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The choir division of an organ (Ch.); as a staff label, the singers of a choral score.
In organ music, Ch. or Choir names the choir manual, printed over or between the staves until another manual is named. As a staff label in choral scores, Choir names the singers’ staves, so context (organ music or vocal score) decides the sense.
Abbreviations: Ch.
The choir organ has softer, often brighter stops, useful for accompaniment and solo colours, and as a contrasting manual against the great; on continental instruments the corresponding division is the positive. In choral scores, label the staves clearly (Choir or Chorus, with voice parts) so players and singers can follow, and avoid using Ch. for the singers where an organ part is also present.
Choir is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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