SKU: PR.114419980

UPC: 680160681723. 9 x 12 inches.

The ancient Egyptian empire began around 3100 B.C. and continued for over 3000 years until Alexander the Great conquered the country in 332 B.C. Over the centuries, the Egyptian empire grew and flourished into a highly developed society. They invented hieroglyphics, built towering pyramids (including the Great Pyramid of Giza, the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the World), and the created many household items we still use today, including toothbrushes, toothpaste, eyeliner, black ink, and the forerunner of modern-day paper. Included among their achievements were a series of highly developed funerary practices and beliefs in the Afterlife. As the average lifespan of an Egyptian hovered around 30 years, living past the death of oneAs physical body was a legitimate concern. Egyptians believed that upon death, their souls would undertake a harrowing journey through the Netherworld. If they survived the horrific creatures and arduous trials that awaited them, then their souls would be reunified with their bodies (hence the need to preserve the body through mummification) and live forever in a perfect version of the life they had lived in Egypt. To achieve this, Egyptians devised around 200 magical spells and incantations to aid souls on the path to the Afterlife. These spells are collectively called The Book of the Dead. Particular spells would be chosen by the family of the deceased and inscribed on the tombAs walls and scrolls of papyrus, as well as on a stone scarab placed over the deceasedAs heart. Subsequent collections of spells and mortuary texts, such as The Book of Gates, assisted a soul in navigating the twelve stages of the Netherworld. Not only did these spells protect and guide the soul on this dangerous path, but they also served as a safeguard against any unbecoming behavior an Egyptian did while alive. For instance, if a person had robbed another while alive, there was a spell that would prevent the soulAs heart from revealing the truth when in the Hall of Judgment. Rites for the Afterlife follows the path of a soul to the Afterlife. In Inscriptions from the Book of the Dead (movement 1), the soul leaves the body and begins the journey, protected by spells and incantations written on the tombAs walls. In Passage though the Netherworld (movement 2), the soul is now on a funerary barque, being towed through the Netherworld by four of the regionAs inhabitants. We hear the soul slowly chanting incantations as the barque encounters demons, serpents, crocodiles, lakes of fire, and other terrors. The soul arrives at The Hall of Judgment in movement 3. Standing before forty-two divine judges, the soul addresses each by name and gives a A!negative confessionA(r) connected to each judge (i.e. A!I did not rob,A(r) A!I did not do violence,A(r) and so on). Afterwards, the soulAs heart is put on a scale to be weighed against a feather of MaAat, the goddess of truth. If the heart weighs more than the feather, it will be eaten by Ammut, a hideous creature that lies in wait below the scale, and the soul will die a second and permanent death (this was the worst fear of the Egyptians). But if the heart is in balance with the feather, the soul proceeds onward. The final stage of the journey is the arrival at The Field of Reeds (movement 4), which is a perfect mirror image of the soulAs life in ancient Egypt. The soul reunites with deceased family members, makes sacrifices to the Egyptian gods and goddess, harvests crops from plentiful fields of wheat under a brilliant blue sky, and lives forever next to the abundant and nourishing waters of the Nile. Rites for the Afterlife was commissioned by the Barlow Endowment on behalf of the Akropolis Reed Quintet, Calefax Reed Quintet, and the Brigham Young University Reed Quintet. -S.G.

SKU: BT.MUSM570361922

English.

The song repertoire has its origins in the late nineteenth century when every household had a piano and for much of the twentieth century, singers and their pianist collaborators were able to create recital programmes from a deep reservoir of European and North American song. The recital genre became more sophisticated as the century progressed and metamorphosed from a miscellaneous collection of lollipops to something altogether more sophisticated, often featuring elaborate themes which would enable the music to be presented in a variety of new contexts. In the twenty first century opportunities for recitalists are fewer and programmes still tend to focus on the much-loved butwell-explored repertoire. We hope this collection will contribute to a broadening of possibilities for recitalists or anyone who just wants something new to sing. There are several songs for voice and piano but some require other instruments. There is a wide range of styles. We have resisted the temptation to grade them by difficulty, as our criteria were more broadly performative and musical rather than didactic. All selected composers have a particular sympathy for the singing voice, so there is nothing that cannot be sung by a competent performer. The songs generally have a designated voice type, but this shouldn't be thought of as prescriptive; they are designed to be flexible and to offer the maximum opportunity for creative interpretation. They range from the curious and quirky to the virtuosic and challenging, the intense and mysterious to the sad and the light-hearted. We hope that many performers will find their tastes represented here. Compiled by David Blake and John Potter. Edited by Michael Hooper.

SKU: CF.H84

ISBN 9781491165539. UPC: 680160924530.

