How Can I Keep from Singing?: SSA Choral Octavo
American Folk Hymn / arr. Andy Beck
Item: 00-PO-0000490
$2.05
Minimum order quantity: 20 copies
Pickup currently not available
Related Items
How Can I Keep from Singing?: SATB Choral Octavo |
$2.05
|
View | |
How Can I Keep from Singing?: SAB Choral Octavo |
$2.05
|
View | |
How Can I Keep from Singing?: SATB Choral Octavo |
$2.40
|
View | |
How Can I Keep from Singing?: SAB Choral Octavo |
$2.05
|
View | |
How Can I Keep from Singing?: SSA Choral Octavo |
$2.05
|
View |
Description
A cherished melody and poignant text are skillfully set for contemporary choirs. Deliberate simplicity promotes freedom of the voice and understanding of the text. Highly effective, but easy to prepare.
How Can I Keep from Singing?: SSA Choral Octavo isn't in MakeMusic Cloud just yet...but it could be. Let us know you'd like to see it, and you'll help shape what comes next. In the meantime, start a free trial and dive into thousands of interactive titles your students can play along with today.
Request This Title
Tell us you want it.
Start Your Free Trial
Explore everything that's ready to play right now.
Sample Audio
No sample audio found.
Sample Video
No sample videos found.
Additional Details
Series:
Alfred Choral Designs
Publisher:
Alfred Music
Page Count:
8
SKU:
00-PO-0000490
More about this title
About the Arranger: Andy Beck
Andy Beck leads the choral publications department at Alfred Music, where his editorial vision shapes resources used by thousands of singers and directors. Beyond his curatorial role, Beck is a prolific arranger with more than 450 choral works and vocal resources in print, along with influential sight-singing and technique books that have become standards in music education.
Beck's work as a guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician takes him across the United States and beyond, where he mentors music educators and works with honor choirs at every level. His background includes degrees in Music Education from Ithaca College and Northwest Missouri State University, combined with performance experience as a tenor, musical theatre director, and member of the North Carolina Master Chorale Chamber Choir since 1992.
Why we love this
Beck's arrangement strips away unnecessary complexity while honoring the profound simplicity that makes this melody endure. The SSA voicing sits naturally for young singers, yet the harmonic integrity never feels compromised; this is sophisticated writing that sounds effortless, making it genuinely rewarding to conduct and hear. At eight pages with straightforward preparation demands, it earns its place on festival programs and spring concerts alike.
What to expect
The melody carries the quiet conviction of a hymn, grounded and honest, while Beck's voicing creates moments of unexpected warmth through its harmonic color. There is an easiness to singing this, yet a gravity to what you are saying; it feels like the arrangement gets out of your way so the text and melody can do their work.
Who it's for
This arrangement serves SSA choirs at middle school through collegiate levels, as well as women's ensembles seeking material with textual depth and accessibility. Directors preparing festival entries or seeking concert programming that feels both substantive and manageable will find this especially useful.
How to get the most out of it
- Let the text breathe by observing the phrase structure carefully; Beck's setting honors the lyrical phrasing, so resist the urge to rush between phrases.
- Balance the outer voices with sensitivity to the alto line, which often carries harmonic color that anchors the fuller sections.
- Consider the dynamic arc across the entire piece rather than treating each system independently; this promotes a through-composed sense of journey rather than a series of unrelated moments.
How to use it
This pairs well in thematic programming around resilience, faith, or endurance, or as a centerpiece for a choral concert section devoted to folk and spiritual traditions. The modest preparation time makes it suitable for mid-season or spring performances when rehearsal schedules are tight, and it reads equally well on festival adjudication sheets alongside more elaborate works.
Skills your students will build
- Phrasing across longer musical lines without artificial breaks
- Blending and balance in three-part writing with clear voice independence
- Understanding how accompaniment supports rather than doubles choral lines
- Expressive interpretation of sacred texts in contemporary harmonic language