SKU: HL.1328264
UPC: 196288183570. 6.75x10.5x0.07 inches.
Commissioned in honor of that fateful day in 1959, here's a medley that combines some of the most iconic songs from Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper. This musical tribute fittingly concludes with Don McLean's â??American Pie.â?.
SKU: WD.080689705021
UPC: 080689705021.
Introducing Southern Sundays, the new Southern Gospel Choir Series, from WORD Music! There's nothing better than the rhythms and sounds of a great southern gospel song. Add the power of an energetic and spirited gospel choir to the inspiring lyrics and infectious makes-you-want-to-sing-along music, and you've got a proven, winning combination guaranteed to make your Southern Sunday choir sound their very best!
SKU: WD.080689505676
UPC: 080689505676.
SKU: WD.080689801723
UPC: 080689801723.
SKU: CF.CM9740
ISBN 9781491161203. UPC: 680160919789. Key: Bb major. English. Siegfried Sasson.
Everyone suddenly burst out singing; And I was filled with such delight As prisoned birds must find in freedom... These opening lines to Everyone Sang by the British war poet Siegfried Sassoon feel as relevant today as they did when the poem was first published in 1919. It was after the end of World War I and these words capture so much of the collective exhilaration, relief, and pure joy about the Great War finally coming to an end. And yet Sassoon himself felt none of that when he wrote this poem. In his own words, he was feeling dull-minded and depressed. Perhaps his time in the trenches was still too recent. One of the reasons the creative arts are so powerful is that a poet like Sassoon (or a painter like Van Gogh or a composer like Mahler) can take their own feelings of deep sadness or pain and transform them into something beautiful, even uplifting. Everyone Sang is a celebration of the promise that things can get better, that there are things worth looking forward to. The poem itself has so much rhythm and musicality. The appearance of suddenly in the first line of each verse gives those verses a rush of energy. Attention to the crescendo in measure 7, and again in measure 37, from mf to f will help the listener experience that rush. There are expressive opportunities with so many of the poet's bold choices of action words - burst, winging, and shaken. Then there's alliteration - a poetic device that can be overdone, but Sassoon strikes a wonderful balance. Suddenly/singing (measures 6-7 and 10-11) Find/freedom (measure 21-22) Winging/wildly (measure 23) Setting/sun (measures 47-49) Was/wordless (measures 65-75) Give these alliterations just a hint of emphasis (without overdoing) to bring out the natural rhythm of the text. And just as O is set apart in the poem by punctuation, I wanted the musical setting - in measure 57 - to honor that feeling of wonder - ...O, but Everyone Was a bird; and the song was wordless; the singing will Never be done. Friends, there is so much good ahead, so much to be excited about. May the singing never be done.Everyone suddenly burst out singingAnd I was filled with such delightAs prisoned birds must find in freedom…These opening lines to Everyone Sang by the British war poet Siegfried Sassoon feel as relevant today as they did when the poem was first published in 1919. It was after the end of World War I and these words capture so much of the collective exhilaration, relief, and pure joy about the “Great War†finally coming to an end. And yet Sassoon himself felt none of that when he wrote this poem. In his own words, he “was feeling dull-minded and depressed.†Perhaps his time in the trenches was still too recent.One of the reasons the creative arts are so powerful is that a poet like Sassoon (or a painter like Van Gogh or a composer like Mahler) can take their own feelings of deep sadness or pain and transform them into something beautiful, even uplifting. Everyone Sang is a celebration of the promise that things can get better, that there are things worth looking forward to. The poem itself has so much rhythm and musicality.The appearance of “suddenly†in the first line of each verse gives those verses a rush of energy. Attention to the crescendo in measure 7, and again in measure 37, from mf to f will help the listener experience that rush.There are expressive opportunities with so many of the poet’s bold choices of action words – burst, winging, and shaken.Then there’s alliteration - a poetic device that can be overdone, but Sassoon strikes a wonderful balance.Suddenly/singing (measures 6-7 and 10-11)Find/freedom (measure 21-22)Winging/wildly (measure 23)Setting/sun (measures 47-49)Was/wordless (measures 65-75)Give these alliterations just a hint of emphasis (without overdoing) to bring out the natural rhythm of the text. And just as “O†is set apart in the poem by punctuation, I wanted the musical setting – in measure 57 - to honor that feeling of wonder –…O, but EveryoneWas a bird; and the song was wordless; the singing willNever be done. Friends, there is so much good ahead, so much to be excited about.May the singing never be done.
