The Music Speaks for me

When words fail music speaks...so the saying goes. Expressing yourself through music by putting words to notes and notes to words can be easy; yes easier than you may think.This book is a treasure chest of ideas foranyone interested in composing. Simple ways to spark the creative process are included such as taking the musical letters in your name to form a melody. Step by step you will see how to actually process the notes into music.Norse Song by Robert Schumann shows how he used the four musical letters of his friend GADE to compose the Piano solo.

Whilst making no claims to be stylistically authentic this little piece aims to capture the infectious spirit of mariachi a word whose origins are lost in the mists of time but which describes not only the performers (on guitars vihuelas violins trumpets and harp) but also the music itself. Their music speaks of love passion politics life in the country and revolutionary heroes but is unerringly uplifting in style and immediately recognisable as the spirit of Mexico. A chance to add that Spanish flavour to your concerts.

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:  

No. 1 - Effortlessly Love Flows-For double mixed chorus a cappella. This is the first movement of Kernis' Ecstatic Meditations which includes Effortlessly Love Flows How the Soul Speaks to God I Cannot Dance O Lord and How God Answers theSoul. Ecstatic Meditations was composed in 1999 for Philip Brunelle and the Plymouth Music Series Ensemble Singers and Choir. Like all of Kernis' music it ‘bears the unmistakable stamp of a wildly fertile musicalimagination…with rich poetic imagery.’ The text is by Mechthild of Magdeburg translated by Jane Hirshfield.Named one of 75 ‘American Masterpieces of Choral Music’ by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Press Promotion Distribution and Retail-Berklee expert speaks on how to market and distribute your songs and group.Sell more music! Learn the most effective marketing strategies available to musicians leveraging the important changes and opportunities that thedigital age has brought to music marketing.This multifaceted and integrated approach will help you to develop an effective worldwide marketing strategy.Step by step you will develop an active marketing plan andtimeline tailored to your unique strengths and budget.You will learn to time your marketing campaign effectively publicize your music to traditional print outlets and emerging online opportunities understand the currentopportunities for online satellite and terrestrial radio play as well as navigate various retail and distribution options both at brick-and-mortar and online options such as iTunes Rhapsody and other services.

When Love Speaks is a piece composed by Owain Park for his cycle 'Shakespeare Love Songs' commissioned by The Maesbury Singers. This work is arranged for Unaccompanied SATB Choir. The cycle 'Shakespeare Love Songs' is a series of four compositions that set Shakespeare's words to music. When Love Speaks is a setting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 116. Park's composition certainly does justice to the beauty and universal theme of this sonnet.

Par ANDRASCHEK SIEGMUND. The title of the piece speaks for itself.The composition 'Tango” lends itself to being performed within the framework of young soloists' competitions and can, in general, also be used in exams. For professional musicians, it might be the ideal complement to the second set of their recital programme. The arrangement at hand is suitable for many different instruments./ Répertoire / Trombone et Piano

Learn the art of jazz vocal improvisation! This book will help you hear, understand and apply jazz theory so that you can solo as a complete musician?in the same way that instrumentalists do. Each lesson offers a core musical concept related to harmony, melody, and rhythm, integrating skills such as conducting and analysis. All concepts are reinforced with practical exercises. The accompanying audio tracks demonstrate techniques and let you practice improvising along with a piano accompaniment.
You will learn to:
Develop your sense of timing and swing
Understand jazz harmony, such as tensions and non-diatonic chords, as well as chord progressions such as II V and cycle V progressions, and use harmony as your basis for creating expressive solos
Navigate song forms, such as AABA, blues forms, turnarounds, and other common jazz structures
Improve your ear for jazz harmony through studying intervals and chord progressions, and by memorizing emblematic jazz melodic patterns
Create expressive vocal lines that work well over jazz chords and integrate well within the context of a jazz ensemble
?Mili Bermejo?s Vocal Jazz Improvisation is the most comprehensive vocal book I have ever seen on improvisation. Her years of research and her wisdom and artistry leave no stones unturned. I would recommend this book to instrumentalists as well, to develop their ears and breadth of expression.?
?Jerry Bergonzi, Jazz Saxophonist, Composer, Author, Educator

?I have been a huge fan of Mili as an artist for many years now, and have admired her impeccable skills as a teacher for just as long. Seeing Mili perform in duo with Dan Greenspan is one of the great wonders of the world. They make voice and bass seem like an orchestra, harmonically rich and complete, and emotionally compelling. How lucky for us that Mili has written a book on improvisation from her own assured and gracious vantage point. Her approach is accessible, organic, personal, and best of all, inspiring! She takes the fear factor out and provides tools to make improvisation a truly creative and joyful experience.?
?Peter Eldridge, Jazz Singer, Pianist, Composer (New York Voices)

?Creating awareness is at the core of this beautiful material that was very much needed in the vocal jazz field. Here is a book with clever, effectively organized information for all vocalists to develop a practical framework that covers the foundation to find confidence, strength and ultimately freedom as a vocal improviser.
Mili?s music speaks to the heart, overflowing with humanity, joy, and compassion, and this book does the same. Mili traces a clear path, guiding us step by step along the way. She draws on her own experience, which I must say reflects all vocalists? experience, as we walk this fascinating journey of jazz singing.?
?Magos Herrera, GRAMMY-nominated Jazz Singer

?How lucky for all of us that Mili Bermejo put her decades of experience and skill as both performer and teacher into this book. What a gift! Thank you, Mili.?
?Tierney Sutton, Multi-GRAMMY Nominated Jazz Singer
/ Méthodes et pédagogie / Chant / / BERKLEE

We have come to trust that Mark Sheppard's musical settings will always be dynamic and engaging. Charles Wesley's text Jesus lover of my soul... still speaks to us today.

