A sectional is a rehearsal for one section of a choir on its own: the sopranos, the altos, the tenors or the basses. Without the other parts sounding, singers can hear their own line, fix notes and rhythms, and work on blend, so the full rehearsal can be about the music. Directors often hand sectionals to section leaders, so here's a plan you can follow even if you've never led one.
Before the sectional
Silent NightGetting the voices ready...
Tap a part to hear it on its own
All of Silent Night, from "Silent night, Holy night, All is calm, all is bright,", in its parts: the tune with the others under it. Your part is the Soprano. Press a voice to take it out of the harmony or bring it back.
Agree one goal with the director
Ask the director what they want from it: the notes of the new piece, a page that keeps going wrong, the tuning in the slow movement. One clear goal does more than a list. Agree the bars, and write them down.
Prepare your own part
Know the section's line well enough to sing it confidently and slowly. Whatever you sing as an example, the section will copy, so a wrong note or a sagging pitch from you becomes everyone's.
Bring what you need
A copy of the music for everyone, pencils, a way to give notes (a keyboard, or the free pitch pipe on a phone), and a recording or a way to play the other parts if you have one.
During the sectional
Warm up briefly
Five minutes of warming up gets voices and ears working, ideally on something from the music itself: a phrase from the hard bars, sung on one vowel.
Start with the hardest place
Go straight to the bars you agreed. Sing them slowly, then a phrase at a time:
- Notes first, at half speed, on a vowel or on solfege, before the words.
- Then the rhythm, spoken in time on the words.
- Then together, notes and words, still slow.
- Then up to speed, a little at a time.
Tune the long notes
Hold the long notes, and any chords where your section divides, and listen. A section sounds like one voice when its vowels match and its pitch is steady. The free drone gives you a fixed note to tune against; the guide to blending in a choir has more.
Put it back in context
Once the hard bars work, sing them with the bars before and after, so singers can get in and out of them. If you can, sing them against the other parts, from a piano, a recording or a song player, so the section hears where its notes fit in the chord.
Mark it and end on a high
Ask everyone to pencil in what you fixed: breaths, a note to listen for, a tricky interval. End by singing the whole passage once at speed, so the section leaves hearing how much better it sounds.
After the sectional
Tell the director what you fixed and what still needs work, and ask singers to practise their part at home before the next full rehearsal. The guide to practising a choir part is a good one to pass on.
Practise with Stackapella
Stackapella gives each singer their part to learn at home: on every song's page, tap a part to hear it on its own, or hear it with the others; in the app, sing it over the other parts. For a carol, send your section Silent Night and its alto part before you meet, so the sectional can start from the music rather than the notes.