Oh, Sinner! Cover Image

Oh, Sinner!: 2-Part Choral Octavo

$1.65 USD
$1.65 USD
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Oh, Sinner! Cover Image
Oh, Sinner!: 2-Part Choral Octavo

Oh, Sinner!: 2-Part Choral Octavo

Music by Jay Althouse

Item: 00-23421
$1.65
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Description
A soul-styled original with a funky choral groove, bluesy modal melody, and several dig-in solos for your most stylized singers. Jay's mysterious opening builds to an intense verse, repeats with greater emphasis, and finally brings it on home as the voices slide down from one inversion to the next, accompanied by a descending piano motive. (Sure to make even your biggest transgressors repent!) Awesome SoundTrax and Pax. SoundPax includes parts for a. sax., t. sax., tpt., tbn., rhy.

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Additional Details
Series: Alfred Choral Designs
Publisher: Alfred Music
Page Count: 12
UPC: 038081237466
SKU: 00-23421

More about this title

About the Composer: Jay Althouse

Jay Althouse

Jay Althouse holds degrees in Music Education and Music from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he received the Distinguished Alumni award. His composition portfolio includes over 800 choral works performed across the English-speaking world, and he has served on the Executive Board of the Music Publishers Association of America. He is a writer member of ASCAP and a regular recipient of the ASCAP Special Award.

Beyond composition, Althouse has collaborated extensively with his wife Sally K. Albrecht on children's musicals and contributed significantly to choral pedagogy through books like The Complete Choral Warm-up Book and Accent on Composers. He compiled and arranged the well-regarded Folk Songs for Solo Singers and has authored classroom resources including Ready to Read Music and One-Page Composer Bios. His choral work I Hear America Singing, co-written with Albrecht, was performed by the San Francisco Girls and Boys Choirs at President Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009.

Why we love this

Althouse brings genuine soul and swagger to sacred choral writing. The funky, bluesy modal approach keeps 2-part singers engaged with contemporary stylistic vocabulary without sacrificing the spiritual weight of the text, and those featured solos give your strongest singers moments to shine with real character.

What to expect

This piece opens with mystery and restraint before unleashing a groove that's part gospel, part contemporary soul, all conviction. The modal melody and funky harmonic palette create a lush, introspective sound that builds to something urgent and almost confrontational by the final descent.

Who it's for

Directors programming contemporary sacred music for developing 2-part choirs who want repertoire with genuine style and edge. The featured solos work best with singers comfortable taking interpretive risks and committing to the bluesy, soul-inflected aesthetic.

How to get the most out of it

  • Balance the rhythm section carefully so the descending piano motive stays visible beneath the harmonic shifts. The accompaniment is as much a melodic voice as the choir.
  • Let the soloists spend time personalizing their phrasing; this style demands swagger and conviction rather than technical perfection.
  • Build dynamics gradually through the repeated verse. Althouse structures the repeat to intensify, so resist the urge to start at full volume.
  • Mark the vocal slide passages in rehearsal to ensure singers are deliberate about the inversions. That motion down should feel purposeful, not accidental.

How to use it

Position this after a quieter opening number to introduce tonal variety and contemporary energy to a service or concert. It works equally well as an opener if you want to set a bold, modern tone for the entire program.

Skills your students will build

  • Singing in modal minor tonalities with confidence and accurate intonation
  • Executing smooth voice leading through harmonic inversions
  • Interpreting bluesy, syncopated phrasing with stylistic authenticity
  • Building and sustaining intensity through repetition and dynamic layering
  • Performing solo passages with personality and conviction in a non-classical style

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