An intimate essay in wind sonority and a moving farewell in the face of personal loss – and one in particular, remembered with affection. Imaginatively and subtly scored, this elegy has strength, gentleness, warmth and above all poetry. Not technically demanding, but needing sympathetic direction. Suitable for solemn occasions or when your concert calls for a moment of reflection. 7 minutes
Category: SLOW TUNES - Grade 3.5 Composer: Chris M. Bernotas
Grade: 3.5
Duration: 4:15
"Beginning with an unresolved emotion and motive, ""Finding a Way"" travels through many emotions looking for a way to find resolution and comfort, conveying an uplifting and hopeful spirit that ultimately finds peace. When healing has had a chance to occur, sadness and sorrow can become replaced with delight and excitement of our memories. The piece concludes with a restatement of the opening, questioning motive, but this time with the question answered. (4:15)"
Category: SLOW TUNES - Grade 3.5 Composer: Chris M. Bernotas
Grade: 3.5
Duration: 4:15
"Beginning with an unresolved emotion and motive, ""Finding a Way"" travels through many emotions looking for a way to find resolution and comfort, conveying an uplifting and hopeful spirit that ultimately finds peace. When healing has had a chance to occur, sadness and sorrow can become replaced with delight and excitement of our memories. The piece concludes with a restatement of the opening, questioning motive, but this time with the question answered. (4:15)"
Category: SLOW TUNES - Grade 3.5 Composer: Richard L. Saucedo
Grade 3.5
In this touching composition, Richard Saucedo has created a collage of feelings and emotions associated with losing someone near and dear. Along with a sense of sadness, the piece also reflects feelings of frustration and anger we often feel at these times. It is the composer's hope that this musical tribute will help remind us all that music is for everybody.
Categories: SLOW TUNES - Grade 3.5, CHRISTMAS MUSIC - Grade 3.5, New & Recent Titles Composer: John Rutter Arranger: Monty Musgrave
Grade 3.0 Duration 4.00
John Rutter (b.1945) is one of England's best known composers of choral literature. While his choral works, including "Te Deum," "Magnificat," and "Requiem," are the most familiar, he has also written numerous instrumental works. Rutter composed the "Nativity Carol" for SATB chorus and organ in 1963, and it was published in 1967 as part of a collection entitled Carols for Two Choirs. Although the title suggests a seasonal work, its musical richness lends itself favorably for performance at any time of the year. (4:00)
Category: SLOW TUNES - Grade 3.5 Composer: Vincent Persichetti
Grade 3.5 Duration 6.0
About the Music: 0 COOL IS THE VALLEY parallels the mood of the James Joyce poem. It is a colorful but quiet piece requiring meaningful melodic playing and sensitive phrasing. The opening motive generates the pastoral musical textures of two contrasting themes.
This work was commissioned by the Ohio Music Education Association and first performed by the Bowling Green State University Band, the composer conducting, in Columbus, Ohio on February 5, 1972.
Vincent Persichetti was born on June 6, 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the age of 5 he began studying piano and subsequently organ, double bass, tuba, theory and composition. By the age of 11, he was performing professionally as an accompanist, radio staff pianist and church organist. In 1939 Persichetti became head of the composition department at Combs College and in 1941 was appointed head of the theory and composition departments at the Philadelphia Conservatory. In 1947 he joined the faculty of the Juilliard School of Music, assuming chairmanship of the composition department in 1963. Over the years, Vincent Persichetti has been accorded many honors by the artistic and academic communities, including Honorary Doctor of Music degrees from Combs College and Bucknell University, an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Baldwin-Wallace College and honorary membership in numerous musical fraternities. He is the recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships, a grant from the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities and one from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, of which he is a member. He has received the Juilliard Publication Award, the Blue Network.Chamber Music Award,Columbia Records Chamber Music Award, Symphony League Award and citations from the American Bandmasters Association and the National Catholic Music Educators Association.
The Other Side was written as a farewell to a loved one. Following the melancholy theme of mourning in a minor key we also hear the happy memories in major key and also the knowledge that the person who has gone to ‘a better place’ is now at peace. This is a soulful and calm work that leaves plenty of space for the musicians’ and listeners’ own thoughts. This set includes optional parts for piano and vibraphone.
Category: SLOW TUNES - Grade 3.5 Composer: Andrew Boysen, Jr.
Grade 3.5
Duration 8:40
I was commissioned by Director Tony Brown and the Mehlville High School Band to write a piece for band in honor of John Kinnison's retirement as Mehlville High School Band Director. Dedicating his professional life to both his love for music and his students, Mr. Kinnison spent twenty-four years of his thirty-year career as a music teacher at Mehlville high School.
The title: "A Song of Loudest Praise" is derived from words found in the first verse of the traditional hymn "Come thou Fount of Every Blessing" (NETTLETON), and the music uses many of the motives and melodies found in that hymn.
Many of the ideas used in this piece were inspired by a two hour phone conversation with Mr. Kinnison regarding his bacckground in music. Thus, I chose to prominently feature the two instruments of Mr. Kinnison's young performance years: the piano and the trumpet.
The composition opens with a quiet piano and percussion "music box" playing. This introductory statement represents Kinnison's earliest musical memories of sitting on the piano bench with his grandmother. While she would play standard show tunes, hymns, and folk songs, three year old Mr. Kinnison would sing along and try to "plunk out" the melodies that "Granny" would play using the upper register of the old upright piano. Mr. Kinnison's parents could not afford the expense of a real piano at that time, so his first piano lessons began on a little toy piano. This instrument produced a thin, tinny music box sound, represented by the instrumentation used in the opening statement.
As the piece continues, parts of the hymn's melody with the full band are quoted. The musical ideas are developed there by using various solo instruments including the "special effect" of the trumpet playing directly into the piano. Using alternating meters and rhythmic variety that hint at Mr. Kinnison's jazz background, lively themes are added with exuberance. After another quiet interplay between trumpet and various instruments, the composition grows into a powerful (4/4) statement of the original (3/4) hymn with many of the rhythmic motives interjected as well. The full ensemble builds to a climax — stopping at the third line of the verse, just one line short of completion.
The quiet conclusion of the last line once again fades quietly away, retiring to its simple beginnings and the peaceful sounds of the music box.
Categories: SLOW TUNES - Grade 3.5, New & Recent Titles Composer: Robert Sheldon
Grade 3.5 Duration 5.30
"With Every Sunrise" is a lyrical composition that is all at once poignant, uplifting, and wistful, yet hopeful in its presentation. Moments of power and joy contrast with the gentle nature of the piece, providing a vehicle for a broad range of expressive possibilities. (5:30)
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