Marcel Tournier (1879–1951) was one of the most important harpist/composers in the history of the harp. Over his long career, he added a significant catalogue of very beautiful works to the harp repertoire. Many of his solo works, almost one hundred, have been consistently in print since they were first published. But in recent years harpist Carl Swanson has discovered a treasure trove of pieces by Tournier heretofore unknown and unpublished. These include the Déchiffrages in this edition, as well as songs set for voice, harp, and string quartet, and ensemble arrangements of some of his most beloved works.All of the works that Carl Swanson found were in manuscript only. With the help of the great harpist Catherine Michel, he has put these pieces into playable form, and they are being published for the very first time. He and Catherine often had to re-notate passages to show clearly how they could be played, adding fingerings and musical nuances, tempos, pedals, and pedal diagrams.Tournier wrote these pieces when he was in his 20s, and before he became the impressionistic composer those familiar with his work know so well. They are written in the late nineteenth-century romantic style that was being taught at that time at the Paris Conservatory. They are beautiful short, intermediate level pieces by a first rate composer, and add much needed repertoire to that level of playing.
Marcel Tournier (1879–1951) was one of the most important harpist/composers in the history of the harp. He graduated from the Paris Conservatory with a first prize in harp in 1899. He also studied composition there and won a second prize in the prestigious Prix de Rome competition, as well as a first prize in the Rossini competition, another major composition competition of the day. From 1912 to 1948 he taught the harp class at the Paris Conservatory. But composition, and almost entirely, composition for the harp, was the main focus of his life. His published works, including many works for solo harp, a few for harp and other instruments, and several songs, number around one hundred pieces.In 2019, while researching Tournier for my edition MARCEL TOURNIER: 10 Pieces for Solo Harp, I discovered that there was a significant list of pieces by this composer that had never been published and were not included on any inventory of his music. Principal on this list were his déchiffrages (pronounced day-she-frahge, like the second syllable in the word garage).The word déchiffrage means sight-reading exercise, and that was their original purpose. Tournier numbered and dated these pieces, with dates ranging from 1900 to 1910, indicating that they were in all likelihood written for Alphonse Hasselmans’ class at the Paris Conservatory. Tournier was probably told how long to make each one, and how difficult. They range in length from two to four pages, with only one in the whole series extending to five, and from thirty to fifty-five measures, with only one extending to eight-five. The level of difficulty for the whole series is intermediate, with some at the easier end, and others at the middle or upper end.We don’t know if they were intended to test students trying to enter the harp class, or if they were used to test students in the class as they played their exams. The fact that they were never published means that students had to not only sight read them, but sight read them in manuscript form!I worked from digital images of the original manuscripts, which are in the private music library of a harpist in France. She had twenty-seven of these pieces, and this edition is the second in a series of three that will publish, for the first time, all of the ones that I have found thus far. The manuscripts themselves consist of little more than notes on the page: no pedals written in, no fingerings, few if any musical nuances and tempo markings, and no clear indication as to which hand plays which notes. These would have been difficult to sight read indeed! My collaborator Catherine Michel and I added musical nuances, fingerings, pedals and pedal diagrams, and tempo indications to put them into their current condition.At the time these were written, Tournier would have been in his twenties, having just graduated from the harp class himself (1899), and might still have been in the composition class. These are the earliest known pieces that he wrote, and they were written at the very beginning of a cultural revolution and upheaval in Paris that was to completely and profoundly alter musical composition. Tournier himself would eventually be caught up in this new way of composing. But not yet.All of the déchiffrages are written in the late romantic style that was being taught at that time at the Paris Conservatory. Each one is built on a clear musical idea, and the variety over the whole series makes them wonderful to listen to as well as to learn. They are also great technical lessons for intermediate level players.The obvious question is: Why didn’t Tournier publish these pieces, and why didn’t he list them on his own inventory of his music? Actually, four of them were published, with small changes, as his collection Four Preludes, Op. 16. These came from the ones that will be in volume three of this series from Carl Fischer. His first large piece, Theme and Variations, was published in 1908, and his two best known and frequently played pieces, Féerie and Au Matin, followed in 1912 and 1913 respectively. We can only speculate because there is so much still unknown about Tournier and about these unpublished pieces. He may have looked at them, fresh out of school as he was, as simply a way to make some quick money. The first several pieces that he did publish are much longer than any of the déchiffrages. So it could be that, because of their shorter length, as well as the earlier musical style that he was moving away from, he chose not to publish any more of them. We may never know the full story. But all these years later, more than a century after they were composed, we can listen to them for their own merits, and not measured against whatever else was going on at the time. The numbers on these pieces are the ones that Tournier assigned to them, and the gaps between some of the numbers suggest that there are perhaps thirty or more of these pieces still to be found, if they still exist. They will, in all likelihood, be found, as these were, in private collections of harp music, not in institutional libraries. We can only hope that more of them will be located in years to come.—Carl SwansonGlossary of French Musical TermsTournier was very precise about how he wanted his pieces played, and carefully communicated this with many musical indications. He used standard Italian words, but also used French words and phrases, and occasionally mixed both together. It is extremely important to observe and understand everything that he put on the page.Here is a list of the French words and phrases found in the pieces in this edition, with their translation.bien chanté well sung, melodiousdécidé firm, resolutediminu peu à peu becoming softer little by littleen diminuant becoming softeren riten. slowing downen se perdant dying awayGaiement gayly, lightlygracieusement gracefully, elegantlyLéger light, quickLent slowmarquez le chant emphasize the melodyModéré at a moderate tempopeu à peu animé more lively, little by littleplus lent slowerRetenu held backsans lenteur without slownesssans retinir without slowing downsec drily, abruptlysoutenu sustained, heldtrès arpegé very arpeggiatedTrès Modéré Very moderate tempoTrès peu retenu slightly held backTrès soutenu very sustainedun peu retenu slightly held back.

