Dr. Peter Durow, director of choral activities at Southeast Missouri State University, said the greater variety in college choir voices compared to high school and middle school choirs poses a "fun challenge" when programming concerts.

He split the upcoming University Choir and Chamber Choir combined concert into three divisions to provide an assortment of different styles, while still controlling a theme.

The performance will be held at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10 in the Robert F. and Gertrude L. Shuck Music Recital Hall at the River Campus.

The University Choir is scheduled for two shorter sets, the first and last of the program, while the Chamber Choir will sing a longer one in the middle.

According to Durow, the first section of music the University Choir will be performing doesn't have as much of a stipulated theme as the others. Although, he added he wants to organize a concert for the spring of all female composers, and the few he highlights here he might use later.

In particular, "The Snake Charmer" by California-based composer Mona Lyn Reese will have its world premiere. Durow said it's a secular piece and notates the storyline of what happens when a child hides a snake in a box, but it later escapes.

With an already intriguing plot, Reese's piece may not be the easiest to vocalize. Colt Buehler, a tenor in the University Choir, said the rhythm takes practice to master and the distinguishable vocal parts are often dissonant, rather than harmonious.

Buehler said the choir actually met Reese over a FaceTime call last week and performed the piece for her feedback.

"Sometimes she'd be like, 'I'd prefer this part be a little slower,' or she changed the sound of the song in one of the parts, she wanted a brighter, more nasally tone," Buehler said. "It's a part where we're being whiny little kids in the song, and so we had to sound more like whiny little kids as opposed to this developed sound that we usually go for in a piece of music."

The next piece, "The Babe of Bethlehem," was arranged by Southeast music education professor and University Choir collaborative pianist Mary Collier Mims. Durow said the song serves to lead into the Chamber Choir's section as well.

The Chamber Choir's Christmas theme teases the holiday concert they'll perform in Ste. Genevieve later this semester.

Durow said the majority of Alice Parker and Robert Shaw arrangements picked were intentional to the set.

"Some of the students are going to see Alice Parker next semester, there's an ACDA [American Choral Directors Association] conference that some of them are going to, and she's going to be one of the speakers," Durow said. "So I wanted the students to be aware of her."

Durow said more contemporary compositions will follow, too, including Jeffrey H. Rickard's "Gloria."

There are 18 members total in Chamber Choir and "Gloria" stretches the voices across eight parts.

Durow said, on top of that, the piece changes meters close to every measure, so vocalists have to implement "stagger breathing" to maintain a fluid sound.

"You're a part of a group, so it's this idea of sounding like one voice," Durow said.

Being right on the Mississippi River, it was fitting to have a theme based around water.

"When they come to the concert they're going to see a picture of the River Campus on the program and the river is prominent in the photo, so I decided I wanted to program a set of music that was all about rivers," Durow said.

The University Choir's ending set will consist of four pieces: "Let the River Run," "Down in the River to Pray," "It is Well With My Soul" and "Down by the Riverside."

Durow explained that performing with a choir and performing solo ask for distinctive mindsets.

"There's a community in a choir that you can't find in a lot of places," Durow said. "It's a comradery, it's all working together for the same goal and it's, again, doing something together that you can't do by yourself."

Buehler is used to jamming out on a bass guitar with local pop-punk band Isabella or belting rockabilly-inspired lyrics with Atlas May, but he said it's just as important to understand technique in choral music.

"As far as composing a choral piece, it's super difficult. You're writing for four different types of voices," Buehler said. "You're writing for these sopranos who can hit these crazy high notes and then these altos that can't hit these crazy high notes, but they have this awesome middle of the range, kind of darker tone. Then tenors have to be able to reach these notes, but they're not going to be able to reach these super low ones."

He said the structure is foundational to any composition, even modern radio hits.

Overall, Durow said the two choirs are singing at a higher level than is generally expected for earlier in the year.

"It's nice to see the program has grown in numbers and also grown in a polished performance," Durow said.

General admission tickets to the concert are $12, but $3 for students on presentation of a Southeast ID.