Choir Tropes

Choir arrangements are quite formulaic and try too hard to be interesting. For instance, it's rare to see an arrangement where the choir sings the entire song in unison or the entire song with parts. You can count on nearly any choir arrangement doing at least one of the following: Common patterns for verses are: These tropes are not necessarily bad, though are so expected and overused that it would be refreshing to avert or subvert them all from time to time. Unfortunately, it's very rare when that happens. The least you can do is avoid the common patterns.
 * Women-only section
 * Men-only section
 * Men-Women echo
 * A capella section
 * Section or verse in unison, the rest in parts (or vice-versa)
 * Instrumental solo (brief interludes don't count)
 * Key change
 * Men, women, parts, a capella (sometimes men/women are swapped)
 * Unison verses, chorus in parts
 * A capella, unison, parts