Choral Conducting:

In 1997 I finished a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from the University of Utah, studying under Dr. John Cooksey as his assistant conductor for the Concert Chorale. Simultaneously, I co-conducted the University Women's Choir with director Lane Cheney. I studied orchestral conducting from Dr. Robert Debbaut and benefitted from the guidance of Dr. Myron Patterson as a member of his Canterbury Singers and in his volunteer church choir. After two years of teaching public and private school, college, and community choirs, I left the field, except for conducting Ward choirs and a brief stint singing with the Mormon Choir of Washington and the Moscow International Choir.

Composing:

In 1994 I finished a Bachelor of Music in composition from the University of Utah, studying under Dr. Steven Roens and Dr. Henry Wolking. I continued to study music theory in graduate school, and have never tired of solving the enigma of writing interesting but acceptable music for the Ward Choir. Most of the arrangements are at the very least mindful of good voice-leading and good taste.

Some are better than others; It's been 16 years and 'll keep trying. My OWN choral solution to the problem, shown in Water Canticles, for example, has yet to find general acceptance in church, in spite of my insisting on its appropriateness! And Now My Sons, Remember , I think, got me "released" as Ward Choir director in our student ward when we performed it, about the third one of that style.

The Website:

In 2000, in an effort to catalog some of the stuff I learned in grad school, I began a primitive website called "wardchoir.com" containing articles for the (often untrained) ward choir director. It was marginally successful for the time, focusing on the "how-to". It even contained rudimentary conducting lessons, thankfully replaced by charismatic directors on "youtube" videos. The name Wardchoir.com was bought by Vieve Thompson, who's also doing the free choir music thing.

Earlier, I had prepared a dozen or so pieces for ward choirs, some better than others. At that time, I dumped them onto a geocities website and called it "Jay Williams Choral Press". Sally DeFord had just started her site, and I thought offering free music for ward choirs was a great idea: After all, you wouldn't sell your Sunday School lessons, or your testimony, or your inspirational stories. So why choir music? Precedent I guess. Sure, I know composer is an honest profession, and I mean no disrespect to Beebe, Wilberg, Gawthrop, and the like. They're great people with great music. With Ward choir budgets as small as they are, however, I'm glad for the free stuff, to give and to get.

Most of those pieces have been reworked since to reflect a maturing musical style. Many new pieces have been added, or will be added to this site. Non-sacred scores written or laid out for the sake of community or school choirs will be added, and maybe some personal instrumental works as well. The idea is to put it out there where it can be used.

Of my conducting knowledge to be shared there's room for MANY more articles. As I get organized, learn more, and find time, I'll add more. As my Ward choir needs more music, I'll write, arrange, and publish it here. When we find great music in general and can make it available to the public domain, I'll publish it here.

Please feel free to share ideas. I can be contacted at

jayonline@juno.com

Thanks,

Jay