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!

The Water Is Wide (O Waly Waly)
Duration: 5:24
Score: 10 pg. 121 ms., MM quarter = 94, final verse MM quarter = 80, common time
Solo part: 3 pg.
Piano part: 4 pg.

A thought-provoking arrangement of a Traditional Scottish Folksong. Probably most widely known as "The Water Is Wide,"
it is also well known by it's more ancient title: "O Waly Waly." The tune is also known as " When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," and "The Gift of Love."
This is an original arrangement from the ground up.

Programming:
If you are looking for something with new contrapuntal and harmonic adventures for a Lenten prelude or a meditation during Holy Week, this will fit the bill.
It could also work well in a recital setting because it fits well on the instrument, and provides a chance to show off long, sensitive musical phrases.
Some of the figures in the descant verse are a wee-bit more advanced so, this is for intermediate players rather than beginners.

Keep in mind these performance ideas:
1. It's a simple tune that needs to unfold in the due course of time, so don't rush it. A slight ritardando at the end of each verse may help if you want to further delineate the verses.
2. There is a lot of interesting counterpoint here, so be prepared to give-and-take on the dynamics more than what I have indicated.
3. The final verse is much slower and more mysterious, and the dynamics are crucial - the quieter the better. Piano - the last chord: take your time on the roll, make it nice and slow.

Synopsis of the arrangement:
verse 1: Simple quiet duet with the melody in the solo instrument.
verse 2: Melody in the solo instrument accompanied by a 2-part canon in the piano.
verse 3: Melody in the piano in 4-part harmony.
verse 4: 3-part canon on the melody (with a free accompaniment voice).
verse 5: 2-part canon with a free accompaniment in the solo part
verse 6: Melody in octaves with free bass in octaves; descant in the solo part - loudest verse.
verse 7: Very quiet ending verse - Modulates down a fourth, melody in the solo part accompanied by simple quartal/quintal
piano clusters over bass chords that suggest submerged church bells.

For better insight into the performance of this music: express the emotion indicated by the lyrics:

The Water Is Wide:
The water is wide, I cannot get over
Neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row, my love and I
A ship there is and she sails the sea
She's loaded deep as deep can be
But not so deep as the love I'm in
I know not if I sink or swim
I leaned my back against an oak
Thinking it was a trusty tree
But first it bent and then it broke
So did my love prove false to me
I reached my finger into some soft bush
Thinking the fairest flower to find
I pricked my finger to the bone
And left the fairest flower behind
Oh love be handsome and love be kind
Gay as a jewel when first it is new
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like the morning dew
Must I go bound while you go free
Must I love a man who doesn't love me
Must I be born with so little art
As to love a man who'll break my heart
When cockle shells turn silver bells
Then will my love come back to me
When roses bloom in winter's gloom
Then will my love return to me

The lyrics for "Waly, Waly, Gin Love Be Bonny" from Ramsay's Tea Table Miscellany (1724).

O Waly, waly (a lament ? "woe is me") up the bank,
And waly, waly doun the brae (hill),
And waly, waly, yon burn-side (riverside),
Where I and my love wont to gae.
I lean'd my back into an aik (oak),
I thocht it was a trusty tree;
But first it bow'd, and syne (soon) it brak (broke),
Sae my true love did lightly me.

O waly, waly, but love be bonnie (beautiful),
A little time while it is new,
But when 'tis auld (old), it waxeth cauld (cold),
And fades away like the morning dew.
O wherefore should I busk my heid (adorn my head)?
Or wherefore should I kame (comb) my hair?
For my true love has me forsook,
And says he'll never love me mair (more).

Now Arthur Seat shall be my bed,
The sheets shall ne'er be fyl'd by me,
Saint Anton's well shall be my drink,
Since my true love has forsaken me.
Martinmas wind, when wilt thou blaw (blow),
And shake the green leaves off the tree?
O gentle death, when wilt thou come?
For of my life I am weary.

'Tis not the frost, that freezes fell,
Nor blawing snaws (snow) inclemency,
'Tis not sic cauld (such cold) that makes me cry,
But my love's heart grown cauld to me.
When we cam in by Glasgow town,
We were a comely sight to see;
My love was clad in the black velvet,
And I my sell in cramasie (crimson).

But had I wist (known), before I kiss'd,
That love had been sae ill to win,
I'd lock my heart in a case of gold,
And pin'd it with a silver pin.
Oh, oh! if my young babe were born,
And set upon the nurse's knee,
And I my sell were dead and gane,
For a maid again I'll never be.[4]
(Lyrics courtesy of Wikipedia)


For more information, please feel free to contact me at: jmsgu3 "at" gmail.com
James M. Guthrie, ASCAP
jmsgu3 publications

Fifteen Safari Duets for Tubas was composed for playing duets with my tuba students. The fifteen duets are at different levels of difficulty and various styles so that we always had duets to play no matter what ability of student. There is something in each duet for students to learn from the basics of tone production, rhythms, melodic phrasing, jazz, graphic notation, etc. Most are sight readable and some have been performed in concerts. They are all fun to play. Although for tubas, they may be played on any instrument.

