Ye Shall Have a Song: SSA Choral Octavo
Music by Sherri Porterfield
Item: 00-PO-0004340
$2.25
Minimum order quantity: 20 copies
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Description
A vibrant, driving rhythmic concert work with full vocal writing throughout featuring powerful dynamic changes. Great for general or seasonal concerts, festivals, and contests, especially as a concert opener or closer. Could be your concert "theme." A proven choral winner from Sherri Porterfield in SATB and 3-part mixed, newly arranged for SSA choirs.
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Additional Details
Series:
Alfred Archive Edition: Alfred Choral Designs
Publisher:
Alfred Music
Page Count:
12
SKU:
00-PO-0004340
More about this title
About the Composer: Sherri Porterfield
Sherri Porterfield directs choirs at Cedar Park Middle School in Cedar Park, Texas, and has held teaching positions across Missouri and Kansas. Her competitive choirs have earned numerous first-place and sweepstakes awards and performed at state music educators conventions. She has also served as an adjunct assistant professor of music education at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music.
With over 175 choral compositions published through Alfred Music and other major publishers, Porterfield has maintained an active compositional presence since earning ASCAP awards annually since 1997. A graduate of the University of Memphis (B.S.E. in music education) and the University of Missouri-Kansas City (Master of Music in choral conducting), she has worked as a clinician and guest conductor with honor choirs across the country. Porterfield has been recognized multiple times by Who's Who Among America's Teachers and was named Teacher of the Year at Frontier Trail Junior High in Olathe, Kansas, in 1999.
Why we love this
Porterfield has a proven track record with this piece across multiple voicing options, which means the musical architecture is genuinely strong. The driving rhythmic energy and dramatic dynamic shifts give your SSA choir a contemporary concert work that feels substantial without requiring a large ensemble, and it works equally well as a powerful opener or a memorable finale.
What to expect
The piece pulses with rhythmic vitality and contemporary harmonic language, punctuated by moments of dramatic softness that create real emotional contrast. Singers will feel the drive propelling them forward, then experience the vulnerability of the quieter passages, giving the work both presence and depth.
Who it's for
This arrangement serves SSA and SSAA choirs at the middle school through early high school level who want a concert piece with serious musicality and professional energy. Choirs preparing for festivals, competitions, or concert series will find a work that sounds polished and contemporary while remaining accessible to developing singers.
How to get the most out of it
- Anchor the rhythmic drive by keeping your pulse section locked together; this piece relies on momentum, so any hesitation in the rhythm section pulls the energy down.
- Shape the dynamic changes decisively. Porterfield's contrasts are the heart of the arrangement, so commit fully to the softer moments and let the full voice shine during the powerful sections.
- Balance the full vocal writing carefully so no single line gets buried. With SSA voicing, every part carries melodic responsibility, especially in passages where the lines move independently.
- Work the text with intentionality. The title 'Ye Shall Have a Song' carries emotional weight, and your singers should understand and convey its meaning through phrasing and dynamics rather than just hitting the notes.
How to use it
Program this as a concert opener to establish energy immediately, or use it as a closer to leave your audience with momentum and power. The work also serves well in a thematic concert structure, where its confident message anchors a set of related pieces.
Skills your students will build
- Dynamic control across sustained contrasts (soft to loud and back)
- Rhythmic precision in a driving contemporary style
- Independent voice leading in three-part harmony
- Phrasing and text expression in a concert context