Gathering Rounds, Volume 1, for intermediate to advanced singers (plus a few for beginners!), is a vibrant, engaging collection offering a round or canon for each week of the year featuring poetry and prose by women – some famous, some infamous, some longtime favorites, some newly discovered, all captivating – set to original music by Stacey Philipps.
 
Bound in a handy 6" x 9" spiral-bound book, these rounds and canons are welcoming, encouraging, flexible, musically and textually meaningful miniatures to enjoy with anywhere from a few people around a campfire to a large choir in a traditional performance space. Each song is enriched with brief program notes and an introductory biography of the poet or writer.
 
Gathering Rounds are great for choral warmups, icebreakers, sight-reading, processionals, recessionals, transitions, encores, sing-alongs, and just for fun. Written for two to six voices or groups for a WIDE variety of skill levels, ranges, and keys, some Gathering Rounds are easy enough for children and beginning singers, some are challenging for expert choristers, and most are in between. Each round is rated according to GIA Music's Difficulty Level Criteria from Teaching Music through Performance in Choir.
 
In the Portland-Metro area? Free delivery! Out of the USA? Please get in touch for shipping rates. Can't wait for the book? Want to catch a glimpse of what's inside? All twelve of the FREE Gathering Rounds that have been going out every month during this project are available both as individual downloads (see links below) or as a complete set here. Feel free to copy, share, distribute, and perform these twelve free rounds under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
 
A portion of the proceeds from this collection will benefit the Institute for Composer Diversity. Find out about the resources available through this excellent organization at www.composerdiversity.com.

Song list (52):
New Year (free download here)
Ephemeral
Dawn
Daylight and Dark
Boughs Against the Sky
Love is a Rainbow (free download here)
A Single Charm
February Twilight
Crocuses
Daffodils
In the Rain (free download here)
Winter Being Over
Coming of the Spring
Spring Song (free download here)
The Dew Upon
Blooming Spring
Lilacs
Sweet May (free download here)
Memory
Dandelions
What am I
Clover and Bee
June Night
Summer Day
Sunset
A Bee (free download here)
Hold Up a Torch
Light of Truth
Oread
Under the Tree (free download here)
Pure and Strong
In
Summer Night (free download here)
On the Lawn
Have Courage (free download here)
Waiting
Change
Whistle Wind
Chimes/Swifts
Much and Little
Autumn Song
The Pond
The Grunchin' Witch (free download here)
November Night
Fringed with Silver
Thanksgiving Menu (free download here)
Gratitude
Little Rain Song
A December Day
Winter Transformation
When Christmas Comes (free download here)
Velvet Shoes