Jingle Bell Jukebox (with contributions from Jay Althouse, Tim Hayden, and Greg Gilpin) remains a perennial favorite for holiday programs and classroom singing across grades 3 through 8, and Salli Terri's Rounds for Everyone from Everywhere fills the need for multicultural unison singing that connects to world music traditions.

Sally K. Albrecht has released several new digital audio resources in the past year, including Creepy Creatures, Jingle Bell Jukebox... The Flip Side!, A World of Christmas (featuring holiday traditions from 15 countries), and Crazy Carols!. Counterpoint also arrived recently as a digital audio download.

Andy Beck directs choral publications at Alfred Music and has written over 450 choral works, vocal resources, and children's musicals currently in print. His method books Vocalize! and Foundations in Choral Sight Singing are widely used, and his canons appear frequently in classroom and festival settings.

Sally K. Albrecht is an ASCAP-award winning composer known especially for choral movement and staging. With over 600 choral publications and 75 larger songbooks in print, her work spans seasonal, novelty, and world music repertoire. She has conducted honor choirs at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and The Kennedy Center.

Greg Gilpin is an ASCAP-award winning choral composer and conductor who has led performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Sydney Opera House, and Royal Festival Hall. His arrangements appear frequently in festival and contest settings, and he contributes regularly to classroom and seasonal collections.

Mary Donnelly earned degrees in English and French before returning to school for music education certification. She holds a Master's in Education from Lesley College, where she studied integrated arts approaches to teaching, and that philosophy shapes her work across secular, patriotic, and multicultural songbooks for young singers.