A Song of Winter?Snowmen & Icicles
PhyllisAvidan Louke
Length: 6:45
Difficulty: 3 to 3+

Evocative of a cold and windy dayin winter, A Song of Winter explores the contrasts between thesmoothness and roundness of a snowman and the hardness and jaggedness oficicles.

Beginning with a winter stormwith wind and swirling snow, the wind calms, and the building of a snowmanbegins with the rolling of a snowball. The rolling forms the biggest ball of the snowman (represented by thebass and alto flutes), which is briefly interrupted by a playful snowballfight. The flutes continue the melodyfor the rolling of the second ball of the snowman, followed by the piccolorepresenting the rolling of the smallest ball (the head of the snowman). The melody is smooth and round in a lilting I time.

With the snowman complete, thewind and swirling snow return to lead into the Icicles section. The jaggedness of the icicles is representedby the jaggedness of syncopation in a marcato style with the melody skippinglarger intervals than the Snowmen melody. Visually, the score shows the jagged shape ofthe icicles. Double-tongued ascendingand descending lines, add to hard and brittle feeling of the icicles, as wellas to the shape of the melody. Thepiccolo adds the glistening, shimmering effect of sunlight reflecting off the icicles. Eventually, fragments of the Snowmenmelody are interspersed with the Icicles, followed by a final windstorm, which calms at the end of the piece.

Christmas
Winter
Winter Holidays
Stormy
Concert
Original Composition

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!