PD--

I think it's going to depend on what kind of music you do with your church choir. If you generate a lot of your own music or use printed PDFs a lot, the three rings are a huge help in helping choir members keep themselves organized. Smaller octaves can be easily hole-punched, and it's all in there together. On the other hand, if you do a lot of larger works or the kind of published music where holes are not an option, definitely you'd want to go with the cords.

 

i personally would only ever use the cords in a concert situation with something big that I need to flip to specific pages; I find them annoying. But YMMV. (What does your choir use now? I'd want to know their opinion too...not that church choirs are ever an opinionated lot or anything. :-)

--Jennifer (whose choir used the three rings and swore by them)

Why not use a convertible folder?  I use a MusicFolder with cords, but when the music is punched, I insert a three-ring attachment held into the folder by the elastic cords.

Kate Thickstun

Our church choir just purchased Legacy Choral folders from sheetmusicplus.com  They are 9x12 gusset pockets, sturdy metal corners, pencil holder with mechanical pencil supplied, bottom retention strap, and 7 elastic strings.  They ship within 24 hours.  For our music librarian having the pocket and strings is much prefered to the 3 ring binder.  Music is added and removed every week and having to open and close the rings 100 times (large choir) at a minimum each week was not an option.  They run $14.99 but you save 8% if 2 or more are purchased.  We love them.

We just purchased the Legacy folders for our choir.  We dealt with the company directlly (Marlo Plactics) and after much discussion we went with a 3 ring binder with no jumper (tab on the bottom  used to open/close the rings).  It was considered a special order and the cost was a little over a dollar extra for each folder but was well worth the cost.  We did this for three reasons, first the standard rings are 3/4 inch and we needed the extra room 1 inch special order rings gave us .  Seconinchd and thirdly are that the jumper rubs on the music, wearing on the music and making more noise with page turns.  I am the librarian for our choral society of 120 and I don't insert the music in the folders myself, they claim it from the folio cabinet every week. 

I like 3-ring binders. The pages are easier to turn, and the music doesn't tip to an awkward angle or fall out accidentally. Also, different sizes of music fit and don't stick out over the edges. For a number of years, our choir had both options for members. After awhile, everyone was using the 3-ring binders. The other ones are down in a cabinet now, out of the way.

 

I've got early-onset arthritis in my hands. Some days opening the binder is difficult. I went to an office supply store recently and bought a one-touch style. There is one tab at the bottom that opens the whole binder easily, and it doesn't bend or misalign the rings. If you have any singers with arthritis you might look into those.

You need a folder like the one that come from this company: http://www.musicfolder.com/en/us/music-folders/

We have them for our church choir. For my professional Chorus use we have one a level up - with a three ring binder insert in the middle and the stretchy straps to hold octavos.  I cannot live without mine.

Our church choir assistant told us that we were using them. Choices slow down the process ;)

 

You can also use plastic magazine holders in a regular binder.  They are usually 2/$1.00, and you would need one for each single anthem for each singer.  This would give you the flexibility to use punched and non-punched music without getting any specialized equipment.