The Chorus Room Blues: SoundTrax Digital Audio Download

A composer who understands exactly what a rehearsal room needs will write a piece that works the first time through. Lantz brings his jazz sensibilities and his experience teaching real teenagers into this novelty number, creating something that's genuinely fun to sing without sacrificing musicality or control.

The title tells you exactly what you're getting: a piece steeped in blues and jazz language, with the irreverent humor of a novelty song. It's got swing, attitude, and the kind of melodic catchiness that gets stuck in your singers' heads for weeks after rehearsal ends.

Choirs looking for a contemporary secular piece with real groove, whether for a jazz concert, spring show, or simply to remind students that singing can be playful and swinging. It works for mixed or treble ensembles that have enough vocal maturity to handle jazz phrasing and rhythmic nuance.

• Let the recorded accompaniment set the groove early in rehearsal; students lock onto the pocket much faster when they hear the intended feel rather than trying to construct it from counting.
• Encourage rhythmic independence in the vocal parts. Jazz phrasing often sits slightly behind the beat, but your singers need to know where 'one' is before they explore that flexibility.
• Balance the novelty humor with genuine musical commitment. The piece lands hardest when singers deliver the lyrics with confidence and precision, not winks and nudges.

Drop this into a concert that needs a mood shift, or use it as the finale to a jazz-heavy set where you want to end on something memorable and fun. It's equally at home in a cabaret-style show or as a palette cleanser between heavier choral works.

• Jazz phrasing and rhythmic interpretation (swing feel, syncopation)
• Blues harmonic language and language-based humor in sung text
• Part independence while maintaining ensemble cohesion
• Stylistic flexibility and confidence in contemporary secular repertoire