How About You? SATB

Novello New Choral Series-Craig McLeish writes of The Negro Speaks of Rivers; Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was the first black American to earn his living from writing. He was an innovator of jazz poetry becoming part of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s. He wrote plays short stories novels and his poetry was widely read. He was also a journalist columnist and lecturer. The Negro Speaks of Rivers was perhaps his earliest published work written when only 17 and while travelling by train to Mexico to visit his father. As the train crossed the Mississippi he suddenly began thinking about how rivers had impacted on Negro history particularly in the fight against slavery.The four rivers mentioned in the poem lent themselves to using musical influences from those particular regions. However I have tried to keep these links fairly tenuous to avoid overt pastiche. A few years ago I was fortunate enough to work with Congolese musicians. These sessions led to the intricate rhythms in The Congo. The Mississippi mentions New Orleans so a jazz fugue seemed the most appropriate compositional device to weave into the texture. The spirit of The Nile was gauged from many hours listening avidly to Egyptian music.Craig McLeish began his musical life as a chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral. As a bass guitarist conductor musical arranger and composer he has worked with a wide variety of groups in several genres and scored a hit with the cult pop band ‘Fat & Frantic’. He is musical director of Young Voices UK and conducts several youth and community choirs in and around Milton Keynes. Listen to an excerpt from Craig McLeish's The Negro Speaks Of Rivers:  

A unique guide to teaching unaccompanied singing!Gitika Partington's a cappella arrangements are used by youth and community choirs around the world.Gitika believes in the sensational power of group singing bringing people together to express joy and celebration through song. Not being able to read music is no obstacle and Gitika's tips and the original arrangements included here demonstrate just how rewarding and inclusive teaching a cappella by ear and gesture can be!Gitika Partington is a singer/songwriter vocal arranger teacher and choral director. She has an MA in choral education and holds many other musical qualifications. Sheruns regular 'popular and world style' singing workshops as well as national training sessions for adults and children. In addition she runs three adult community choirs where all the music is learned by ear and is mostly self arranged.One of Gitika's major loves is a cappella vocal arranging which she does for her three choirs and her vocal workshops. Her arrangements are used by youth and community choirs across the UK and internationally. This book contains the first of many of her arrangements she would like to share even more widely.She is a member of the Natural Voice Practitioner Network an organisation that believes in singing as a spontaneous way of expressing joy celebration and grief and as a medium for binding communities together. Gitika shares the network's belief that singing together should be available to all and is not about having 'a good voice'. All of her groups are non-audition and open to anyone who wants to sing.

Yes I Am Your Angel by Gabriel Jackson for SATB unaccompanied.The text for this imaginative and effective piece by Gabriel Jackson is a response to Allen Ginsberg's A Supermarket in California by Latvian poet K rlis V rdi š translated here by Ieva Lešinska. As in Ginsberg's poem the initial setting is a supermarket depicted with vivid imagery such as 'a weary shrivelled apple' before the angel protagonist expounds on their observations about contemporary society. Pleasingly alliterative lines such as 'he'd babble boozily about tanks' are artfully given rhythmic emphasis by Jackson who fullyexploits the dramatic intent of the poem giving space for the text to come through by homophonic setting a pure harmonic language and often sparse textures.

(Stand Tall)-Also written for 2-part treble this SATB arrangement is written in the world music style and is accessible for all level choirs. The text which is in both Swahili and English is about standing tall on the earth not with anger or aggression but with hope strength acceptance and a positive spirit. The voices along with hand claps stomps Djembe shaker and piano all combine for an exciting world music presentation. Duration: ca. 3:00.Performed by Young People's Chorus of NYC Prelude division Sophia Miller conductor.

Par KANDER JOHN / BEALE CHARLES (Arr.). This is a vibrant and accessible arrangement of All I care about, from the Broadway hit Chicago! With opportunities for whistling, staging and lyrics full of double meanings, this will add a bit of spice to your concert programme. This piece is part of the Faber Choral Singles series, offering a selection of beautifully crafted arrangements in a diversity of musical styles. From Broadway, pop and folk to spirituals, gospel and original works, the series is arranged for 3 part choirs (soprano, alto and a combined male-voice part) providing flexibility for any choir. Complete with straight-forward piano accompaniments supporting the vocal lines, the Faber Choral Singles series guarantees the perfect repertoire for every occasion – so get exploring and get singing! / Choral Music / Répertoire / Voix Mixtes et Piano

Andrea Ramsey Choral Series-Commissioned for the 2016 Eastern Division ACDA Junior High Honor Choir this Christina Rossetti poem about loss is a wonderful teaching piece for young singers. The melodic line in the opening section is constructedto evoke feelings of beauty loss and remembrance. A middle section paints a picture of grief reality and the feeling of life spinning out of control. After the climax of this middle section there is a return to a sense ofcalm-symbolising that as time passes we are able to come to terms with loss.

Pink's powerful song tells the story of a lost generation--its themes mirroring the pain of the many people who feel abandoned and unheard in today's society. At a time when musicians and audiences are searching for music lifting up social justice this is a great example and a wonderful selection for your singers. Passion and connection are easy to find in this powerful pop/rock anthem.

