SKU: CF.CPS251F

ISBN 9781491159880. UPC: 680160918478.

About the Music Semper Gratus is Latin for always grateful. The piece was written in honor of James E. Champion, who taught band for thirty-eight years, twenty-five of which were spent in Florence, Alabama, where he was my elementary school and high school band director. His bands consistently achieved superior ratings throughout his career. He holds multi-decade-spanning memberships in professional music education organizations, continues to serve in helping with Alabama Bandmasters Association events, and conducts and performs in various community bands and ensembles. As my band director at Bradshaw High School, Mr. Champion encouraged me to perform one of my first compositions, a clarinet quartet, at solo/ensemble festival. He taught his students the fundamentals of music, the technical aspects of performance, and exposed them to the great standards of band literature. But in doing so, he also modeled leadership, work-ethic, good character, and fostered the love of the activity of band that led me to choose music education as a career. And for that, I will always be grateful. Performance Notes Measures 1-12: The beginning of the piece should be performed in a majestic, fanfare-like style. The woodwind cues should only be used if absolutely needed during this section. Measures 41-58: The concert toms should establish a presence, but not overpower the winds. The triangle and woodblock parts should be heard distinctly over the concert toms. A higher pitched woodblock should be used for this section. (A set of claves could be used in place of the woodblock if desired.) Measures 59-94: The entirety of the middle section should be played in a rubato style to maximize musical expression, exaggerating dynamics and ritardando sections. The quarter-note triplets in the middle and low winds should be emphasized at m. 70. The molto ritardando that begins at m. 70 should be allowed to build as long as possible in m. 71 before reaching the musical apex of the middle section at m. 72. At mm. 92-94, depending on the size of the ensemble, you may want to limit the number of players (or put one per part) to achieve the most delicate sound possible. Measures 95-End: In mm. 99-107, be sure that the eighth-note running mallet parts are heard as a background texture, but do not overpower the winds. In mm. 114-115, the accents on beats 2 and 4 in the lower winds should be exaggerated to contrast the feel of the previous four measures. In m. 118, all winds should cut off and breathe on beat two for maximum impact on the next three measures.
About the MusicSemper Gratus is Latin for “always grateful.” The piece was written in honor of James E. Champion, who taught band for thirty-eight years, twenty-five of which were spent in Florence, Alabama, where he was my elementary school and high school band director. His bands consistently achieved superior ratings throughout his career. He holds multi-decade-spanning memberships in professional music education organizations, continues to serve in helping with Alabama Bandmasters Association events, and conducts and performs in various community bands and ensembles. As my band director at Bradshaw High School, Mr. Champion encouraged me to perform one of my first compositions, a clarinet quartet, at solo/ensemble festival. He taught his students the fundamentals of music, the technical aspects of performance, and exposed them to the great standards of band literature.  But in doing so, he also modeled leadership, work-ethic, good character, and fostered the love of the activity of band that led me to choose music education as a career.  And for that, I will always be grateful.Performance NotesMeasures 1-12:   The beginning of the piece should be performed in a majestic, fanfare-like style.  The woodwind cues should only be used if absolutely needed during this section.Measures 41-58:   The concert toms should establish a presence, but not overpower the winds.   The triangle and woodblock parts should be heard distinctly over the concert toms.  A higher pitched woodblock should be used for this section.  (A set of claves could be used in place of the woodblock if desired.) Measures 59-94:   The entirety of the middle section should be played in a rubato style to maximize musical expression, exaggerating dynamics and ritardando sections.   The quarter-note triplets in the middle and low winds should be emphasized at m. 70.   The molto ritardando that begins at m. 70 should be allowed to build as long as possible in m. 71 before reaching the musical apex of the middle section at m. 72. At mm. 92–94, depending on the size of the ensemble, you may want to limit the number of players (or put one per part) to achieve the most delicate sound possible.Measures 95-End:   In mm. 99–107, be sure that the eighth-note running mallet parts are heard as a background texture, but do not overpower the winds. In mm. 114–115, the accents on beats 2 and 4 in the lower winds should be exaggerated to contrast the feel of the previous four measures.  In m. 118, all winds should cut off and breathe on beat two for maximum impact on the next three measures.

SKU: PR.11440986S

UPC: 680160014651.

Here I have adapted a standard musical form to a contemporary medium. The concertino is a small concerto: a one-movement work that draws upon the basic principles of the concerto form - two bodies of sound which at times compete, contrast, or act together. The piece explores the musical possibilities of Roto-toms. The sound of these drums is a cross between a tom-tom and a timpani, and their pitch is changed by rotating the drum. During the course of the work, the various effects used include pitch and fingernail glissandi; playing on the rims; and playing on the heads with fingers, brushes, timpani sticks, wood mallets or rattan. Harmonics on the octave and the fourth above the fundamental pitch are produced by the drums when weights (in this case, small pitched cymbales called crotales) are placed in the center of the drum heads. In return the drum itself acts a resonator for the crotales, which also have a fundamental pitch when played on the face and a partial a fifth above when played on the center dome. The opening section of the concertino introduces a motive, played by the soloist, while the ensemble sustains a bowed chord on the vibraphone. Following this cadenza-like introduction, the piece gradually moves into a bright 6/8 tempo that is characterized by constant sixteenth notes in all parts. After a brief period of interaction, the ensemble continues its sixteenth notes patterns and the soloist plays and improvised solo. Next, an interlude is presented by the ensemble which leads to a dramatic recapitulation by the soloist of the motivic material. A thematically-derived coda concludes the work. Encounters VI, commissioned by Remo Belli, is dedicated to Jennifer Kraft, the composer's daughter. The premiere performance took place in 1976 at the MENC National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and was performed by the Temple University Percussion Ensemble conducted by Glenn Steele. --William Kraft.

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.14011617

ISBN 9788759872031. Danish.

Per Norgard FOR A CHANGEThe title 'For a Change' refers to the Chinese 'Book of Changes' ('I Ching'), which has been consulted in situations of choice for millenia. In the I Ching, 64 states of being determine the full cycle of the phases of life. From these I selected four, the sequence of which progresses from a situation from which there is apparently no solution, to a (temporary) relief.In the first movement 'Thunder repeated, the Image of Shock', a vicious circle of claustrophobic, closed circuits is represented by the tom-tom part. This is followed by tam-tams and wood sounds, but returns full-circle to the tom-toms.The second movement 'The taming Power of the small' has its origins in the violence of the first movement, but this time lets it resolve in a long glide upwards which stars with voice sounds 'borrowed' from the Beatles' 'Revolution no 9' which are then transmitted to the other instruments.The third movement is 'The Gentle, The Penetrating' in which lyrical poetry dominates with gentle bell-like sounds and delicate tunes. Finally the sovereign, many-layered world of rhythm triumphs in the fourth movement: 'Towards Completion. Fire over Water', the main movement of the work.'For a Change' was premiered on 27.2. 1983 with the Sealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tamas Veto. Soloist was Gert Mortensen whom the work is dedicated.