We sing music mostly by living composers because we help to support the creation of new art and the lives of living artists by paying them to license their works. In addition, we seek out music that is relevant to us today. This is how we do our part to contribute to the perpetuation and survival of the choral form. Our music purchases have a direct impact on the lives of the creative artists that make the music. When we do works by dead composers, we will always find ways to do it ethically and in ways that avoid negatively impacting the arts economy.

We will sometimes sing religious texts, usually from the Abrahamic traditions. There are some universal truths in religious texts, even if not the whole truth. To care for ourselves while singing these texts we learn to distance beautiful religious texts from terrible religious people. We learn to distinguish between religious messages and dogmatic messages. We will never sing dogma. We learn how to translate and transpose for ourselves when we can’t identify with specific language, but can identify with general principles.

We will make best efforts to avoid offensive and harmful cultural appropriation. When choosing music, we will always choose music by composers and arrangers that have a direct relationship with any culture represented. We do not believe that scholarship in or access to a particular culture qualify as direct relationships.

The Artistic Director chooses the music and is advised by the Music & Artistic Vision Circle.

An Artistic Director is different from a manager, a president, a chair, or any kind of executive officer. The Artistic Director‘s job is not to run the organization (that’s the job of the Board of Directors). The job of the Artistic Director is to create art and to gather people into a unified purpose. Creating art means tapping into inspiration, intuition, personal experience, aesthetic sensibilities, passions, craft & practice, spiritual energies, and playful serendipity. The Artistic Director has autonomy in particular domains so that the organization—as a collective––can actually be artistic. In a sense, the artistic vision of the organization is an extension of the artistic identity of the Artistic Director. The choir won’t be artistic if its artistic vision is watered down (by committee compromises), commercially driven (by selling out), universally acceptable (because art is meant to provoke), or compromised by conforming to the norm. Artistic organizations cannot be run like other kinds of organizations and still maintain artistic integrity. What makes an Artistic Director effective is the ability to extend an artistic vision throughout the organization. The autonomy of the Artistic Director is both necessary and tricky to navigate in an organization committed to both art and equity. For more on autonomy and relationships, please check out the Artistic Director Domain.

As of September 2026, we also have an Associate Artistic Director. In this case, the Associate Artistic Director is also our collaborative pianist. The Associate Artistic Director works closely with the Artistic Director to support the musical growth of the choir and development of the repertoire. The Associate Artistic Director offers an additional voice, one that is perhaps equally qualified, but different from the Artistic Director. The Associate Artistic Director will sometimes direct rehearsals, and lead sectionals. Other responsibilities are decided collaboratively with the Artistic Director. 

A Notion, A Scream is committed to the practice of learning music as an ensemble. While many people find it comfortable to learn music at home in their own time, we have agreed that the central mode of learning is done together. It is more important for us to be in this together however long it takes than to rush through and not gain anything. 

It's okay to come to rehearsals without having prepared the sections we're practicing together ahead of time. You won't get in trouble. In fact, learning together is part of why this choir was created.

Different choirs with different rehearsal philosophies have pianists plunk out piano parts during rehearsal. Parts are not usually played on the piano in our rehearsals for some of the same reasons we do not provide practice tracks. Playing parts on the piano helps sections learn their parts quickly in the short run, but is detrimental to musical literacy in the long run. Also, the piano is a percussion instrument while voices are wind instruments. When parts are played on the piano, singers tend to mimic the percussive piano sound (hard attack with a dying sustain), and the sustained quality of singing is compromised. 

Similarly, many other choirs provide practice tracks to speed up learning the notes. We do not provide them because practice tracks do not produce the sound or the musical development that is valued in A Notion, A Scream. Choirs that provide practice tracks are usually focused on producing a performance sound that was established long ago by European choir cultural norms. A Notion, A Scream does not subscribe to all of those classical European norms. Practice tracks get in the way of two musical development paths: 1) practice tracks help us learn parts quickly in the short run, but they are detrimental to musical literacy in the long run, and 2) practice tracks cultivate imitative sound production. A Notion, A Scream is trying to develop a sound that is unique to the people in the room. We are hoping people will learn the notes together in live real-time rehearsal so that the sound we produce is uniquely our own, created as an ensemble, and not dictated by outside European classical or electronically produced vocal influences. 

We intentionally choose music that has something to say about the world and how it is right now, created by musicians who are living right now. In keeping with our philosophy of rehearsal, we aspire for performances that are musical and meaningful. We are not in competition to conform to any particular choir sound or level of technical proficiency, even though many technical aspects of singing are valued and practiced. Beautiful performances are those in which singers feel connected to the music and to each other. Performances that move both singers and audiences contribute to strengthening our values of equity, inclusion, connection, care, beauty, and joy. 

Performance is less about perfection or technique, and more about sharing the lessons the music has to offer, at least as far as we are able to understand them. When it comes time to share, we know the performance will be incomplete, but it will be representative of our efforts.  What we offer has been poignant and timely, and when we do it well, offered with a sizable amount of humility and gratitude. 

We are trying to encourage and cultivate a sound that is unique to the people in the room. This is different from classical European music that has established norms about shapes of vowels, intonation, sound production, and phrasing (like in Solo & Ensemble where choirs are judged according to a particular set standard). We don’t want to sound like any other choir because we are not any other choir. At the same time, we do want to sound like a group. Balance is important so that individual voices do not stick out, but this is not the same as everyone trying to sound like the same voice.

This is up to you. In the first place, we acknowledge that not everyone is capable of or comfortable standing. Further, people have a range of preferences about when to stand and when to sit in rehearsal. There have been times, usually just after learning a piece, that people spontaneously stand up, but this is totally optional for everyone. We ask only that you be in communication with the people behind you.

No. You do not have to be able to read music. We have singers who are professional musicians, and singers who do not know how to read music at all. Depending on where you fall in this spectrum, you may determine that you would like to develop your skills in any number of ways. Finding our way until we come to the right notes together is a technique that is developing our musical skills and solidifying our group. If you stick with it, you may find that your ability to read music will improve greatly after a few years.

The Music & Artistic Vision Circle is tasked with providing support for singers' individual practice. They have started compiling a list of resources and strategies that may be helpful. 

Soloists are selected by audition, and judged by the Artistic Director. Auditions will be announced at rehearsal and in the newsletter. People who are interested will be asked to sing the solo passage, and the Artistic Director will choose soloists. It may be helpful to know that criteria for choosing soloists include giving new people a chance, capacity development, and resonance with a particular musical style.