SKU: HL.293848

UPC: 888680939434. 5.0x5.0x0.15 inches.

Here is a song by the Script featuring will.i.am about following dreams and making an impact on the world. Powerful lyrics and a strong message wrapped in a medium ballad with a strong rock back beat and a hip style.

SKU: GI.G-8810

ISBN 9781622771103. English.

Create compelling and memorable choral concerts! Developed by a veteran teacher who is widely known for her theatrical choral programs, the 13 ready-made plans here are each unified by theme and dramatic narration. They provide an inspiring template for creating your own programs (with helpful guidelines) — or use them as they are. Each performance script offers new dimensions to presenting and understanding the music. Your singers will be excited, and audiences will be delighted. I had the distinct pleasure of participating in the creative production and execution of many of these wonderful programs. They were the complete arts package: full stage productions that felt like complete shows. The narration, choreography, lighting, props, and of course the music, all combined to create a cohesive choral program that was a delight for all in attendance. Compelling Choral Concerts will be a great resource for beginning choral educators, as well as veteran teachers looking for a well-crafted concert program. I highly recommend this resource. —William D. Lea, Director, Choral Activities Latin School of Chicago This book is a one-of-a-kind, invaluable resource that every arts educator—new or experienced—can benefit and learn from. Choral concerts are not typically theatrical events, but this team has combined music, drama, staging, and movement to create theatrical concert experiences unlike any other. And now, this valuable resource will give you everything you need to provide memorable, entertaining, and thought-provoking concert experiences in your own communities. In addition, this wonderful book also will provide historical and educational value for you to share with the audiences. —Tina Reynolds, BRAVO! Director Oak Park, Illinois Linda Crabtree Powell is an experienced and noted choral teacher who has taught choirs at all levels, and is active as a clinician, accompanist, and singer. Ms. Powell founded the BRAVO! program in Oak Park, Illinois, and now teaches at Trinity High School in River Forest, Illinois. Her script collaborator, the late Valerie Sokol, was active as an actor, director, playwright, and teacher of English. Additional scripts are by Julia Buckley, who teaches high school English and is a published author of mystery novels.

SKU: LP.765762002937

UPC: 765762002937.

Jeff Smith's children's musical, Pirates of the I Don't Care-ibbean, is sure to be a big hit especially if your kids love the hilarious silly songs from VeggieTales, the Pirates of the Caribbean Disney movies and Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie. The musical will reach not only kids, but your congregation with a great message of the Gospel. The story is set inside Pirate Park, home of the Plattsburg Pirates (not to be confused with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jeff's favorite baseball team!). It is a pirate night at the stadium and families are in the bleachers dressed as pirates to support their woefully bad team. Similar to Dorothy traveling back to the Land of Oz, the story starts with a dream sequence where a young fan named Andy gets hit in the head with a baseball and travels to a fantastical island in the Caribbean called Johnny Bay. As the story unfolds, you learn that the pirates don't remember anything about their past or how they came to Johnny Bay. All they know is that they are required to guard the captain's treasure from anyone who may want to steal it away. Creator Jeff Smith wants kids to learn that, You are not created to be on a deserted island, guarding someone else's treasure. Your real treasure is in heaven, not on earth. Avarice is a tool of the enemy to keep you from becoming all God created you to be on earth. In the story, Andy exposes the lies of the evil captain and helps the pirates assume their rightful place on the sea. During a time when pirate movies are popular, this musical will connect with kids as well as adults and draw them in to something that is both fun and spiritually educational.

The DVD includes: Production Video (complete with drama and music scenes, choreography helps, set and prop descriptions) * Production Notes including direction on costuming, staging, and props.

SKU: GI.G-10049