How to Write a Choir Song

Learn about chord structure, chord progressions and harmony, and know how to place a chord appropriately in a musical sentence (one website is 8notes.com[[1]]). A great way is to discover choral music and playing or analyzing the sheet music. Also, know the range of the voice parts you want to use. A guideline is

Sopranos: middle C to An octave and a sixth above

Altos: G below middle C to D a ninth above middle C

Tenors: C an octave below middle C to G a fifth above middle C

Basses: G an octave and four notes below middle C to middle C

Decide if you are writing a song with accompaniment (piano, chamber ensemble, orchestra) or without (a cappella). Know how to write for the accompaniment also.

Decide on the voices that will be in your song. This step is critical because the voice setting determines how the chords are spaced and voiced, and because the voice setting sets the pitch range in which your melodies can exist. The most common arrangements are Soprano 1, Soprano 2, Alto (SSA) and Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass (SATB) but many other voice arrangements are used (TTBB, SSAATTBB etc.) or could be invented

Now you're ready to start writing! You could start any way you want. However, a base rule would be to get know your lyrics first. This way you can plan a pleasing structure and "paint" the words and sentences (e.g. tense chords on painful words, musical crescendos for emotional crescendos, or vice versa!). The following steps are merely exemplary:

Write a short five or six bar melody (keep it simple) and decide which voice part will sing it.

Next determine what chords will be placed where in the harmony voices. Experiment, look at progressions in popular songs or classical pieces or use Roman numerals (most commonly used chords in the major key are I, IV, V. In the minor key i, iv, v, V.) like they use in music theory.

Now build the harmony in the other voices. Possibly using the Roman numeral chord symbols you placed earlier. Block chords are most commonly in this setting because of the sound character of the sung melodies.

Repeat the previous three steps until you have a substantial piece of music.

If you're writing music with a piano accompaniment, try thinking of a fresh approach: florid and free or static, rhythmically following the choir or not, or call-response style. Combine and try whatever you think works. Take another look at successful pieces if your inspiration dries out. You could even use the Roman numeral chords symbols in the melody line to determine the chords that will be used in the accompaniment. Then write the piano accompaniment using moving chords and block chords freely to compliment the choir's melody.

Now its time to put the lyrics under the notes. The lyrics can be prepared beforehand or be made to fit existing music. You could choose to put one syllable per note, one syllable for a lot of notes or even a lot of syllable on one note, letting the singers pronounce them freely, to create a mesmerizing whisper effect (take a look at music by Eric Whitacre for effective use of effects. Remember: less is more).