This website is provided and maintained by me, Sheila Crossey. Please feel free to come and chat with me at rehearsals about any of this – you'll find me in the second alto section. Or you can send me email via the TCS website - go to the members page, send mail to the members address, and it will get automatically forwarded to me.
This is a resource for TCS members who like, or think they might like, to learn music by singing with their computers. The way it works is that you sing looking at your usual hardcopy score, with your computer acting as a very obedient accompanist responding to your whims and instructions. To get the full benefit, you need two things: a midi file for the particular piece of music you are rehearsing, and the right sort of software midi player to play it.
Midi files are a synthetic digital form of the music and are available free on the internet for a wide variety of choral classical music. See below for links to the music we're performing this season. If you simply click (left-click) on a link to a midi file, your browser will launch a streaming media player, and you will hear the music. The player will display a few buttons giving you only minimal control over the playback of the music (pause, fast forward, rewind, etc.).
With some extra effort, you can gain more control over the playback: e.g. adjust the volume of each part independently, change the speed (without affecting the pitch), and select which bar to start on. To do this, you will need to install a more fully-featured midi player and download (right-click) the midi files to your hard drive so that you can open them in the midi player. Luckily, a number of excellent midi players with the right features for rehearsing are available for free – my favourite is Melody Assistant. To learn how to install and use it, read Midi hints. Note that once you've installed such a midi player, to use it you'll have to download the midi file (right-click) and save it to your local hard drive first, and then launch your midi player (e.g. Melody Assistant) and open the file. How to do this is explained in Midi hints.
You can see the midi websites from previous TCS seasons at Past Seasons. Note that some of the links to the midi music don't work anymore. Regardless, you can enjoy a stroll down memory lane revelling in our glorious past.
This year, everything we're doing is available at John's Midi File Choral Music Site. Click on the link to the Major Works and Anthems composer list to find a list of composers with links to the midis, usually with full orchestral accompaniment. I've also provided links to each piece below.
John's Midi File Choral Music Site - Messiah Voices with orchestra.
John's Midi File Choral Music Site - Mozart Requiem Voices with orchestra.
John's Midi File Choral Music Site - Beethoven Mass in C Voices with orchestra.