We're here to help
We hope that you’ll find the answers you need on this page. We’ve included a Frequently Asked Questions section below which covers common issues. If you still can’t find the answer you’re looking for, you can use the contact form to get in touch with us.
FAQ
How does it all work?
We set up ChoirGuides for both singers and choir directors. Our model allows anyone to be a customer. Whether you’re singing on your own, a member of a choir or even the director of a choir: everybody is catered for.
To keep things simple, you just create one account when you register. Once you’re signed up, you can:
- Buy music for personal use from our shop.
- Join choirs by accepting invitations you’ve been sent.
- Create a choir of your own and invite people to join
- Buy music for your choir from our shop.
What about choirs?
Anybody can create a choir. Once you’ve created a choir you can invite people to join. If you’ve been invited to join a choir, you can accept under the ‘invitations’ section in your Choir menu.
How do I join a choir?
Ask the choir director to invite you. You’ll receive an invitation which you can accept to join.
Can I be a member of more than one choir?
Yes. Just accept the invitations and both choirs will appear in your Choirs menu.
Can I be a member of a choir and be the director of a choir?
Yes. You can be a member of as many choirs as you like and you can create as many choirs as you like too. If you’ve created a choir (i.e. you’re the choir director) then you are automatically a member of that choir.
Can I use music across several choirs?
No - for the time being. Any music you’ve purchased for a choir is locked to that choir. We may expand this functionality in the future.
Are there any minimum number of copies restrictions?
No. You can purchase a single copy of the sheet music of any title, or multiple copies for your choir, up to the number of audio Guides you have purchased.
Can I use ChoirGuides on multiple devices?
Yes. You can log in simultaneously on 2 devices for personal use.
Is it a subscription?
No - it’s a purchase model. Whatever you buy is yours, for you to use as much as you like, forever.
What do I get when I make a purchase?
You get lifelong, unlimited access to the Guide that you’ve purchased. Access is via the ChoirGuides website (in browser) and titles are not available for download.
If you’ve purchased an audio accompaniment track as a separate bolt-on, you may download the WAV file.
If you have purchased sheet music, we will mail it out to you anywhere in the world.
Is it free?
If you’re a member of a choir and music has been assigned to you, then yes!
If you want to purchase music, either for personal use or for a choir that you direct, then music is purchased from the Shop.
How is it all organised / How do I find my music?
To make keeping track of everything simple, we use “Libraries” (in the top menu bar).
- My Library : music you've purchased for personal use.
- Choir Library : music for your choir.
If you purchase music for yourself, it’ll appear in My Library.
If you purchase music for your choir, it’s just like how it works in real life. Imagine you’re a choir librarian: you just purchase as many copies as there are members in your choir for any piece you’d like to perform. Once you’ve bought those copies, you assign them to the members in your choir.
If the lineup of your choir changes and you need more copies then you just buy the extra number of copies you need. If one of your choir members leaves the choir, you still own the copy and you can assign it to a new member whenever you like.
You can manage all of this from your Choir Dashboard, where you can assign copies of works.
Our purchases are for life : there are no subscription fees, no hidden extras. Once you’ve bought something, it’s yours.
Do I need to have an account to use ChoirGuides?
Yes. An account is required but it’s free and only takes a couple of minutes to set up.
Can I join without being part of a choir?
Absolutely, you can just sign up as an individual and purchase Guides for your personal use.
How much does it cost?
Creating an account is free - you just pay for the repertoire you’d like to access.
Each Guide is currently £6.50 per single user. If you purchase the sheet music as well, you get a 25% discount on each associated copy of the audio Guide.
For Choirs, pricing is in multiples, e.g. 5 choir members = £32.50 per single title in our catalogue.
The high-quality audio accompaniment download file for each title is £2.00 (for use when making virtual performances).
What music is available?
We have 33 titles in our catalogue (click here to see the full list). We look forward to adding further Guides to our catalogue soon.
Who has recorded the catalogue?
