HELP!!!

I have been given choir-director-volunteer position (dont ask), at my old school and am really struggling with finding suitable pieces to have my choir (which at the moment is non-existant) sing.

Here is some information you may want to know:

There is NO choir at the school. I am promoting it at an assembly in 4 weeks time, and starting it in 5.

This is Australia, and like many other countries, ROCK AND POP are the main focus of their lives.

The music department is really suffering at school, with only 3 kids remotely interested in Music as a language and spiritual connection rather than just something they can sing and shake their boobs to (aka POP).

I am looking for works for a bunch of amateurs. I know that there are going to be very few kids in my choir that are actually trained to sing, and even fewer will know how to read music...but for now, i just need suggestions of pieces that are reasonably short, but really interesting for them to sing.

I have Vincent Persichetti in mind (he is fun and easy enough), and some African Zulu songs. I would like songs in english more than anything else, as we dont really have time to learn german pronunciations and spanish tongue rolls.

Thanks :)

If Christmastime weren't long gone, I would suggest carol of the bells. It's relatively short, easy, english, and can be sung a capella or with a piano. But yah, it's not christmas, so...

Look for some one part songs, they are music... and they are impressive when done well.

You could do a madrigal or two (they are not that difficult), or you could do.. I don't know. But definitely not any difficult Bruckner or Poulenc or something (definitely not Penderecki, lol :P ).

Try some renaissance/baroque stuff, should be easier than romantic/late romantic. I don't know many classical choral works.

You could always check out sibeliusmusic.com, you can search by genre and difficulty (so choral...) I would not touch Whitacre, i think thats a given. My choir is pretty amazing at my school, so I cant really suggest our rep. Yea.. try Sibelius and see what you find. Ill dive into a big book of rep and find something for you.

Again, good luck!

thanks guys. will check up on those things :)