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sight-reading and improvisation
David McCarthy 255 Varinna Drive Rochester, NY 14618 david@ davidmccarthymusic.com |
David McCarthyHere is where you can look at, listen to, and purchase church music that I've written, either for my own church in Penfield, New York, or for commission. It is being updated every month as I put scores online - please check back, as I have a lot of music to get through! If, after looking at the pieces, you would like to order something, please email me the titles, along with the name, email address, and real-world address of the purchasing church or other institution. I will then email pdf's of the works, with an invoice and license granting unlimited copies for the purchaser. For only $5-$10 per piece (with unlimited photocopying!), even factoring in the time slaving over the office's copier, it's a great way to stretch your church's budget.
The MIDI files are meant to help your choir practice at home, which should save some rehearsal time. Some MIDI readers (such as Anvil Studios, a free download) allow the user to adjust the volume, or change the sound, of individual tracks, emphasizing the one they're practicing.
I also have a choir-and-bells piece published by Paraclete Press, which you can see and hear here, and organ works published by Augsburg Fortress, in their Organ Library collection, and a dozen small pieces in in Volumes 3 and 4 of their "Introductions and Alternative Accompaniments for Organ" series (forthcoming). Please feel free to contact me about commissions. I'm always happy to write for special occasions, and it's not as expensive as some custom-made art (from $500 to around $2000 for an anthem, depending on the performing forces and length).
If you like the idea of downloading choral music, this site, run by The Festival Singers in New Zealand, has a nice links list.
Most Recent Addition:Come Away To The Skies - Two-part mixed, violin, and keyboard - added May 2008
A setting of the traditional American folk hymn Middlebury. A catchy violin tune plays between verses, then accompanies the choir, leading to a big finish. Easter/Ascension/General. $5. (score sample in pdf, practice midi file) Works Available OnlineSATBHow Lovely Is Your House - SATB and organ - Bestseller!
This piece (a setting of the 84th Psalm) was a commission from Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland for their 90th anniversary. General/Building Dedication. $10. (score sample in pdf, practice midi file) Wayfaring Stranger - SATB and organ A setting of the Sacred Harp hymn, with the text (to a new tune) of "Traveller, Haste." Lent/General. $10. (score sample in pdf, practice midi file) Two-Part MixedThese are all based on well-known hymns, and work well when your choir is missing a few people or needs something quick. At my church, the second Sunday of each month we have the "Second Sunday Singers," who learn the anthem a half-hour before church (this is so people who can't commit to weekly rehearsals can still sing with the choir sometimes), and these pieces were written for them.
Adoro te devote - Soprano or C-instrument solo, two-part mixed, and piano A busy two-part texture (in English), with a pop-style piano accompaniment, is joined by a soprano or C instrument in half notes on the chant tune. Communion/General. $5. (score sample in pdf, practice midi file) Come Away To The Skies - Two-part mixed, violin, and keyboard - added May 2008
A setting of the traditional American folk hymn Middlebury. A catchy violin tune plays between verses, then accompanies the choir, leading to a big finish. Easter/Ascension/General. $5. (score sample in pdf, practice midi file) How Firm A Foundation - Two-part mixed and piano/organ A progressively more elaborate ritornello separates the three verses. The final verse has the tune in canon with an inverted version of itself. General. $5. (score sample in pdf, practice midi file) Take My Life - Two-part mixed, C instrument, and piano/organ The instrumental part at first alternates with the singers, then joins in with a descant on the final "amen." General. $5. (score sample in pdf, practice midi file) What Star Is This? - Two-part mixed and piano/organ - added January 2008 The piece builds through three verses on the tune Puer nobis, and while the men sing the fourth verse, the women join in with the hymn "How bright appears the morning star" (Wie schoen leuchtet der Morgenstern). Both parts sing the conclusion of that hymn in a rousing fortissimo. Epiphany/Christmas. $5. (score sample in pdf, practice midi file) | |
A medley of the tunes Salzburg, Victory, and Easter Hymn. AGEHR Level 2. Easter/General. $5. (score sample in pdf, practice midi file)
A setting of the traditional spiritual Sojourner, in a bluesy gospel style. There is some chromatic bell-switching involved, but nothing impossible! AGEHR Level 2+. Lent/General. $10. (score sample in pdf, practice midi file)