I Want to Be Ready Cover Image

I Want to Be Ready: TTBB Choral Octavo

$1.65 USD
$1.65 USD
Skip to product information
I Want to Be Ready Cover Image
I Want to Be Ready: TTBB Choral Octavo

I Want to Be Ready: TTBB Choral Octavo

Traditional Spiritual / arr. David Lantz III

Item: 00-23944
makemusic Cloud badge

Need it now?

Buy Digital Version
$1.65
Shipped

One moment…

Related Items

I Want to Be Ready: SoundTrax Digital Audio Download

$22.95
View

I Want to Be Ready: SSAB Choral Octavo

$1.65
View

I Want to Be Ready: TTBB Choral Octavo

$1.65
View
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!

Don't just read it, hear it, play along with it, and watch your students grow with it. In MakeMusic Cloud, I Want to Be Ready: TTBB Choral Octavo comes alive with professional accompaniment, adjustable tempo, and built-in practice tools that turn solo practice into real progress.

Open in the Player

Jump straight in and assign it today.

Start Your Free Trial

Open this title and explore the full library in minutes.
Sample Pages

Sample Audio
0:00
0:00
Sample Video
No sample videos found.
Additional Details
Series: Alfred Choral Designs
Publisher: Alfred Music
Page Count: 12
UPC: 038081260525
SKU: 00-23944

More about this title

About the Arranger: David Lantz III

David Lantz III

David Lantz III brings decades of experience as both educator and composer to his arrangements. A full-time vocal music teacher in Pennsylvania's public school system, he has published approximately 500 compositions across sacred and secular choral repertoire with major American publishers, alongside works for orchestra, symphonic band, jazz ensemble, and chamber groups. His background as a church choir director, accomplished engraver, and performing bassist/vocalist in popular and jazz settings informs his distinctive choral writing.

Lantz resides in northeastern Pennsylvania with his wife, composer Marti Lunn Lantz, and their five musical children. His dual role as educator and prolific composer means his arrangements are built from classroom experience and a deep understanding of what makes choral music both singable and spiritually resonant.

Why we love this

Lantz has crafted an arrangement that treats your ensemble like a small chamber group rather than a massed chorus, using strategic sectional divisions to build drama and highlight solo voices without sacrificing the spiritual weight of the text. The interplay between upper and lower voices creates natural phrasing and keeps singers engaged throughout, while the built-in opportunities for a featured vocalist transform what could be a congregational spiritual into something genuinely theatrical.

What to expect

The arrangement pulses with an irresistible, grounded energy that sits somewhere between reverence and joy. Lantz's writing respects the spiritual's deep roots while the sectional interplay and solo opportunities give it a forward momentum that makes audiences lean in; you can feel the conviction in every voice part.

Who it's for

Directors of men's choruses and mixed ensembles seeking spirituals with real harmonic substance and room for a strong soloist. This works equally well in concert settings, festival programming, or worship contexts where you want the spiritual tradition honored but arranged with contemporary sophistication.

How to get the most out of it

  • Shape the sectional contrasts with dynamic clarity; when upper voices drop out to feature lower voices (or vice versa), let the texture change breathe rather than pushing harder to maintain volume.
  • Balance the solo passages against full choir sections by having the soloist sing from within the ensemble rather than stepping forward, maintaining ensemble cohesion while the voice naturally projects.
  • Work the rhythmic life of the spiritual through clear diction and purposeful syllable weight; this arrangement's power comes from rhythmic vitality, not rushing.

How to use it

Program this as the emotional centerpiece of a concert devoted to American choral traditions, or pair it with instrumental pieces that share its spiritual intensity. The length and versatility of voicing (TB/TTB/TBB/TTBB options) also make it valuable for concert finales where you want something uplifting that showcases vocal depth rather than just volume.

Skills your students will build

  • Balancing solo lines against harmonic texture without losing blend
  • Sectional independence (holding parts while other sections rest or feature differently)
  • Rhythmic precision in spiritual idiom with syncopation and call-and-response phrasing
  • Dramatic contrast and dynamic control across sectional writing

You May Also Like