Each piece has been professionally recorded by handpicked members of the Cambridge Singers, under the direction of John Rutter. Accompaniments have been provided by Richard Pearce (accompanist to the Royal Choral Society) and by Ben Morris (Assistant Organist, York Minster).
How do I buy music or tracks?
In our Shop you can either purchase audio Guides (and sheet music if you require it) for your own use or for a choir. When buying from our Shop, you can select whether you’re purchasing for your own Library or your Choir Library.
How does the player work?
Once you’ve selected a Guide to play, the player will load. The on-screen score is visible and the pages turn automatically. The controls below allow you to move through the timeline, select your voice part, and toggle part highlighting. Additional controls for volume, page-turn timing are also visible.
What is part highlighting?
Part highlighting is a way to hear your voice part more easily. Our player allows you to toggle part highlighting on the fly between 3 modes : full choir, your part highlighted, and accompaniment only. You don’t need to reload the player to switch between the modes, just click each button to switch whenever you like.
Is there visual part highlighting?
Not at present but we’re looking at ways to implement this in the future if there’s a sufficient demand. What we have done is to grey out the accompaniment so the vocal parts are all a bit easier to focus on.
Can I use it on my phone or tablet?
Yes. Just navigate to the site in your preferred browser and use the site as normal.
Can I use it without being connected to the internet?
No, not currently but this may be a feature we implement in the future.
Do I have to download any special software?
No. You can just use any web browser.
Am I allowed to download the audio or the score?
No. You can only access the guide by logging into ChoirGuides and using it inside a browser. The exception is downloading any audio accompaniment tracks that you’ve purchased separately.
Can I print out the score?
No, because of copyright protection this is not permitted. Neither is screenshotting or other methods. However, if you prefer to work with a published paper copy of the music, this can be purchased in the shop.
Contact Support
If you’d like to get in touch, you can use the contact form. Please fill out all of the fields and we aim to respond as soon as we can.
Virtual Recordings
Making a virtual performance or recording of a work can be a daunting process so here are some tips that might help things run smoothly.
Find a skilled editor
Whether just compiling an audio-only or a full video recording, it’s crucial to find an editor who is skilled at working in this manner. Sound editing skills are essential as well as the ability to synchronise contributions. With our platform, we’ve provided both the high-quality Accompaniment Audiofile for the editor’s use (available for purchase) as well as our Recording Helper function, which allows singers to more easily synchronise their own recordings.
Ask your editor what their requirements are for submissions. They may have a need for vertical vs. horizontal video, or indeed, recordings made with a certain background (if green-screening etc). They may also have good tips for making better-sounding recordings in the home without professional equipment.
Organise a good means of collecting contributions
There are several good options for this, Dropbox, Google Drive and WeTransfer are some of the more popular options. Whichever system you opt for, it’s very useful if the platform will keep track of all of the submissions in a unified way, meaning you don’t have to keep a running tally of who has submitted and who hasn’t. Dropbox and Google Drive are better for this and have an advantage over point-to-point transfer systems, such as WeTransfer. If privacy is a concern, there are often controls to maintain good data and privacy hygiene whilst allowing the ease of use for choir directors, editors and singers.
Recording on phones vs laptops or other devices
Phones often have better inbuilt cameras and microphones than laptops or even desktop computers and so should be preferred for recording. Additionally, there are a number of apps both for iOS and Android systems that can make higher-quality use of the inbuilt camera and microphone. It’s worth asking your editor’s advice for their specific needs.
What about conducting?
Our platform uses pre-existing vocal and accompaniment tracks so your singers should have no problem singing along in time with the existing performances. If there’s a strong demand for choir directors to add a video of their own conducting, we may implement that feature.
Where can we find a good editor?
We don’t currently maintain our own list of editors but many freelancers can be found online and it’s worth checking the credits for any performances that you’ve already watched and enjoyed.
Contact us
If you’d like to get in touch, you can use the contact form. Please fill out all of the fields and we aim to respond as soon as we can.