Choirmaster

Structure

Choirs are often led by a conductor, choirmaster or choir director. Most often, choirs consist of four sections intended to sing in four-part harmony, but there is no limit to the number of possible parts as long as there is a singer available to sing the part. For instance, Thomas Tallis wrote a 40-part motet entitled Spem in alium, for eight choirs of five parts each; while Krzysztof Penderecki's Stabat Mater is for three choirs of 16 voices each, a total of 48 parts. Other than four, the most common number of parts are three, five, six, and eight.