Hal Leonard and Sheet Music Direct Assist Stay at Home Choir
Innovative Website Helps Singers Remain Connected During Social Distancing Requirements
MILWAUKEE-MARCH 30, 2020-Hal Leonard, the world's largest publisher of music performance and instructional materials, and Sheet Music Direct, their digital sheet music website, have teamed up to help StayAtHomeChoir.com connect with singers around the world during these days when mandatory social distancing are keeping choirs apart.
Stay At Home Choir is an online platform set up just 2 weeks ago by Tori Longdon and Jamie Wright to keep musical communities connected at a time when choirs and orchestras can't meet to rehearse. They ask their virtual choir members to vote on what piece they'd like to perform and then supply them with a digital choral score and guide audio for individual rehearsal. Members then videotape themselves singing their part, submit their videos to StayAtHomeChoir.com, and the Stay At Home Choir crew compiles them into one massive choral performance.
Sheet Music Direct has volunteered to host all the digital content, so anyone joining the virtual choir can obtain their part free of charge. Using the Hal Leonard MyLibrary portal, singers enter a code that takes them to a landing page where they can hear the guide vocal recording and see the sheet music specific to their voice part. The guide vocal recording is powered by Hal Leonard's proprietary Playback+ technology, which allows the audio to be customized for rehearsal including playback speed control, looping, and more.
The choir had over 1000 registrations in the first 2 days, now with several thousand members worldwide, and expects to post the first performance the week of March 30th. A second song, "And So It Goes" arranged by The King's Singers, is expected to start production soon after.
"We are happy to be able to share our technology with singers at this challenging time," said Chris Koszuta, general manager of Sheet Music Direct. "We know a lot of choirs have had to cancel their rehearsals and concerts and were anxious to sing together again. We applaud the Stay At Home Choir team for working so quickly to come up with a fun and easy way to make it happen."
Interested singers can visit www.stayathomechoir.com to learn more.