Looking for free 4-part vocal music...

[perfect_pitch]

Okay... hear me out, I don't often ask for free music but I'm looking for 4-part choral type music to use for my students who need to work on voicing properly (I like to get them to try and voice the Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Bass lines at random).

I used to use the Bach Chorale Harmonisations:
https://imslp.org/wiki/Special:ImagefromIndex/318117/nhjn

...but a lot of them have 10ths and 12ths in the LH or RH, so I need something that doesn't really go past octaves in either hand. Anyone have any good ideas??? It still needs to be written on the piano staves, not the 4-stave SATB lines.

[perfect_pitch]

Seriously... no one has any good free scores I can use - even if it's just a couple of pages?

[j_tour]

No, but there are open scores written out in the G and F clefs alone for all of the Bach WTC I&II, i.e., none of the C clef.

What's wrong with those?  There are the "lyrics" to the fugues by ... it wasn't Donald Tovey, but somebody else of less stature.  Or, good old solfège syllables, I guess.

Yeah, I can give links, but it should be much quicker to find using Bing's search engine.

I think the ones I'm thinking of have MuseScore mscz or whatever files, so it's trivial to swap staves or do whatever.

I think most of Bach's keyboard music has been done in open score, in just the G and F clefs.

FWIW, I wouldn't subject a bad enemy to the C clef:  it's easy enough to see the logic of it when reading, but it's not IMHO a useful skill to have, much less to torment a student over.

Here's an upload of WTCI in open score, G and F clefs only. 

There are the infamous "words" set to the fugues of all of the 48, but that's as good as I can do.  Yes, I just uploaded the zip file to the first free file hosting site I could find:  it looks dodgy as hell.  But I can't do a ZIP file upload directly to PS, so, whatever.

EDIT:  on review, I see you *do not* want an open score, but a very restricted tessitura of each voice, written in close form.
 
I don't know.  The first fugue from Bach's Ars fuga?  I remember it as rather compact, and I believe it's in four voices.  At any rate, one of the first five or so from the same would be fine.  I don't know the best edition:  I just use a kind of amalgamation of a bunch of different editions.  Very messy work.

FWIW when I was a single digit child, my first exposure to working with voicing from within one hand were from some very simple Scriabin préludes, but I don't recall which.  As you know, there are some very simple préludes indeed in there that don't require much reach at the keyboard, but rather a good bit of nuance.

[perfect_pitch]

Yes... I am NOT after an open score. The Bach Ars Fuga on IMSLP again seem to be notated in single line SATB which isn't the easiest to read. Hard for me, but impossible for my piano students.

I'm basically just after a simple page of something, even if it's just literally one page. I don't even have any Hymn books - they were handy in the past.

[j_tour]

I'm basically just after a simple page of something, even if it's just literally one page. I don't even have any Hymn books - they were handy in the past.

I think I follow.  Yeah, I actually have some hymnals in SATB on the grand staff on a shelf, but I still am not sure if you want your students to play those off the page.  IIRC most of them are fairly close in voicings:  nowhere near a tenth between two simultaneous voices. 

Just for fun, here are a few of old standards I found online.

"Precious Lord" (this is not a SATB voicing, just a "piano" lead sheet that is very dumbed-down...but it's a good tune and I think most people do it in Ab or Db.  Very good recording by Hank Crawford on alto sax and Mac Rebennack on piano and Hammond organ.  I think they do it in Ab, but I've accompanied at least one singer who wanted Db.  Doesn't matter.  Just the I-->V7+5 is really the main "hook" of the tune.

Another one I randomly found a basic sketch of, which is about identical to the ones in my hymnals, "How Great Thou Art":  good tune. 

Those look like tenths in the LH, but you can obviously see this arrangement doesn't need anything beyond an octave.  The RH has to cover some of the alto parts, or not if the pupil's stretch is enough in the LH.  It doesn't matter.

It's also a good structural framework for improvisation, and in an easy and common key, namely, Bb.



I don't really get what you're looking for, so perhaps someone else will add some better curated scans or commentary.

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Here's another good tune. 

Keep in mind, while I know how to navigate these things by ear, just as part of a musical tradition, I don't know very much about the significance of these tunes, or how they fit into some broader context.

As far as I'm concerned, these are just a few examples of good tunes, with the advantage of normally having been played in the flat/horn keys, and very convenient for the keyboard instruments.

[perfect_pitch]

Thanks J_Tour... knew I could count on you, despite my continuous winnings on our 'other' thread.

These will help nicely. It's mainly about getting my student to focus on the bringing out of different voices, and these are nice and easy to read. I appreciate it.

[billym]

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/music/library/hymns?lang=eng

My church (LDS church) has 341 hymns... I use them for religious purposes but also to work on voicing and sight reading as well. You can browse through them on this link and there are plenty you will find useful. Hope that helps as well!

[perfect_pitch]

Hey Billy...

Thank you so much as well - that will be very useful. I've got it bookmarked and I'm looking through the scores now.