Dan Welcher’s most enduringly and frequently played orchestral work, Prairie Light is a fascinating musical companion to three of Georgia O’Keeffe’s most unusual paintings, Light Coming on the Plains, Canyon with Crows, and Starlight Night. This work is ideal for performances using visual projections of the paintings, and is frequently programmed for subscription concerts as well as those for educational settings. Duration: 14’ Parts available on rental.
This work for full orchestra was inspired by three paintings of the noted Americanartist Georgia O’Keeffe. These three watercolors were done in 1917 while the artist was living in Canyon, Texas (near Amarillo), and deal primarily with color and shape. Consequently, the music is primarily concerned with broad lines and shapes rather than rhythms, with subtle washes of color rather than constant harmonic movement, and with arching melody instead of linear counterpoint.The first movement, Light Coming on the Plains, is an elliptical-shaped painting, deep blue to indigo with a “horizon” at the bottom that seems flat and unchanging. The sun hasn’t risen yet, although it does in the course of this movement, but it seems instead to be providing light from behind the canvas. The music is unmoving in terms of rhythm or harmony (although there is a modulation midway through), a color-infused mantra of sound that is almost Eastern.At the height of the sun, we proceed to the second movement, entitled Canyon with Crows. The canyon is red-orange, with black crows circling above friendly unfolding hills. The music is gentle but lively and more rhythmic, with the birds represented by solo oboe, clarinet, and sometimes flute. Halfway through, the brass have a chorale version of the opening motive, played very slowly, over the unending triplets of woodwinds and strings. At the end of the movement, the birds return for a duo-cadenza, accompanied by the dying rays of the sun in muted strings and the ongoing triplets of the solo quartet.The stage is set for the final movement, Starlight Night. In O’Keeffe’s painting, the stars are represented by regularly-spaced rectangles of bright pale yellow on a blue-black sky, with the same shape to the field of vision and the horizon that is found in Light Coming on the Plains. The stars become audible: harp, celesta, glockenspiel, and string pizzicati all lend a sparkle while a solo flute introduces a slowly unfolding theme. After this theme has been heard twice and the sky has begun to really brighten, there is a sudden interruption: a xylophone and a piano begin another “mantra” in brittle staccato chords. This is the same mechanical eternity as O’Keeffe’s regularly-spaced square stars, and it continues on its own as the night progresses. The music builds and grows as the moon rises and arcs, then falls as the pre-dawn light that opened the work returns to bring it to a close. Acycle of light, changing with the movements of sun, moon, and stars, appearing differently from various points of view

Easy Piano Piano/Keyboard

SKU: HL.282475

The New Decade Series. Composed by Various. Easy Piano Songbook. Standards. Softcover. 360 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.282475).

ISBN 9781540034328. UPC: 888680789190. 9.0x12.0x0.847 inches.

Music is what helped many keep their spirits up during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Here are 100 of the most memorable songs of the decade presented in easy piano arrangements with lyrics. Songs include: As Time Goes By * Blue Moon * Body and Soul * Embraceable You * Georgia on My Mind * The Glory of Love * How Deep Is the Ocean (How High Is the Sky) * I Don't Know Why (I Just Do) * I Got Rhythm * I'll Be Seeing You * In the Mood * The Lady Is a Tramp * Love Is Here to Stay * Mood Indigo * My Funny Valentine * The Nearness of You * Over the Rainbow * Sing, Sing, Sing * Summertime * Thanks for the Memory * The Very Thought of You * The Way You Look Tonight * and more.

Concert band - Grade 4

SKU: MH.1-59913-072-6

Composed by Timothy Broege. Suitable for high school, community, and college bands. Conductor score and set of parts. Duration 7:00. Published by Manhattan Beach Music (MH.1-59913-072-6).

ISBN 9781599130729.

