2018 Chamber Music Contest Entry
The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha
Program Notes

The Impossible Dream (The Quest) is the most popular song from the1965 Broadway musical Man of LaMancha and is also featured in the 1972 film of the same name. The song was composed by Mitch Leigh,with lyrics written by Joe Darion. It was awarded the Contemporary Classics Award from the Songwriter?sHall of Fame.

I have always found the lyrics of TheImpossible Dream extremely moving:

Todream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow,
To run where the brave dare not go.

To right the unrightable wrong,
To love pure and chaste from afar,
To try when your arms are too weary,
To reach the unreachable star.

This is my quest,
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless,
No matter how far.

To fight for the right
Without question or pause,
To be willing to march
Into hell for a heavenly cause.

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will be peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest.

And the world will be better for this,
That one man scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage.
To fight the unbeatable foe.
To reach the unreachable star.

This arrangement for flute choir can be performed with asfew as 5 players or a full flute choir with multiple players on a part. It is scored for 3 flutes, alto flute, bassflute, and optional contrabass flute.

Broadway
Movies
Popular
Ballad

Phyllis Avidan Louke is a flutist and award-winning composerand arranger with more than 70 published pieces to her credit. www.phyllislouke.com

A list of Phyllis Louke?s SMP publications with full lengthrecordings can be found at http://www.phyllislouke.com/compositions/digital-downloads-smp-publications/

Flute choir meets heavy metal!

Avenged Sevenfold is one of my absolute favorite heavy metal bands. I don't usually hear a flute choir when I listen to their songs, or mostly any heavy metal songs for that matter, but A Little Piece of Heaven is so creative, so musical, and so funny, that I couldn't help it. Also, Oingo Boingo headed up the instrumental parts of the original song, which is evident.

If you are unfamiliar with heavy metal, you don't need to know anything about this song, other than it's incredibly unique and has to be played with an attitude. Accentuate the down beats, lay off the full vibratos, keep pushing the tempo - it never should slow down, and channel your inner rocker.

This song was the brainchild of the late James "The Rev" Sullivan. With the help of Oingo Boingo musicians, the song was scored to include an orchestra, full wind section, and choir. This arrangement is less than half the length of the original song, but it still clocks in at around 3 1/2 minutes.

This arrangement is scored for 4 flutes, alto, bass, contrabass, and upright string bass or keyboard. It is essential that there is a strong bass line. The upright bass part could also be played by any bass clef C instrument, like a euphonium, trombone, or tuba. If you are lucky enough to know a drummer, that would help a great deal too. I did not include a drum part, only because I am not knowledgeable enough at writing for drums and would rather leave it out than mess it up!

I hope you and your group will enjoy playing this song as much as I enjoyed arranging it. And I hope your audience will like it too!