April in Paris: Choral Octavo SoundTrax CD

Teena Chinn's arrangements capture the song's inherent elegance while giving you real programming flexibility. The SATB and SSAA options let you feature your full choir or create a women's showcase moment, and the recorded accompaniment removes the need for a rehearsal pianist while maintaining the piece's jazz-inflected sophistication.

Stepping into a memory, soft and bittersweet. The slow, unhurried phrasing creates intimate space for reflection, while the warm harmonies evoke an earlier era of elegance and restraint.

Mixed and women's choirs seeking a sophisticated jazz standard that works equally well in concert, recital, or pops settings. Directors building programs that blend classic American songbook material with contemporary choral arranging.

• Shape the long phrases with intentional breath placement; resist the urge to chop them into smaller units. The nostalgia lives in sustained line.
• Balance the harmonies so inner voices aren't swallowed. Jazz voicings often hide the beauty of third and seventh chords unless all four parts are heard.
• Let the accompaniment track guide tempo and feel, but encourage singers to listen across sections rather than just to their own part. This builds awareness of the whole harmonic landscape.
• Rehearse with the recorded accompaniment early and often so singers can internalize the groove without overthinking it.

Place this midway through a concert to shift the mood and tempo after more energetic pieces. It pairs beautifully with other standards or jazz-influenced choral works, and the SSAA version works especially well as a dedicated women's feature in a longer program.

• Sustaining long legit phrases over multiple measures
• Balancing jazz harmonies with independent inner-voice independence
• Listening for harmonic color in seventh chords and extended jazz voicings
• Maintaining tuning stability in slower tempos with minimal harmonic movement