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/

Ah, Christmas music! Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, the music at this time of year is just the best thing ever! If you are like me, you have your favorites that have to be played or else nothing's right in the world. This is one of those songs for me.

This song is from the album "Christmas Portrait" by The Carpenters. The song appeals to my classical side, and it exudes happiness and goodwill. It is a simple and catchy tune, and one that I hope you and your audience will enjoy tremendously!

Scored for piccolo, 3 C flutes, alto, bass & contrabass. There is an optional cello part that can also be played by any instrument in a similar bass clef range - to add oomph to the bass line. This is for musicians with advanced-intermediate musical skills.

Duration: 1.75 minutes

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!

Alan Silvestri is one of my favorite movie composers. He composes mainly for the film industry, and wrote fantastic scores for movies like Forrest Gump, Back to the Future, and Night at the Museum, to name a few.

This piece comes from the movie, Cast Away. The movie didn't have much music in it, which was intended to create a feeling of isolation. Needless to say, when music was played during a scene, it made a big impact. Silvestri won a Grammy Award for his music score in this movie.

This arrangement of the theme song is written for 2 altos, 3 basses, contra-alto in G, and contrabass flutes. The Bass 3 part is optional if you have a contra-alto in G. The optional cello part is to provide extra support to the contrabass, if needed.

This piece is very soothing and meditative. I hope your choir and your audience will enjoy it.

This beautiful song comes from the musical Yentl, starring Barbra Streisand.

As an instrumental piece, dynamics, tempo changes - of which there are many - and the attention to the overall emotion of the song will make this piece soar as it should.

This arrangement is for flute choir: 4 C flutes, alto, bass, contrabass, and optional cello to help give the bass line a stronger presence.

I hope you and your audience will enjoy this piece.

Duration: 3.5 minutes

The movie "Psycho" has one of the most well-known murder scenes in movie history, along with one of the creepiest music themes. So, why make a flute choir version of it? Why not?

This flute choir arrangement is written for Piccolo, 4 C flutes, alto, bass, and contrabass. If your flute choir doesn't have a contrabass flute, you can substitute it with another bass flute.

I hope you will enjoy playing this creepy music and that your audience will love listening to it!

2017 Holiday Contest Entry


This arrangement of five traditional Israeli folk songs and Jewish holiday music will put you in the mood to celebrate! The first flutes are featured prominently in this arrangement. Each part takes a turn carrying the tune, with rich harmonies and driving rhythms enhancing the melodies. The medley begins exuberantly in the key of concert d minor, moves joyfully to the relative F Major, then finishes boisterously back in d minor. I have included a version of the alto flute part transposed for C flute in case you don't have an alto flute available.

Songs featured are:

· Hevaynu Shalom Alaychem (We Brought Peace Unto You)

· Maoz Tsur (Rock of Ages)

· Artsa Alinu (We Have Come to the Land)

· Chanukah

· Yibane Amenu (In Our Land We Shall Rebuild Our Nation)



I hope you will enjoy performing this medley as much as I have enjoyed arranging it! Audiences are sure to love it. This would work well in a variety of venues:school concert, synagogue, shopping mall background music, chamber music concert, prelude to a concert, etc. It?s perfect for anywhere you want to lift people?s spirits with energetic, familiar seasonal and folk music. Duration is approximately 3.5 min. L?chaim!

Pentatonix is one of my favorite acapella groups, and I am thrilled to be able to write an arrangement of this piece for flute choir. This piece is sweet and relaxing, and is simple enough for a choir with intermediate skills. There is a lot of syncopation, so counting is key, but it is repetitive and intuitive. This is great newer Christmas tune that I hope you will love to play.

This arrangement is for Low Flute Choir - 3 altos, 2 basses and 1 contra bass.