There are usually a number of links to practice tracks on this page to help you practice at home.
John Fletcher
John Fletcher has an huge collection of practice tracks available, although you must create an account and login to access them. If a work is out-of-copyright then this is free, and a work that is in copyright requires a small subscription – currently £13.20 for 12 months.
Copyright: For works to be out-of-copyright in the UK the composer must have died at least 70 years ago. Works by Rutter (still living) and Vaughan Williams (died 1958) are in copyright.
In the USA it only has to be 50 years since the composer’s death.
Click the link below to access these practice tracks. Just click, or tap, on the required part and listen. There is an option to change the tempo. There are also instructions on the John Fletcher website explaining how to play the tracks and how to download them if required.
Rutter: Birthday Madrigals
It was a lover and his lass
Draw one sweet night
Come live with me
My true love hath my heart
When daisies pied
Vaughan Williams: Serenade to music
Choralia
Here the tracks are ‘sung’ by an electronic voice, sounding a little odd at first, but it works really well for note-bashing. It is free but, donations are encouraged. If you don’t donate you have a 15 second wait until you can play each track. Donating also seems to get rid of the adverts including reminders to donate! You can adjust the speed of playback on the Choralia website which is really helpful.
Rutter’s works are not available on Choralia – sorry.
Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music
Chord Perfect
This astonishing resource has your emphasised part sung by a real singer – there is nothing computerised here!
There are no tracks on Chord Perfect for Summer 2026
You can also pay US$20.00 to download them all, as well as tracks with all parts at the same level and an accompaniment only version to really test yourself out. Chord Prefect don’t have a large range of works covered so, if a work is available, it is worth checking it out.
Midi Files
If you are able to play these there is a set of Midi files available on John Hooper’s site:
Midi files can be really useful for learning your part, but you can’t just play them in a browser. You need to download them and play them in a suitable application. There is more information on Midi files, and how to play them on the choir website.
Slowing down practice tracks
If you can download any tracks you can also slow them down using ‘The Amazing Slowdowner‘ from Roni Music. You can buy this for Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone and Android devices. The Mac/PC versions cost more though. Once installed, you can create playlists for the works you are learning.
There are also two free web-based tools, recommended by John Fletcher, where you can open a file and change the speed. You can also drag and drop a file into the window. You can only use one file at a time with these tools but they do work if you are using a computer.
- Time Stretcher – this will also work on iOS devices such as iPads
- TimeStretch Player. You can also change the pitch and is generally more sophisticated! However, this one will not work on iOS devices.
Any questions or thoughts of your own?
If you have any questions or good ideas about this section of the website please fill in the form below. We’ll be pleased to hear of any other novel approaches you have on practising your part.
