How To Live Each Day: 2-Part Choral Octavo

Mark Hayes writes for young singers with the same care and harmonic sophistication he brings to adult choirs. This piece pairs a spiritually grounded text with music that feels both accessible and genuinely moving, giving your singers something worthwhile to perform rather than something merely age-appropriate.

The music carries warmth and sincerity, matching a text about purposeful living with melodies that feel both contemporary and grounded in choral tradition. Young singers will recognize the optimism in Hayes' harmonic language, and audiences will hear authenticity rather than generic inspiration.

This octavo works beautifully for elementary and middle school choirs seeking repertoire that speaks to character and daily living without condescension. It also serves festival and sacred music programs looking for a piece that challenges singers musically while remaining performance-ready in a reasonable rehearsal timeline.

• Shape the phrasing around the text's meaning rather than the note values; let the message breathe between phrases so young voices stay engaged with the words.
• Balance the two parts carefully so neither voice gets lost, especially in unison passages that bookend most simple structures.
• Invest rehearsal time in diction and vowel unification before perfecting the melody; clarity of text will elevate the entire performance.

Pair this with other Hayes works in a choral showcase to demonstrate his range with younger voices, or open a spring concert with it as a statement about what your program values. Its eight pages make it an ideal anchor piece when you're building a liturgical or assembly service around themes of faith and intention.

• Part independence in a 2-part texture
• Singing through text with musical clarity and expression
• Reading and performing in a straightforward harmonic framework
• Sustaining line through longer phrases on single vowels