Do you like the artist? Is the transcription accurate? Is it a good teaching tool? Explain exactly why you liked or disliked the product.In my years as a choir director, I have come up with a whole bag of tricks for adjusting printed music to the specific voices I am working with at a given time. Sometimes there can be a work-around by moving the melody to a different voice and shifting the harmonies, and of course other types of revisions can help. But the matter of finding the right range for each voice is important, no matter who is singing. Since the piece is in parts (SAB), the issues will be somewhat different from what I have described in this Hub concerning unison singing. Thanks for an informative hub.ДЄficionada (author) from Indiana, USA on August 15, 2011:ДЄya, I would be very happy, delighted even, to look at the sheet music and share my insights. I don't know why, but it even helps me to 'think flat' - playing in F-sharp would be a challenge, but G-flat is no problem. (In fact, one hymnal that notates it in the key of F also includes a final chorus in the key of G-just to get that energy back!).ДЄs a largely self-trained keyboardist, I can tell you that for someone like myself playing in flat keys is much easier than playing in sharp keys. But it still does not have quite the energy of the key of G. It can be played on guitars in the key of E and capoed up one fret to F. But the song is now in a guitar-unfriendly key, and it has a more relaxed, calm sound.

If the song is lowered to F, the high notes become C's and a D-not too high. The rest of the song falls in the comfortable area of the C-C' range. This pattern is repeated twice in the chorus (the second time without the E.) But, the vitality of the song and the energy that it generates usually make it possible for everyone to reach those notes-or at least to enjoy trying to reach them. But there are only four notes in that spot that are outside of the C-C' range: three D's (two of them fairly quick) and an E (rather quick)-normally too high to consider for a congregation. That puts the start of the chorus higher than consideration of the range alone would recommend. Take, for example, the hymn 'Victory in Jesus.' It is often notated, played, and sung in the key of G. The best bet is to aim for a small percentage of notes at the upper and lower ends of the range. If most of the notes sung are around middle C and middle D, it will be uncomfortable for higher voices and for some lower ones. Even if the range of the song is between C and C', if most of the notes being sung are at the high end of the range (B's and treble C's), it will still be uncomfortable for the lower voices, and even for some of the higher ones. The second important point is to observe the actual number of notes that are sung at a given pitch. In Ab, the range covers Ab below middle C up to treble Eb, with most of the notes ranging from C to C'.

No matter what key it is played in or sung in, it will have an atrocious range, so the problem with that song is to find the key where MOST of the notes fit the best congregational range, and where the lowest and the highest notes are more or less acceptable-that is in the key of Ab, which is the key most hymnals use for it. It is notorious for having an unsingable range: a span of twelve diatonic tones-an octave and a half. The opposite extreme is the national anthem ('Oh, say can you see').

Whick music keys are lower