'for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain'for junior-upper voice SSSA Choir and Double SATB Choir a cappella (Score)Commissioned by the National Youth Choirs of Great BritainText is by Arthur W. E. O'Shaughnessy, adapted by Jessica Duchen.Composer's NoteWhen the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain requested a short piece for their gala concert at Birmingham's Symphony Hall, I was particularly excited about the prospect of writing for 300 singers. A recent research trip to Estonia resulted in somewhat of a revelation: having heard and seen their world-renowned choirs in action (literally!) has resulted in We are the Music-Makers having the less mainstream 'surround-sound' of upper voices/junior choir at the back and sides of the audience and a further stereophonic double-choir on stage.This poem was sent to me by Tim Williams (my ex Head of English at school), and immediately seemed to fit this occasion. This text has already been set magnificently by Elgar, so partly to avoid any kind of comparison and also to bring its timeless message up to date, I asked my poet friend Jessica Duchen to give it a sligtly more contemporary feel.A poem about global music-making (which ties in with the NYCGB's recent World-Music CD), it speaks about humankind, nation to nation, and the mention of Babel inspiring a 'speakng of tongues' effect by using as many different international words for 'music' as possible as an accompaniment (not an easy task, as many of them are similar to our own word!). These are: French (Musique), Romanian (Muzica), Swahili (Mahewa), Polish (Muzka), Estonian (Muusika), German (Muzik), Japanese (Ongaku), and Spanish (Música). / Choeur Mixte (SSAATTBB) A Cappella

Song cycle for medium voice and piano, based upon the poetry of Ivor Gurney and Leonard Clark. A set of pieces very much in the English lyrical vocal writing tradition of Butterworth, Ireland and, of course, Gurney. ' The Pine Boughs Past Music is a song cycle baseed upon poetry associated with Gloucester and was commissioned to celebrate the eightieth anniversary of the Gloucester Music Society. Having purposefully sought inspiration from a wide array of Gloucester poets, from Henley to Harvey, I finally found inspiration in the poetry of Ivor Gurney, whose work is so saturated with the Gloucestershire landscape. In his poetry I discovered the essential element I needed to bind the cycle together: the eternal backdrop of nature upon which the poet's thoughts are played out. It would have been quite easy to conclude the set with another poem by Ivor Gurney. However, it was to and nbsp - Leonard Clark I turned. The title of his summative poem speaks for itself, 'In Memoriam: Ivor Gurney': a haunting elegy that pays tribute to Gurney's everlasting memory.' and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - and nbsp - - Ian Venables First performed on April 15th 2010, at St Mary-de-Lode, Gloucester, performed by Roderick Williams (Baritone) and Andrew West (Pianist). Commissioned by Christine Talbot-Cooper to celebrate the Gloucester Music Society's eightieth anniversary. / Mélodie/Vocal/Piano (MVP)

Virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt was a key figure in the evolution of modern music. Most of his 700 compositions which range from romantic impressionism to daring experimental pieces were written for the piano. This survey by a well-known British composer and musicologist constitutes the most authoritative English-language study of Liszt's works. 'Mr. Searle is himself a composer of progressive outlook and he thus speaks with authority. His book was needed and he has made it a good one ' observed the Times (London) Literary Supplement.This classic study surveys the compositions in chronological order and the medium for which they were written. The authorexamines in detail the most important pieces and fully reviews Liszt's place in history. Subjects include romantic pieces symphonic poems songs symphonies and other works. A biographical summary illustrates the relationship between significant works and events in the composer's life. Acclaimed by Library Journal as 'a balanced long-overdue treatment ' this study is essential for every true Lisztian student.Reprint of the Williams & Norgate 1954 edition.

Tchaikovsky's lovely melancholy melody was inspired by a poem that speaks of great sadness. Print the poem in your program or have it recited as the band plays to create a deeply moving tribute to any and all departed loved ones. This is a simply gorgeous piece of music that explores dark tonalities and expressive performance.

Conducteur et parties Saxophone Quartet (SATB) The Three Songs (Trois Chansons) dating from 1914/15 were arranged for four a cappella voices by Ravel immediately after he had written the music of these pieces. The lyrics were penned by the composer himself. The songs represent Ravel’s sole contribution to choral literature. The first song consists of three sections and tells the story of Nicolette, who sets out to pick flowers in the fields. Just like Little Red Ridinghood, she meets a wolf who asks her if she is on her way to her grandmother’s house (M.1-13). Fleeing from him, she meets a page who wonderswhether she would like to have him as her “lover true”. She dismisses his proposition though she finds it hard to do so (M. 14-39). In the third section, she encounters a plump, unhandsome man (lento!). He speaks to her:”Stay, stay, my Nicolette, all this gold I give to thee”, and - “VIVO” - Nicolette takes refuge in his arms. (M.40 to end). The Three Lovely Birds from Paradise are sky-blue, white as fallen snow and bright red - just like the colors of the Tricolore, the national flag of France - which has been interpreted in many reviews as a sign of an increasingly nationalistic attitude becoming apparent in the war year of 1914. This song mourns the loss of the beloved one who went to war. The Ronde is also made up of three sections. The old women are the first to sing (M.1-28). They warn the young maidens against entering the forest since it is inhabited by all kinds of dangerous (male) beasts. Then (M. 29 – 56) the old men warn the young lads against going into the woods because of the numerous (female) demons living there. The irony of the story is to be found in the final answer of the young people (as of M. 57), who conclude: “We will not go into the woods since the old folks have frightened off all the beasts, anyway.”