SKU: HL.8748451
UPC: 884088222598. 6.75x10.5x0.036 inches.
Here is a buoyant and refreshing 4-minute mini-medley that will bring a sparkling start to your holiday concerts! This festive selection is easily learned and impressive in performance. Includes: Ding Dong! Merrily on High!, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas (from Home Alone 2), Spirit of the Season (The Polar Express), We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
SKU: CF.CM8776CD
ISBN 9780825852053. UPC: 798408052058. Text: Gary Hallquist. Gary Hallquist.
A striking setting of an original text, beautifully written for Alto solo with mixed choir by one of the best new church choral writers of the day, this choral anthem is perfect for anniversary Sundays, All Saints Day, or mission-emphasis worship. The words state very clearly, the vision and purpose of the Christian Church, while calling believers to accountability for responding to the challenge of life today. Musically, the piece is dynamic, lush and powerful, and incorporates the familiar hymn Lead On, O King Eternal, that fits well with the spirit and message. An accompaniment track offers full instrumental support for choirs and soloist.
SKU: PR.312419020
ISBN 9781491131862. UPC: 680160680474. 6.875 x 10.5 inches. English.
Commissioned by the San Francisco Choral Society and the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, Terra Nostra is a 70-minute oratorio on the relationship between our planet and humankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. Part I: Creation of the World explores various creation myths from different cultures, culminating in a joyous celebration of the beauty of our planet. Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines human achievements, particularly since the dawn of our Industrial Age, and how these achievements have impacted the planet. Part III: Searching for Balance questions how to create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. In addition to the complete oratorio, stand-alone movements for mixed chorus, and for solo voice with piano, are also available separately.Terra Nostra focuses on the relationship between our planet and mankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. The oratorio is divided into three parts:Part I: Creation of the World celebrates the birth and beauty of our planet. The oratorio begins with creation myths from India, North America, and Egypt that are integrated into the opening lines of Genesis from the Old Testament. The music surges forth from these creation stories into “God’s World†by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which describes the world in exuberant and vivid detail. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “On thine own child†praises Mother Earth for her role bringing forth all life, while Walt Whitman sings a love song to the planet in “Smile O voluptuous cool-breathed earth!†Part I ends with “A Blade of Grass†in which Whitman muses how our planet has been spinning in the heavens for a very long time.Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines the achievements of mankind, particularly since the dawn of the Industrial Age. Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall†sets an auspicious tone that mankind is on the verge of great discoveries. This is followed in short order by Charles Mackay’s “Railways 1846,†William Ernest Henley’s “A Song of Speed,†and John Gillespie Magee, Jr.’s “High Flight,†each of which celebrates a new milestone in technological achievement. In “Binsey Poplars,†Gerard Manley Hopkins takes note of the effect that these advances are having on the planet, with trees being brought down and landscapes forever changed. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “A Dirge†concludes Part II with a warning that the planet is beginning to sound a grave alarm.Part III: Searching for Balance questions how we can create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. Three texts continue the earth’s plea that ended the previous section: Lord Byron’s “Darkness†speaks of a natural disaster (a volcano) that has blotted out the sun from humanity and the panic that ensues; contemporary poet Esther Iverem’s “Earth Screaming†gives voice to the modern issues of our changing climate; and William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much With Us†warns us that we are almost out of time to change our course. Contemporary/agrarian poet Wendell Berry’s “The Want of Peace†speaks to us at the climax of the oratorio, reminding us that we can find harmony with the planet if we choose to live more simply, and to recall that we ourselves came from the earth. Two Walt Whitman texts (“A Child said, What is the grass?†and “There was a child went forth every dayâ€) echo Berry’s thoughts, reminding us that we are of the earth, as is everything that we see on our planet. The oratorio concludes with a reprise of Whitman’s “A Blade of Grass†from Part I, this time interspersed with an additional Whitman text that sublimely states, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love…â€My hope in writing this oratorio is to invite audience members to consider how we interact with our planet, and what we can each personally do to keep the planet going for future generations. We are the only stewards Earth has; what can we each do to leave her in better shape than we found her?