Cantata for string orchestra and chorus. Triptych represents the concatenation and re-orchestration of two extant works. Movement I was commissioned with funds from The RVW Trust for the inaugural concert of the Choir of London conducted by Jeremy Summerly in Christ Church, Spitalfields on 18th December, 2004 - the work, premièred as Threnody, was subsequently toured by the Choir to Jerusalem and the West Bank from 19th-26th December, 2004. Movements II and III, commissioned by Portsmouth Grammar School with financial support from the PRS Foundation, were premièred as And There Was a Great Calm in a contiguous version for lower strings and upper voices by the Portsmouth Grammar School Chamber Choir and the London Mozart Players in a concert at Portsmouth Anglican Cathedral on 13th November, 2005 conducted by Nicolae Moldoveanu. The title of this latter section is taken from Thomas Hardy's poem of the same name, written at the signing of the Armistice on 11th November, 1918 - a couplet from which is set, in a moment of tranquillity, in the final movement. Relatively new to living in New York, I am much more aware of the independent, vibrant cultural plurality that exists today - it's probably the single most dazzling facet of the City and is largely responsible for the infamous 'edginess' that pervades daily life there. With this in mind, I set to work on Threnody (movement I here) in 2004 - I wanted to write something that was relevant to the Israeli/Palestinian issue without losing that City 'edge'. The texts, in English, are excerpted from a variety of sources: William Penn, William Blake, the Psalms of David and Muhammad Rajab Al-Bayoumi, an Egyptian poet of the early twentieth-century. Fast and rhythmically influenced by the music of North Africa in its syncopations, this movement was the first composition that evolved entirely from my New York perspective. From the moment that the commission for And There Was a Great Calm (movements II and amp - III here) was offered, I knew the piece I was about to embark upon would end up being linked with Threnody in some way. I realized that what I had been aiming for in Threnody served as a template for this new piece, originally composed for a Remembrance Sunday concert. Musical works connected with commemoration or memorials are often suitably pensive and slow - I wanted to start with that concept, but to bring in some of the relentless urban rhythms that had been such a large influence on my life in the preceding two years. The result is that that the second movement is quiet and gentle (a moment of recollection), while the final movement is much faster and vibrant, returning to a more openly elated rendering of the start of Triptych (the texts here dealing with transmigration and the future). and nbsp - I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Bruce Ruben and Judith Clurman, as well as that of my parents, with the collation of the texts. Tarik O'Regan New York, February 2006 / Soprano, SATB Et Orchestre De Cordes

The hit Movie musical The Greatest Showman is loaded with great music and here is one of the strongest ballads from the show. A true power pop ballad about love and the importance of having someone with you to share your dreams and successes. “Without you it will never be enough”.

Commissioned for the 50th anniversary of Prairie Baptist Church in Prairie Village Kansas what better expression of love and unity across the generations? Combining adult and children's choirs Mark Hayes uses the younger voicesto sing of the future the adults to sing about the past and brilliantly brings them all together as they are “united in the journey of faith.” The chorus lends itself easily to congregational participation as well.“Our Journey of Faith” could be the theme song for many congregations. It should definitely be a part of your next church celebration.

This tender song of thanksgiving has something for everyone. A marvelous inter-generational anthem For All of Life features adult youth and children's choirs singing as one voice about the joys and sorrows trials andtribulations first steps growing pains and fulfillment that comes with age. Life is a gift from God-every precious moment. Share this lovely song of gratitude with your congregation.

Few baroque composers were ever able to create work as sunny as joyous as Vivaldi did in this beloved Gloria. The contrast of mood throughout the work as it moves through the drama of the Mass to its satisfying double final movement shows the composer at the height of his powers.Vivaldi composed this work in Venice in about 1715 during his fruitful time at the Ospedale della Piet . In his lifetime this priest composer and virtuoso Violinist achieved enormous musical success. Considering his great popularity in the modern era it is difficult to believe that public appreciation of his work declined after his death and that the Gloria languished undiscovered forcenturies. It wasn’t until 1957 that the restored work was heard again in its entirety. Since that time this moving and joyous Gloria has been recorded more than one hundred times and perennially appears on concert series around the world.

Vocal Score Large Print-The story of the composition of Mozart's Requiem has a strange fabulous quality that is entirely typical of the events of his life. Whether we are considering his amazing exploits and achievements as a youthful virtuoso and maestro or the depth of his financial misfortunes in Vienna in the late 1780s there is little that is mundane about the main biographical facts.It comes as no surprise then to find that these facts have often been coloured and embroidered to enhance their emotional effect and to create a legend about this most remarkable musician. The simple story of the genesis of the Requiem is in itself striking - that in the last weeks of his lifeMozart was working on a Mass for the Dead that this work was the result of an anonymous commission and that the commissioner's envoy in order to avoid giving an address paid Mozart several unannounced visits like a messenger from another world - this story can easily be filled out with portents and hints of the supernatural.Even the account by Franz Niemetscheki (first published in 1798 based on information given by Mozart's widow Constanze and later receiving 'official' approval by being incorporated into the Mozart biography by Constanze's second husband Georg von Nissen) writes of the commissioner's agent appearing 'like a ghost' and Friedrich Rochlitz's account goes much further in suggesting that the composer was possessed by a demoniac and feverish desire to complete the Requiem and conscious of approaching doom