Prog ram Notes: It was a happy coincidence that the commission for SINFONIA XVI: TRANSCENDENTAL VIENNA came from the Henry David Thoreau School located in Vienna, Virginia. Thoreau is one of the magic names in American culture: Henry David Thoreau, one of the leading figures of the Transcendentalist movement, centered in 19th-century New England, left us a body of unique philosophical and poetical writings. To utter the words, Walden Pond, is to invoke an America long past in physical actuality, but still present in the minds and hearts of many American citizens. The name, Vienna, of course, summons thoughts of the Old World: culture, fine food, wine, civilized cities. While contemplating the form that SINFONIA XVI should take, I found myself thinking of two pillars of Viennese culture: expressionism and the waltz. Musically speaking, expressionism reached a zenith in the works of Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg. It was Berg, in particular, that I wanted to invoke in the outer movements of my composition. I knew I would also have to include a waltz, and an invocation of the mysterious forces that are contained in both expressionism and transcendentalism. Thus was the structure of the work generated. The outer movements with their vision of the night sky and the stars, Aldebaran and Sirius, frame the central movements, which are essentially two versions of the same material, and are quieter and less dramatic. The outer movements are symmetrical, and share both pitch and rhythmic materials. Accordingly, I see the work as a ternary form, with the central movements forming a unit within the outer frame: A (Movement 1) B (Movements 2 & 3) A' (Movement 4). Harmonically, the work can be summarized by the two pitch-series which occur in the opening bars of Movement 1: the initial 12-note row, with a tonal center on F-sharp (measures 1-6), and the subsequent D-minor Dorian 7-note row (beginning in measure 14). Aspects of these materials occur in all four movements, but they are most strongly present in Movements 1 and 4. Note that the 12-note row is not subjected to the usual serial procedures, but instead is treated as a signifier and is left unchanged. Since the fourth movement takes up where the first movement leaves off, I can conceive of one interpretation of SINFONIA XVI as an evocation of Thoreau himself contemplating two of the brightest stars on a clear, cold night. Aldebaran is an orange, first-magnitude star, located in the constellation Taurus; Sirius, the Dog Star, is the brightest star in the sky, and is located in the constellation Canis Major. Thoreau interrupts his star-gazing to entertain some inward thoughts, waking dreams, as it were, then returns his gaze to the splendid night sky and all its treasures. Although many other interpretations of the material are possible, it is important to remember that the abstract materials of the piece -- pitch, rhythm, structure -- are what count the most. Ensemble instrumentation: 1 Piccolo, 4 Flute 1, 4 Flute 2, 3 Oboe, 1 Eb Clarinet (opt.), 4 Bb Clarinet 1, 4 Bb Clarinet 2, 4 Bb Clarinet 3, 3 Bass Clarinet, 3 Bassoon, 3 Eb Alto Saxophone 1, 3 Eb Alto Saxophone 2, 2 Bb Tenor Saxophone, 2 Eb Baritone Saxophone, 3 Bb Trumpet 1, 3 Bb Trumpet 2, 3 Bb Trumpet 3, 2 Horn 1, 2 Horn 2, 3 Trombone 1, 3 Trombone 2, 3 Euphonium B.C., 2 Euphonium T.C., 5 Tuba, 2 Timpani, 3 Percussion 1, 3 Percussion 2, 3 Percussion 3, 3 Percussion 4.

C Edition. Fake Book (Includes melody line and chords). Size 9x12 inches. 816 pages. Published by Hal Leonard.

By Stroope. For SATB/SATB choir, a cappella. Choral octavo. Published by Alliance Music Publications. (AMP 0525)

For Recorder. Composed by Various. Instrumental Folio. Children, Disney, Movies. Softcover. Published by Hal Leonard

For Alto Sax. Composed by Various. Instrumental Folio. Softcover. 112 pages. Published by Hal Leonard

For Bells/Glockenspiel. Composed by Various. Instrumental Folio. Children, Disney, Movies. Softcover. 112 pages. Duration 140 seconds. Published by Hal Leonard

40 Great Arrangements for Piano Solo. Composed by Various. Piano Solo Songbook. Softcover. 192 pages. Published by Hal Leonard

Composed by Kyle Pederson. Fold. OCTAVO. 8 pages. Duration 3 minutes, 41 seconds. Carl Fischer Music #CM9609. Published by Carl Fischer Music

For Violin. Composed by Various. Instrumental Folio. Softcover. 112 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (

For Cello. Composed by Various. Instrumental Folio. Softcover. 112 pages. Published by Hal Leonard

For Trombone. Composed by Various. Instrumental Folio. Softcover. 112 pages. Published by Hal Leonard

For Flute. Composed by Various. Instrumental Folio. Movies, Children, Disney. Softcover. 112 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.244104).

For Trumpet. Composed by Various. Instrumental Folio. Softcover. 112 pages. Published by Hal Leonard

(Words and Chords to Nearly 1200 Songs 9x12 Spiral Bound). Edited by Annie Patterson and Peter Blood. For Vocal. Vocal. Softcover. 304 pages. Published by Hal Leonard

(Words and Chords to Nearly 1200 Songs Spiral-Bound). Edited by Annie Patterson and Peter Blood. For Vocal. Vocal. Softcover. 304 pages. Published by Hal Leonard