To many people, singing in a choir is not just a defining musical experience, but a vitally social one too. Humans have been making music with our voices—the instrument we’re all born with—for as long as we’ve existed. From plainsong and motets right through to modern cantatas and masses, choral music is as varied as it is innately human. So many composers have written music for massed voices, with or without instrumental support, and the choral repertoire—sacred and profane—is an enormously rich musical vein.