SKU: BT.MUSM570368679
Isthmus denotes a narrow strip of land with sea on either side, forming a link between two larger ars of land. The title is a metaphor for an effort to bond artistically my experiences of living in Cyprus, my birthplace, and in the USA, my recently adopted homeland. Having lived in a small, partitioned island for my formative years and in England for eleven years, water has always had a double meaning: it has at once served as a gateway to other cultures but also as a border, a violent and absolute interruption of a continuum. While in the USA, or indeed in a now connected Europe, it is possible to travel on land for days without having to encounter a border, in the countries where I lived for most of my life, that was not possible. As an artist, this notion of establishing boundaries and consciously trying to break them is very close to me, as my music deals both with modernity but also with tradition and, similarly, with metaphor and reality. As a Cypriot, the sea, the world of antiquity, the mysteries of the oracles, the notion of borders and the pastoral are all very central to my way of thinking. In Cyprus, different layers of history are frequently superimposed on a single building that might still preserve its Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman features in its layers of stone and architecture. Similarly, ancient ruins or the barbed wire of modern conflict often interrupt placid fields. An isthmus, therefore, can be seen to symbolize my artistic struggle to join strikingly different experiences and notions in a cohesive way. Similar to an isthmus, in this short piece, I connect these experiences with the purpose of creating a distinct and unique sonic context, connecting technology and tradition, the pastoral with the urban, the musical with the extra-musical and the abstract with the concrete. For example, the choir does not always sing in the traditional sense, but the singers imitate various natural sounds, such as water, air, crickets or birds, to create a vivid visual impression for the work. Scandinavian herding calls blend with field recordings from the seas of Cyprus and the lakes of Upstate New York, communicated within clearly defined, singular acoustic sources and spaces through wireless speakers. The text used is both onomatopoeic, articulating an imaginary language, but also literal, with a setting of the poem, “To make a prairie” by the iconic American poet Emily Dickinson and a tiny fragment from Callimachus’ “Hymn to Demeter.” Technology is used sparsely and very intentionally to articulate the expressive qualities of pastoral imagery, creating one unified synthetic timbre with the choristers’ sounds. This piece is dedicated to the wonderful singers of the Georgia Institute of Technology Chamber Choir with special thanks to Professors Hsu and Ulrich, without whose support this composition would not have been possible. Practical notes: A choir of no less than 24 singers is sought with 4 additional soloists (2 Sopranos and 2 Altos). Each singer must have their own wireless speaker, secured either in the music folder or as a strap inside their shirts. All sounds must match in volume the sound from the speakers, creating one unified timbre. The speakers should not be noticeable to the public. The four soloists are placed offstage at the beginning of the work. From 1:35’ onwards they enter the hall and take their positions, ideally at the four corners of the hall. If the hall is too large, the singers can find alternate positions, but these should always be antiphonal. The four soloists sing predominantly in the “kulning” style and the antiphonal aspect is very important to the work. There are two sound files for each section (SATB) that are triggered by each singer’s mobile device. The first occurs at the start of the piece, and the second, about a minute before the end. The sound files are able to be purchased separately, on CD, or are available directly from UYMP.
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