British Choirs on the Net

Music for Hire (or sale) 3 October 2007
City of Glasgow Chorus has 31 as new copies of Haydn's Creation (Novello Pilkington edition) for sale at cost price (plus post & packing). Contact a.s.robertson@ntlworld.com Please note that this edition has quite a few changes from the old Novello edition, so I would not recommend purchasing these if some of your choir members already have the old edition.
Paul Dutton has the following music for sale: 16 brand new copies of Vivaldi Gloria (Ricordi Edition – Casella) - The were £8.00 each but will sell at £5.00 each; 20 copies of Kodaly’s Missa Brevis – They were £12 each but would sell at £8.00 each. For more information email Paul Dutton Paul.Dutton@gatewayschool.co.uk
St Mary’s Church Choir, Swaffham Bulbeck has for sale or hire 34 copies of Haydn’s Creation Mass Hob. XXII:13, Barenreiter Ed. Absolutely clean, (only sung once). For more information please contact George Ballard email gballard@gbg.co.uk
Here's a listing of music available for hire or sale from a particular choir or other resource - let me know if you have such a scheme too, and I'll publicise it here. Music is for hire only unless otherwise stated:
 

Some other choirs also have formal or informal loan schemes - see the entries on the main BCN page for details:

The online Music Exchange Scheme The online Music Exchange Scheme searches for Making Music societies who can lend you specific editions of musical works between dates you specify. It seamlessly integrates with Making Music Repertoire Service, allowing you to locate lending librarians and retrieve a wealth of information that will aid programming and enhance performance. Your first step is to use the search form to locate the work you wish to borrow. You can either specify composer name, work title and publisher. Or you can simply specify composer name and work title to see all available editions of a musical work that are held by our membership. To browse works available for hire by a specific composer, just enter a composer name. If you only enter a work title, you will retrieve a list of editions held by our societies that most closely matching that title. Search results are in the form of summary lists. Click on the "View" tab next to any summary to see that work's full details and how many copies are available for hire. Then specify the number of copies or sets that you wish to borrow and the dates during which you will need them. The online Music Exchange Scheme will then recommend societies from which you can borrow and the number of copies you should request from each. It is specially configured to miminize fragmentation of sets, so please pursue its recommendations.

Having seen the loan recommendation made by the website, you may either pursue the hire or save the details of the loan for a later date. If you choose to pursue the hire, the website:

  1. Provisionally reserves the music on your behalf for fourteen days.
  2. Emails you librarian contact details and a website address to which you must return to either confirm the loan is going ahead or to clear it.

The responsibility then lies with the borrowing society to contact the lending society and confirm the loan. The borrowing society is also responsible for returning to the website to confirm the provisional loan is going ahead or to clear it.

Please note: During the fourteen days that your provisional loan is active, no other society can pursue a hire of the music you have reserved during the dates you have specified. If you do not return to the website to confirm your loan within fourteen days, it will "expire" and the music will appear available to other societies. Please save other librarians time and effort by confirming or clearing your provisional loans within fourteen days. However, should you experience genuine difficulty making contact with a lending librarian in this time period, please email us to request an extension. The online Music Exchange Scheme is a work in progress. So if you notice errors or omissions pertaining to your society holdings or specific works in the database, please email us using the link on the relevant page. For more information visit http://www.nfms.org.uk/mm/members/music_exchange_intro.shtml
www.pacificcoast.net/~dacapo/ is a Canadian web site for used choral music that is listed for sale on a website. Below are links to four music listings.
Wimborne Choral Society have 100 copies of Karl Jenkins 'The Armed Man'  (Complete vocal score, not just the Mass) for hire at £2.00 per copy. Contact me at the above email address or on 01202 848250
The Leeds Festival Chorus, W. Yorkshire have a library of some 180 choral music titles with collections from 25 to 250 copies. In addition to the usual repertoire there are also Leeds Triennial Musical Festival commissions dating back to Victorian times. Contemporary works include music by Tippett, Michael Berkeley, David Blake and Dominic Muldowney.
Lichfield Cathedral Special Choir, Staffordshire has a large library of music to hire out to choral societies. Librarian for contacts is: Miss H Pashby,  24 Alpine Drive, Hednesford, Staffs WS12 5NL. Tel 01543 423605
Hello. I am maintaining a sheet music site here in Manila, Philippines and would like to reach British choirs for their availability of World Music that is available at our site. We have a varied range of repertoire from solo instrument/vocal pieces, choral pieces, band and orchestral pieces as well as a few ringtones. We have MIDI smaples and PDF samples for the choirs to view. Our site is www.mrmusiko.com.Candy Jimenez, Director, Music Research and Content

The Yorkshire Libraries and Information (YLI) Music & Drama Service, Based at Wakefield Library HQ in West Yorkshire. We hold the largest collection of performing sets in the UK. Music (and playsets) are available on a hire basis. We hold choral and orchestral sets for hire direct to music societies and organisations who may approach us direct by telephone - 01924 302229 or email - lib.ylimusicanddrama@wakefield.gov.uk

In addition to our public music loan service for Hull, East Yorkshire, North Licolnshire and Northeast Lincolnshire, Encore Music Services is able to hire music to societies elsewhere in the UK. We have an extensive collection of vocal and orchestral music available at reasonable cost. You can contact us by email at Encore.Music@hullcc.gov.uk , phone 01482-616852 or fax us on 01482 616827.
Chameleon Arts Management currently hold stocks of over 2,500 titles. As well as providing a next-day hire service for over 400 UK choirs, they now offer an international service. Their on-line catalogue is continually updated, and you can place orders directly from their website. There is, of course, a real catalogue on actual paper with proper printing which can be sent by snail-mail on request