In 1988 I spent a month in Kenya on safari and experiencing the African wildlife and culture, thus the inspiration for these duets that were composed soon after the trip in 1989 and 1990 and have been a regular part of my teaching ever since. Four of these duets are recorded on the compact disc ?Tuba Safari? (Troy 1173) on Albany Records.

1. Elephants at Stave

This duet presents the cantabile style studied for playing the tuba. I find that this duet helps the student much like the melodies of Borgodni etudes. There are more elephants in Tsavo than anywhere else in Kenya. It was not uncommon to see large families of thirty elephants at a time.

2. Gallop ? Thompson Gazelle at Amboseli

This duet provides an opportunity to read in a sharp key, D major, as well as basic rhythms and articulations. I find that the more advanced students can read in a faster tempo and other students can work in a slower tempo ? a common choice in all of the duets. Large herds of playful Thompson Gazelle were a usual occurrence in most of the game parks in Kenya.

3. Rhinos at Nairobi Game Park

This waltz helps the student match phrasing in a cantabile setting. There are a few instances where the teacher (playing the first part) plays a phrase then the student plays a similar phrase. The rhinoceros is a very noble animal that can grow to more that 1,000 pounds and is known for its horn. The Nairobi game park is located just outside the city, giving a sense of surrealism to the panorama.

4. Giraffes at Nairobi Twiga Park

This is in a ?rock? style with syncopated rhythms and cantabile melodies. The Nairobi Twiga park is just outside the city and is the only place where one can feed the giraffes. Along with their long necks they have very long tongues.

5. Warthogs at Ngulia

Legato scales and syncopated rhythms are the features of this duet. Warthogs have tails that are held upright when they run.

6. Baboons at Kiliguni

This duets alternates in rock style and swing. Baboons are sometimes a problem because they will try to steal food from the tourists? tables. They will work together where one causes a diversion while the others steal.

7. Pastoral ? Cape Buffalo at Samburu

The key of A for this duet gives variation for the students. Cape Buffalo are in large herds on the savanna. The Samburu Lodge dining area was built next to a watering hole. At the beginning of breakfast there were no animals, but in fifteen minutes more than 500 cape buffalo were at the water hole.

8. Song - Hippos at Mzima Springs

This is the easiest of rhythms and range of the duets, especially for the 2nd(student) part. Hippopotamuses can grow up to 4,000 pounds and spend most of their time sleeping in the water during the day. At night they go on land to hunt.

9. Leopards at Kimana Lodge

This duet is non-metric and uses graphic notation. This was a favorite duet of my students as many have never experienced this notation before. The leopard is a large predatory cat that usually hunts at night.

10. Colobus Monkeys at the Ark

This is an Invention in the Bach style. The Ark is a building that was built in 1969 at a watering hole for tourists to watch wildlife. The colobus monkey is black with white on its forearms and chest.

11. Zebra Migration at Masai Mara

This duet is in a ?Medium Swing? jazz style. The great migration between the Masai Mara and Serengeti involves about two million wildebeest, zebras and other animals every year. It is considered one of the most impressive natural events worldwide.

12. Ostrich at Samburu

This duet works on double time and half time. The ostrich is the largest bird in the world. In Samburu there was an ostrich that hung around the lodge, her name was Margaret. She was very friendly with everybody but she would steal your hat.

13. Cheetah at Voi

This is another duet that includes graphic notation. The cheetah can run up to 80 miles an hour when chasing after prey. When not hunting prey it often walks very slowly.

14. Gallop ? Gerenuk at Buffalo Springs

This gallop displays different types of articulation. The gerenuk is an antelope with a slightly extended neck so it can eat higher leaves from trees.

15. Lions at Mara Sopa

This duet is in the style of a fanfare. The lion is considered the king of the savanna.

Gregory Fritze is a prize-winning composer and Fulbright Scholar, as well as an active performer. He recently retired from Berklee College of Music where he was Tuba Professor and Chair of Composition, serving on the faculty from 1979 to 2016. He has written over one hundred compositions for orchestra, band, chamber ensembles and soloists. He has won over sixty composition awards both nationally and internationally including First Prize in the 1991 TUBA Etude Contest. His compositions include works published by several publishers in the United States, South America and Europe that have been performed extensively throughout the world. Many of his compositions are available on ITunes, Youtube and Soundcloud.

His compositions are recorded on Albany Records, MSR Classics, Crystal Records, Mark Records and others. He has been a guest lecturer, conductor and performer at many colleges, universities and music festivals in the United States, Canada, Japan, South America and Europe. He was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1954 and has Composition degrees from the Boston Conservatory and Indiana University. He now resides in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida.