SKU: AP.46946

UPC: 038081535951. English.

James Taylor's beautiful ballad gains new life in this simply stated a cappella setting by arranger Kirby Shaw. Sensible voice leading makes chords easy to tune, uncomplicated rhythms allow the text to speak. Awesome, accessible writing in every edition.

About Alfred Pop Choral Series

The Alfred Pop Series features outstanding arrangements of songs from the popular music genre. These publications provide exciting, contemporary, and educationally-sound arrangements for singers of all ages, from elementary through high school, to college and adult choirs.

SKU: PR.312416820

UPC: 680160050376. 8.5 x 11 inches.

Chen Yi’s most performed and most beloved choral music is a series of 10 Chinese folk songs adapted for S.A.T.B. Chorus (published in 3 volumes: 312-41731, 312-41732, 312-41733). This special version is a setting of the familiar collection, adapted for children’s chorus and strings.
Remembering when I studied composition in the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, I learned to sing hundreds of Chinese folk songs collected from more than twenty provinces and fifty ethnic groups, and went to countryside to collect original folk music every year.  I got to know that the folk songs are a mirror of people’s daily lives, their thoughts and sentiments, local customs and manners.  They are sung in regional dialects and use the idioms of everyday speech with their particular intonations, accents and cadences.  This correlation between speech and music distinguishes folk songs of one region from another.  I learned all songs by heart and sang them back in the exams every week.  They melted in my blood and became my natural music language.  The more I walk into the music life,the more I treasure the rich culture I have learned from my homeland. When I became the Composer-in-Residence of Chanticleer and was invited to write the first work for its concert program, as well as another version for its Singing-In-The-Schools program, I decided to introduce A Set of Chinese Folk Songs to my American audiences, and add a new flavor to Chanticleer’srich repertoire.  The work includes ten folk songs, taken from eight provinces (Anhui, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Shanxi, Taiwan, Sinkiang, Jiangsu and Guizhou) and five ethnic groups (Han, Hasake, Uighur, Miao and Yi).  I arranged them for choirs (men’s or children’s chorus) with various combinations in voices, to be sung mostly in Chinese, some in English.   From the mysterious mountain songs originally sung in the open air with high and long notes that can carry over great distances, the sweet and delicate melodies of young love compared with nature, the humorous antiphony by little children, and the lively dancing tune by villagers, you may get an idea of various music styles in Chinese folk songs according to geographic, ethnic and linguistic differences, and appreciate the beauty of the Chinese folk music.  The pure choir sound and the sophisticated singing by Chanticleer, in terms of pitches, language and musical expressions, really attract and inspire me to create some more new works in the years to come.  In thisedition of A Set of Chinese Folk Songs for standard SATB mixed choir (with piano rehearsal score), I divided these ten songs into three volumes.  They are Fengyang Song, The Flowing Stream, Guessing, Thinking of My Darling, Mayila, Jasmine Flower, Riding on a Mule, Awariguli, Diu Diu Deng, andMountain Song and Dancing Tune.—Chen Yi.

SKU: HL.147432

UPC: 888680073817. 6.75x10.5x0.024 inches.

Your pianist takes an equal role in this exquisite ballad that is tinged with melancholy. A superb selection for a more mature or community ensemble. Here's to life, here's to love and here's to you..

SKU: HL.35007891

UPC: 747510013686. 6.75x10.5 inches.

Don Besig's attention to each detail in his compositions has made him one of most successful composers in our catalogue. This best-selling neo-spiritual has encouraged many choirs during its successful life and we are pleased to remind directors of its joyful excellence. A variety of a cappella voicings are available for this true Shawnee classic!

SKU: HL.35030548

ISBN 9781495035913. UPC: 888680082222. 6.75x10.5 inches. Pamela Stewart/Greg Gilpin.

Premiered at Carnegie Hall for the Shawnee Press 75th Anniversary, this powerful and inspirational work, now set for TTBB voices, sings of “hope” described through the phases of life, such as a newborn's cry, the laughter of children, the ashes of the fire of love that has died, the quiet comfort of a dream. Set to haunting and dynamic music with piano or optional orchestra, the work comes to a moving conclusion of “hope is not lost...hope will arise.” Gorgeous, moving and timely.