Matériel : Octavo
SKU: GI.G-7474
UPC: 785147747406. English. Text by H. Leslie Adams.
An interesting Christmas piece from the African-American series. It begins as a quiet lullaby in G-flat major and gradually goes into a brief triumph praise section in E major. Then back again to the quiet G-flat lullaby.
SKU: HL.35031925
ISBN 9781540013705. UPC: 888680719890. 6.75x10.5 inches.
Translating as “Hush” or “Quiet child, baby, little one,” this arrangement incorporates a South African folk song lullaby with additional original music using lyrics from another South African lullaby. The subtle percussion, included in the choral, is played lightly as the piece begins in unison, then a round, adding harmony and later a descant which provides a “heavenly” layer above the folk melody.
SKU: PR.140401330
ISBN 9781491134412. UPC: 680160684939.
Natha niel Dett was among America’s leading composers in the early 20th century, and MAGNOLIA SUITE is a beautiful example of his rich, hybrid style. Deeply inspired by the music and mission of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Dett’s piano music springs from the late Romantic traditions of florid texture and embellishment, along with programmatic titles and raw emotion. It is notable for melody writing inspired by and paraphrasing African-American song. The 18-minute MAGNOLIA SUITE contains five movements, any of which may also be performed separately. This edition by Lara Downes provides a clean, new engraving that corrects the many errors and unclear indications appearing in the historical printing.Robert Nathaniel Dett was born in a place that was built on freedom. The little village of Drummondville, Ontario was founded by enslaved Africans – Dett’s ancestors among them – who traveled the Underground Railroad out of the American South into Canada. Their journey brought them to a safe haven, a place where fortunes and futures could be transformed in the span of one generation, to lives full of new possibilities. You could call it “the place where the rainbow ends,” which is the title of the last movement of Dett’s Magnolia Suite.When Dett wrote these pieces, he was a young teacher at Lane College in Tennessee, a historically Black college that had been founded in 1882, the year of his birth. A place built on freedom, with the purpose of educating newly-emancipated slaves – a place designed to nurture the blossoming of ideas, the vibrant flowering of minds set free. This music is inspired by the gorgeous splendor of the magnolia blooms on that college campus, and also by the shared histories, experiences, and aspirations of the community that Dett found there.These five pieces pay affectionate tribute to lineage and legacy. They express gratitude for the bittersweet beauties of the present; nostalgia for the past (a bit romanticized, as the past always is); and an effervescent optimism for the future that awaits us in the place where the rainbow ends.
SKU: CF.SC92
ISBN 9781491162293. UPC: 680160921041.
Origi nally written for violin and piano, William Grant Still's Suite for Violin and Orchestra was inspired by significant artists of the Harlem Renaissance. Each of the three movements depict three sculptures created in the 1930s: Richmond Barthé’s African Dancer, Sargent Johnson’s Mother and Child, and Augusta Savage’s Gamin. The suite follows traditional fast-slow-fast Classical form. The first movement, African Dancer, illustrates the unrestrained urgency of the dancing figure using varying tempi and hints of the jazz. Mother and Child, later arranged for string orchestra alone, sings a gently syncopated melody in a soothing lullaby. The final movement, like the child in the sculpture Gamin, invokes mischievous and playful motifs with blues-infused fiddle techniques.
SKU: AP.46554
UPC: 038081531298. Swahili. Traditional Lesotho Lullaby.
A combination of the traditional Lesotho lullaby with some original words and music, this arrangement pairs a simple African text with English lyrics on the same topic. All parts sing in unison first, laying the groundwork for both two and three part canons which soon develop. Legato verses and a hushed bridge provide nice contrast to the form. Choreography is on Alfred's Movin' DVD.
About Alfred Choral Designs
Th e Alfred Choral Designs Series provides student and adult choirs with a variety of secular choral music that is useful, practical, educationally appropriate, and a pleasure to sing. To that end, the Choral Designs series features original works, folk song settings, spiritual arrangements, choral masterworks, and holiday selections suitable for use in concerts, festivals, and contests.
SKU: AP.46553
UPC: 038081531281. Swahili. Traditional Lesotho Lullaby.
SKU: AP.46556
UPC: 038081531311. Swahili. Traditional Lesotho Lullaby.
SKU: AP.46555
UPC: 038081531304. Swahili. Traditional Lesotho Lullaby.
