H.M.S. Pinafore - Chorus Practice

(Photo: Joe Cohn. Click for closeup view)

For each choral number in the show, begin with the file corresponding to your choral part, which isolates your part against subdued principals and accompaniment. Listen and sing along with the highlighted part until you are confident. Then try the Tutti recording to see if you can hold to your part when all choral parts are sounding together. Work back and forth between part and Tutti as needed. In some cases, the tempo has been moderated in the part recording (or excerpt), but kept full tempo in the Tutti (or full-length) recording.

Change Tempo slider: You can slow the tempo of the playback by sliding the light blue knob on the above "Change tempo" slider to left and right along the track. Tempo begins at 100% at the right end and changes by 1% increments to a minimum of 50% at the left end. Note that slowing the tempo introduces distortion into the audio playback. (Supported in Firefox, Chrome, and Opera web browers.)

Page and movement numbering correspond to the G. Schirmer (Bryceson Treharne) edition of the vocal score. The Start column gives the starting point of each excerpt in the format page/system/measure. For example, starting point 8/6/1 refers to page 8, the 6th system on the page, the 1st measure in the system.

How would you like to access the sound files?

Online: Play sound files individually on this web page.
Locally: Download files to play them on your computer or device.

Online: To listen to a sound file, click one of the grey buttons found to the right of the selection you wish to hear. It will play in the audio player located at the top of the page next to the menu. (Or click the arrow to play in your browser's audio plug-in, depending on your setup.)

Start (Pg/Sys/Ms)	Selection	Time	Tutti	Soprano		Alto	Tenor		Bass
Act I
8/6/1	1. We Sail the Ocean Blue	1:11	↓				↓	↓	↓
16/2/1	3. The Nightingale	1:51	↓				↓		↓	↓
19/1/1	3a. A Maiden Fair to See	1:40	↓				↓	↓	↓	↓
22/1/1	4. My Gallant Crew, Good Morning!	2:15	↓				↓	↓	↓	↓
33/1/1	6. Over the Bright Blue Sea	0:45	↓	↓		↓
	7. Sir Joseph's Barge Is Seen
35/1/1	• (Full-Length)	2:03	↓				↓	↓	↓	↓
37/2/1	• (from "Gaily tripping, lightly skipping," to end)	1:49	↓	↓		↓
42/1/1	8. Now Give Three Cheers	1:17	↓	↓		↓	↓		↓
	9. When I Was a Lad
46/1/1	• (Full length)	2:30	↓
46/1/1	• (One stanza only)	0:25	↓	↓		↓	↓		↓
55/1/1	9a. For I Hold That On the Seas	0:25	↓	↓		↓	↓		↓
	10. A British Tar
57/1/1	• (Full length)	1:56	↓
59/1/1	• (Choral ending)	0:30	↓				↓	↓	↓	↓
	12. Finale of Act I
66/1/1	• (Full length)	9:22	↓
66/1/1	• ("Can I survive this overbearing?")	1:54	↓	↓		↓	↓		↓
71/1/1	• ("My friends, my leave of life I'm taking")	1:41	↓	↓		↓	↓		↓
78/2/1	• ("This very night")	1:37	↓	↓		↓	↓		↓
86/1/1	• ("Let's give three cheers")	1:04	↓	↓		↓	↓		↓	↓
88/3/1	• ("For a British tar is a soaring soul")	2:10	↓	↓	↓	↓	↓		↓
Act II
Start (Pg/Sys/Ms)	Selection	Time	Tutti	Soprano		Alto	Tenor		Bass
	18. Carefully On Tiptoe Stealing
127/1/1	• (Full length)	7:42	↓
127/1/1	• ("Carefully on tiptoe..." opening)	1:46	↓				↓	↓	↓	↓
131/1/3	• ("Hold! Pretty daughter of mine")	1:13	↓				↓
135/1/3	• ("He is an Englisman, behold him!")	1:46	↓				↓	↓	↓	↓
138/1/1	• ("In uttering an approbation")	0:42	↓	↓		↓	↓		↓
142/2/1	• ("Go, ribald, get you hence")	1:21	↓	↓		↓	↓		↓
	19. Farewell, My Own
146/1/1	• (Full length)	2:20	↓
149/2/1	• (Choral entrance, to end)	1:08	↓	↓		↓	↓		↓	↓
152/1/1	20. A Many Years Ago	1:57	↓	↓		↓	↓		↓
	21. Finale of Act II
158/1/1	• (Full Length)	3:04	↓
161/1/1	• (from "For he's the Captain of the Pinafore," to end)	2:36	↓				↓	↓	↓	↓
163/3/3	• (from "For he loves Little Buttercup," to end)	1:49	↓	↓		↓
Bonus Materials
Start (Pg/Sys/Ms)	Selection	Time	Tutti	Soprano		Alto	Tenor		Bass
	2. I'm Called Little Buttercup (with added Sailors Chorus) Download PDF's: vocal music orchestra instructions Choral parts by ARJ may be used freely for all purposes.
m. 9	• (Full length)	2:18	↓
m. 81	• (2nd time only, for chorus)	1:09	↓				↓	↓	↓	↓
	13. Fair Moon, To Thee I Sing (transposed down to C Major) Transcribed by Larry Byler to match orchestra parts, as found on the H.M.S. Pinafore page of the G&S Archive web site. Download PDF: vocal music for Captain Corcoran

Download the sound files to your computer

If you wish, you can download an individual MP3 sound file from the above table by right-clicking its down-pointing arrow (↓) and selecting Save link as... or Save target as... from the pop-up menu.

To download all the MP3 recordings for a part, use the button corresponding to your choral part, below. You will also need the Tutti zip file. Besides the sound files, each zip file contains one or more playlists for playing relevant groups of individual recordings in sequence. The Soprano zip file includes both divisi for the last few measures of the Act I Finale. Separate zip files are provided for the divided Tenor and Bass parts, so be sure to download the correct division as needed.

Note: The bonus "I'm Called Little Buttercup" (with Sailors Chorus) is not included in the zip files.

Also download the Tutti .zip file. You will need this set of files too.

For more information about saving and unzipping these downloads, please read Tips for Downloading the Practice Files. Use your browser's "back" button to return here.