The problem: choir music grows faster than any folder
Every project adds new arrangements and copies — without a system, any choir library drowns in paper.
Choirs have a special volume problem: a single piece quickly exists in several versions — SATB and three-part, with piano and a cappella, in two keys. Add the programs of past seasons, rental material and the famous box labeled "unsorted". Anyone who has ever hunted for one specific arrangement knows the evening it costs.
A digital library does not fix this by magic but through three simple things paper cannot do: full search across titles and composers, any number of orderings at the same time — and the certainty that nothing physically disappears anymore.
A structure that scales: collections instead of folder chaos
Collections by project, era or voicing keep the library tidy without duplicating pieces.
The classic mistake when switching is rebuilding the old folder structure one to one. Digitally, a piece lives exactly once in the library — and still appears in as many collections as you like. "Christmas concert 2026", "A cappella", "Romantic period" and "Warm-ups" can all contain the same piece without it ever being copied.
A proven mix: permanent collections (by voicing or genre) plus one project collection per concert program. The latter simply remain after the concert — which takes care of the archive of past programs as a side effect.
Naming conventions for titles, arrangements and voices
A consistent scheme of title, composer and edition makes sure everyone finds the right sheet.
Search is only as good as your naming. A simple scheme, applied consistently, is all it takes — for example:
- Title – composer/arranger – voicing, e.g. "Abendlied – Rheinberger – SSATBB"
- Add the key only when several versions exist: "…– F major"
- Individual parts as a suffix: "…– Soprano" / "…– Piano reduction"
What matters is less which scheme you pick than that everyone uses it — agree on it once with the section leaders and write it down.
Setlists for concert and rehearsal
A fixed order for the performance, a flexible one for rehearsal — both from the same library.
For the concert, order is everything: a setlist puts the pieces in program order, and on stage you only turn pages instead of searching. Rehearsal can be looser — a "this week" collection with the pieces currently in progress saves the search between two run-throughs.
Practical at the music stand: in NovaNota, Bluetooth foot pedals turn pages while both hands stay at the piano or on the baton.
Sharing music at rehearsal
With a QR code, everyone in the room gets the current piece on their own device — no logins, no attachments.
The traditional ways of distributing music at short notice — copier, e-mail attachment, messenger group — regularly fail at the rehearsal itself: not everyone saw the mail, half the room is hunting for the attachment. BandConnect in NovaNota turns this around: upload a piece or a whole collection, show the QR code on an iPad or Mac, everyone in the room scans along — no account, no sign-in. The code is valid for 24 hours and then disappears automatically, file included.
A word on copyright: digitizing and sharing does not replace licenses. Protected choral literature follows the same rules as photocopies — when in doubt, the publisher or collecting society clarifies what the choir may do. Public-domain works and your own arrangements are unproblematic.
Sync: one library on every device
Prepared on the Mac at home or opened on the iPad at rehearsal — the library stays identical everywhere.
Library maintenance is most comfortable on the Mac: filing, naming, building collections. At rehearsal, the iPad takes over. NovaNota keeps both in sync through the cloud of your choice — iCloud, NextCloud or Google Drive, syncing runs automatically in the background. For choirs running their own NextCloud this is particularly attractive: the music stays on your own server.
And because everything is stored locally, the library works in a rehearsal room without Wi-Fi and in a concert hall without reception.
A checklist for switching
With a clear process, moving from paper to digital takes a few evenings, not months.
- Agree on a naming scheme (title – composer – voicing) and write it down.
- Digitize the current program first — not the archive. The archive follows bit by bit.
- Create collections: one per project, plus permanent ones by voicing or occasion.
- Set up sync (iCloud, NextCloud or Google Drive) so Mac and iPad share the same state.
- Test for one rehearsal: build a setlist, share via QR code, try a foot pedal.
- Clarify licensing before distributing protected material to the whole choir.