Welcome to my August 2024 newsletter, which replaces my normal ‘Piece of the Week’ for this week. As well as recent news, and the usual list of performances and new publications there is a particular focus on repertoire for upper voice choirs, mainly aimed at young singers, to help with concert planning.
As I said last month, I’ve been reminded me how a thematic focus is often a good way of programme building. So this month I’m going to list some of my upper voice choir pieces, with a focus for each one.
THEMATIC FOCUS – upper voices
Music that celebrates peace and friendship
Song to the Moon – calmly celebrating the wonder of the ‘bright, new, moon’ with a text based on traditional Hebridean poem. Unison with optional descant, and piano.
One Voice for All – a lively celebration of the joy of singing, and a call for peace, friendship, and care for the environment. Unison voices with optional descant, with piano (SABar version also available)
The Awakening Age – a rhythmic setting of a poem by Ben Okri, a hopeful vision of understanding and co-operation between the peoples of the earth. 2-part voices and piano
New Moon – a calm and gentle song telling of the guiding light of the new moon, the controller of the stars, the seasons, and our lives. 2-part voices and piano
Rainbow – a song about the healing power of the rainbow, the symbol of the caring professions. 2-part voices and piano
Care for the environment
One Voice for All – a lively celebration of the joy of singing, and a call for peace, friendship, and care for the environment. Unison voices with optional descant, with piano (SABar version also available)
Running for the Future – a rhythmic plea for a new and better world, with the words written by schoolchildren. 2-part voices or unison, with piano
Sun, Moon, World – this song contrasts reflective passages with lively upbeat ones, asking us to care for the whole world. 2-part voices and piano.
Times and seasons, and a day at the sea
Song to the Moon – celebrating the wonder of the ‘bright, new, moon’ with a text based on traditional Hebridean poem. Unison with optional descant, and piano.
Spring is Sprung – a lively and lighthearted setting of the traditional words, with a few dubba-dubba-doos thrown in!
Fireworks – an exciting portrayal of a firework display, with oohs and aahs and a rocket landing on the pianist! 2-part voices and piano.
New Moon – a calm and gentle song telling of the guiding light of the new moon, the controller of the stars, the seasons, and our lives. 2-part voices and piano
Rainbow – a song about the healing power of the rainbow, the symbol of the caring professions. 2-part voices and piano.
Snow – a gentle and somewhat mysterious song describing the quiet snow-covered landscape. 2-part voices and piano.
Seascape – an easy-to-learn song painting the seascape from sunrise to sunset. Unison voices and piano, with optional instrumental interludes
Mystery
Overheard on a Saltmarsh – an evocative and mysterious song which combines an easy melodic line with spoken effects. 2-part voices, piano, and optional descant recorder
Song to the Moon – celebrating the wonder of the ‘bright, new, moon’ with a text based on traditional Hebridean poems. Unison with optional descant, and piano.
This is the Key – with dramatic gestures, rhythmic riffs, and reflective passages, this is a setting of a traditional riddle-poem telling a mysterious story. Unison or 2-part voices with piano.
Why does he gallop? – who is the mysterious horseman riding in the night? This song has rhythmic drive and easily-learnt vocal parts. Unison or 2-part, with piano
Snow – a gentle and somewhat mysterious song describing the quiet snow-covered landscape. 2-part voices and piano.
Birds and beasts
Overheard on a Saltmarsh – an evocative and mysterious song which combines an easy melodic line with spoken effects. 2-part voices, piano, and optional descant recorder
The Friendly Beasts – an account of the birth of Jesus from the point of view of the animals in the stable. Voices in 2-parts and piano
The Snail and the Hen – two short songs contrasting the slow but steady snail with the lively and chattering hen. SSAA unaccompanied.
Humour
A Strange Story – this is a short and jolly riddle song in which the words appear to be nonsense because the punctuation is in the wrong place! 2-part with piano and optional descant/soprano recorder
Spring is Sprung – a lively and lighthearted setting of the traditional words, with a few dubba-dubba-doos thrown in!
Mind the Gap!– An upbeat song about a journey on a London underground or subway train. 2-part or unison, with piano
My idea of heaven– not a religious song, this is about a secular heaven or ‘favourite place’. 2-part or unison, with piano
Health and Safety – a setting of safety announcements and instructions – sounds sensible, but very silly. 3-part voices (SSA) and piano
Stocking and Shirt – a lively song about clothes blowing away and breaking free of the washing-line. 2-part voices and piano
Christmas
All in Tune – Christmas carol, lively, praising God through dance, music, and friendship. 2 or 3-parts with piano and optional flute/treble recorder and drum
Sleeping Jesus – Easy Christmas carol focussing on the manger scene. Unison or 2-part, with piano
The Friendly Beasts – an account of the birth of Jesus from the point of view of the animals in the stable. 2-part voices and piano
Festival Grace – ‘thank you for the food we eat, thank you for the friends we meet’ – actually suitable for any time of year
Scots Nativity – that’s the ‘baloo, lammy’ one. 2-part voices and piano which is how I originally wrote it.
The links all go to a page on my website, where, as well as publication details for each, there are links to YouTube performances for most of them.
Many of these songs are published by Colne Edition, and are sold by various distributors with a minimum of ten copies. If you teach your singers by rote and need fewer copies of a Colne Edition title, please contact me and I will find a way!
NEWS – ABRSM Composer Mentoring
I once wrote that ‘I find writing a Grade 1 piano piece as interesting a challenge as any other compositional task’, and I think I was taken at my word. For several years now I have been a mentor for the ABRSM Composer Mentoring programme, and I’ve been helping a number of emerging composers to write a piano piece at Grade 1 standard, of which two or three have been selected for the syllabus. Recently I’ve been mentoring a group of students from South East Asia (on Zoom) in the latest iteration of the programme, and it has been delightful to talk to, and assist, composers from Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia, and India.
Whether any of these pieces appear in future syllabuses is up to the ABRSM selection panel – but whatever their future, the result has been a nicely varied set of pieces which youngsters will enjoy playing!
PUBLICATIONS AND PERFORMANCES
New Colne Edition publications include:
Little Suite (five short contrasting movements). Three (five) versions: Two oboes and cor anglais; 3 flutes or flute choir; 3 clarinets or clarinet choir
To God be the Glory (an easy arrangement in the Colne Prayer and Praise for Choirs series)
Three Blues for Clarinet and Piano (three colourful pieces inspired by blues harmony)
Three Blues for Alto Saxophone and Piano (the same, in an Alto Sax version)
Six Dances for Small Orchestra (an arrangement for small orchestra of my Six Dances for Four Hands)
Also newly published are Volume 8 and Volume 9 of the Oxford Hymn Settings for Organists series (edited jointly by Rebecca Groom te Velde and myself, and with contributions from both of us) and another hymn-tune prelude on ‘Sussex’ in the collection Be Still for the Presence vol. 1 ( Church Organ World). And new publications from GIA and Banks Music Publications are on the way too!
Recent performances include
Colchester Service
Southwark Cathedral (Evensong) 4th August
Choir of St. John’s Church, Dallas / Benjamin Kolodziej
Travelling Tales
Ickenham United Reformed Church, Middlesex, 6th July
Ickenham Choral Society/Peter Williams
Three English Folk-Songs
Marks Hall Barn, Coggeshall, 6th July
Kelvedon Singers/Christopher Phelps
Mr Lear
Holy Trinity, Guildford, 6 July
Vivace Chorus/Jeremy Backhouse
My Song (This Song of Mine)
St. John’s Church, Epping, CM16 5DN, 29 June
Felicitas, director Simon Winters
first performance of unaccompanied version
Thank you for reading!