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I Want to Be Ready: SSAB Choral Octavo

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I Want to Be Ready Cover Image
I Want to Be Ready: SSAB Choral Octavo

I Want to Be Ready: SSAB Choral Octavo

Traditional Spiritual / arr. David Lantz III

Item: 00-23943
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Description
Showcase your most soulful singer throughout this unique arrangement for mixed or men's choruses. Strong sectional writing often contrasts the upper and lower voices and alternates the soloist with the choir. An uplifting, can't-stand-still spiritual!

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Additional Details
Series: Alfred Choral Designs
Publisher: Alfred Music
Page Count: 12
UPC: 038081260518
SKU: 00-23943

More about this title

About the Arranger: David Lantz III

David Lantz III brings classroom experience and compositional depth to every arrangement he creates. A full-time vocal music educator in Pennsylvania, he has built a catalog of roughly 500 published works across sacred and secular idioms, collaborating with major U.S. publishers. His versatility extends beyond composition into music editing, engraving, and active work as a church choir director and performing bassist/vocalist in contemporary settings.

Lantz's creative partnership with his wife, composer Marti Lunn Lantz, and his role raising five musical children inform his understanding of what singers need. His dual life as both classroom teacher and prolific composer means his arrangements solve real rehearsal challenges while maintaining artistic integrity.

Why we love this

This arrangement captures what makes spirituals endure in the choral canon: call-and-response energy, sectional contrast that keeps every voice engaged, and a natural vehicle for your strongest soloist without relegating anyone else to accompaniment duty. In a sea of generic spiritual arrangements, Lantz's alternating solo-choir structure and deliberate voice leading create genuine musical conversation rather than a static backdrop.

What to expect

Uplifting and kinetic, with the kind of infectious energy that makes audiences want to move with the music. The back-and-forth between soloist and choir creates narrative momentum; this isn't a contemplative spiritual but one that radiates conviction and forward drive.

Who it's for

Directors working with mixed or men's choruses who need a spiritual arrangement that showcases a strong soloist while keeping the full ensemble actively singing. This works equally well in concert settings, church services, or mixed-ensemble competitions where authenticity and musicality matter more than crowd-pleasing spectacle.

How to get the most out of it

  • Let the sectional contrasts breathe. The tension between upper and lower voices should feel intentional, not accidental; resist the urge to blend uniformly throughout.
  • Prepare your soloist with clear narrative arc expectations. This isn't a showcase moment that stops the choir's forward motion; it's integrated into the piece's momentum.
  • Use the recorded accompaniment in rehearsals to lock in sectional entries and to model the spiritual's inherent swing and lift.
  • Balance transparency with warmth in the accompaniment; let listeners hear the interplay between soloist and ensemble.

How to use it

Place it mid-program where you need a tonal shift and audience engagement without losing musical substance. The piece works as a powerful closer as well, especially if you're programming a thematic set around faith, resilience, or African American musical traditions.

Skills your students will build

  • Singing with proper spiritual phrasing and rhythmic flexibility (swing, syncopation)
  • Blending sectional lines while maintaining independent voice movement
  • Supporting and responding to a featured soloist without overshadowing
  • Reading part relationships that shift between homophonic and contrapuntal writing

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