For Everything There Is a Season Cover Image

For Everything There Is a Season: SSA Choral Octavo

$1.85 USD
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For Everything There Is a Season Cover Image
For Everything There Is a Season: SSA Choral Octavo

For Everything There Is a Season: SSA Choral Octavo

Words based on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, music by Jay Althouse

Item: 00-39734
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Description
Jay's contemporary setting based on this timeless and poignant text deserves a place in your upcoming concert season. Superb choral literature, guaranteed to touch all who hear it. As a special addition, project animated images from the VideoTrax DVD on a large screen during performance.

Don't just read it, hear it, play along with it, and watch your students grow with it. In MakeMusic Cloud, For Everything There Is a Season: SSA Choral Octavo comes alive with professional accompaniment, adjustable tempo, and built-in practice tools that turn solo practice into real progress.

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Additional Details
Series: Alfred Choral Designs
Publisher: Alfred Music
Page Count: 12
UPC: 038081443959
SKU: 00-39734

More about this title

About the Composer: Jay Althouse

Jay Althouse

Jay Althouse studied music education and music at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he later received the Distinguished Alumni award. His career in music publishing included eight years as a rights and licenses administrator and a term on the Executive Board of the Music Publishers Association of America. He has established himself as a prolific composer with more than 800 choral works in print for ensembles across all skill levels, and his compositions are performed regularly throughout the English-speaking world.

Althouse holds ASCAP membership and has been a consistent recipient of the ASCAP Special Award. Beyond composition, he has collaborated with his wife, Sally K. Albrecht, on children's musicals and vocal collections; compiled and edited anthologies including Folk Songs for Solo Singers; co-authored The Complete Choral Warm-up Book and Accent on Composers; and created classroom resources such as Ready to Read Music and One-Page Composer Bios. He co-wrote I Hear America Singing, performed by the San Francisco Girls and Boys Choirs at President Obama's inauguration in 2009. Althouse has served on the board of the North Carolina Master Chorale and currently sits on the National Advisory Board of the Folk Art Society of America.

Why we love this

Althouse brings both accessibility and musical substance to sacred texts, and this setting of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 achieves that rare balance. The SSA voicing keeps the piece practical for mixed-ability choirs while the contemporary harmonic language and text treatment feel immediate and emotionally honest. Pairing it with VideoTrax projections transforms a concert moment into something visually and spiritually engaging.

What to expect

The setting carries both contemplative stillness and forward momentum as the text cycles through its catalogue of seasons and opposites. There is an underlying calm acceptance to the harmonic language, even as it acknowledges life's rhythm of joy and sorrow. Listeners will recognize the familiar words made fresh through Althouse's careful setting.

Who it's for

This octavo suits treble choirs at intermediate skill level and above. It works for concert choirs seeking sacred repertoire with contemporary relevance, community ensembles wanting to deepen their emotional connection to a biblical text, and groups interested in integrating visual elements into performance.

How to get the most out of it

  • Let the text phrasing guide your ensemble through phrase shapes; mark breath points together and resist the urge to break the flow within Althouse's musical thought.
  • Shape dynamics around the emotional weight of each line rather than strictly following traditional crescendo patterns, since the text's meaning shifts as it moves through seasons and emotions.
  • Ensure your soprano and alto sections balance clearly; SSA writing depends on both parts maintaining independence while blending as chords resolve.

How to use it

Anchor a sacred or spiritual concert program with this piece, or position it as a centerpiece that other repertoire can complement. The VideoTrax accompaniment option invites you to program it where you have tech capabilities available; it becomes a natural finale or powerful second half opener. Consider pairing it with other contemporary sacred works or contrasting it with traditional settings of the same text.

Skills your students will build

  • Balancing SSA voicing and voice independence within three-part texture
  • Sustaining vocal line integrity through text-driven phrasing
  • Interpreting contemporary harmonic language in sacred context
  • Coordinating ensemble singing with visual media or accompaniment tracks

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