A Song of Winter—Snowmen & Icicles
PhyllisAvidan Louke
Length: 6:45
Difficulty: 3 to 3+

Evocative of a cold and windy dayin winter, A Song of Winter explores the contrasts between thesmoothness and roundness of a snowman and the hardness and jaggedness oficicles.

Beginning with a winter stormwith wind and swirling snow, the wind calms, and the building of a snowmanbegins with the rolling of a snowball. The rolling forms the biggest ball of the snowman (represented by thebass and alto flutes), which is briefly interrupted by a playful snowballfight. The flutes continue the melodyfor the rolling of the second ball of the snowman, followed by the piccolorepresenting the rolling of the smallest ball (the head of the snowman). The melody is smooth and round in a lilting I time.

With the snowman complete, thewind and swirling snow return to lead into the Icicles section. The jaggedness of the icicles is representedby the jaggedness of syncopation in a marcato style with the melody skippinglarger intervals than the Snowmen melody. Visually, the score shows the jagged shape ofthe icicles. Double-tongued ascendingand descending lines, add to hard and brittle feeling of the icicles, as wellas to the shape of the melody. Thepiccolo adds the glistening, shimmering effect of sunlight reflecting off the icicles. Eventually, fragments of the Snowmenmelody are interspersed with the Icicles, followed by a final windstorm, which calms at the end of the piece.

Christmas
Winter
Winter Holidays
Stormy
Concert
Original Composition