Generosity

SKU: GI.G-9759

ISBN 9781622772629.

Rehearsals should be structured in a way that trusts that human beings are truly the miracle workers and that if we work on being human, the magic of this thing called “moral acoustic” will resonate in a powerful, honest, and compelling way. For at the very end of the day, our goal in harnessing the energy contained in a moral acoustic is to create the most honest and direct communicative voice possible—a voice that can change lives and enrich our humanness just by hearing it, feeling it, and being touched by its ‘moral acoustic.’ —James Jordan, from Chapter 4 This volume is a continuation of the journey James Jordan began in his now iconic book The Musician’s Soul. In The Moral Acoustic of Sound, Jordan explores and defines those factors that create a “moral acoustic”—those human resonances among and between musicians. This book delves into the nature of authenticity and honesty in choral sound and how conductors and teachers, through these new understandings, can draw forth that which is living within each ensemble of musicians no matter their age or experience. Using the power of metaphor, this book attempts to provide answers to unlock the magic and mysteries in music making and human expression. Specific to the journey of The Moral Acoustic of Sound: Understanding trust between and among musicians The relationship of intonation and color as a function of moral acoustic Humility and its role in music making Thatching within an ensemble Enfleshment as a vital part of music making Metaphors that guide conductors to deeper listening Fostering generosity in music making Grammy-nominated conductor and music psychologist James Jordan is Professor and Senior Conductor at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, where he conducts the acclaimed Westminster Williamson Voices and the Westminster Schola Cantorum. He is also Artistic Director and Conductor of The Same Stream (thesamestreamchoir.com). He heads two of the leading programs in the world for mentoring conductors, serving as Director of the renowned Westminster Conducting Institute and Co-Director of the Choral Institute at Oxford, held annually at St. Stephen’s House, Oxford, UK.

SKU: GI.G-008665

UPC: 641151086651.

SKU: PR.114419810

ISBN 9781491136638. UPC: 680160681921.

Stacy Garrop’s ROAD WARRIOR is music of real-life tragedy, expressed through the power of a trumpet/organ duo. Drawing inspiration from Neil Peart’s autobiographical book, “Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road,” Garrop’s work grieves the loss of a friend’s young son and the journey to healing. ROAD WARRIOR’s evocative movement titles are drawn from passages in Peart’s book:1. I Am the Ghost Rider2. My Little Baby Soul3. Are You With Me Here?.
When Clarion members Keith Benjamin (trumpet), Melody Steed (organ), and I initially discussed possible topics for a new piece, Keith brought up his son Cameron, who had passed away at the age of seven from leukemia. While Cameron’s life ended too soon, he left an indelible and lasting mark on his those surrounding him. Keith asked if I could commemorate Cameron musically.In talking over possible ways to do this, Keith mentioned the book Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road. The book was written by Neil Peart, who is well-known as the longtime drummer and lyricist of the band Rush. Peart suffered the heartbreaking loss of his daughter in 1997, followed by his wife 10 months later. In an effort to work through the grieving process, Peart did what his wife suggested before she passed: he got onto his motorcycle and hit the open road. Ghost Rider chronicles a year of Peart’s life in which he drove for 55,000 miles, zigzagging his way across Canada, the western portion of the United States, Mexico, and Belize. Peart’s powerful story illustrates how he coped with immense loss and eventually emerged on the other side to once again embrace life. Keith had found Peart’s book helpful in dealing with Cameron’s death; moreover, Mr. Peart sent Cameron a signed cymbal while he was in the hospital undergoing treatment. This unexpected gesture of compassion and generosity meant the world to both Cameron and Keith.I chose three phrases from Peart’s book to serve as the inspiration for the movements in Road Warrior. In the first movement, I am the ghost rider, I imagined the performers to be howling phantoms that are haunting drivers on a nearly deserted highway. Peart often mentioned that he felt haunted by ghosts from the past while on his journey, and sometimes felt like a ghost himself, moving through an immaterial world as he rode from town to town. The second movement, My little baby soul, references Peart’s wording to define his own inner essence that he was trying to protect and nurture while on his journey. In this gentle movement, I capture the innocence and simplicity of a newborn soul. The piece concludes with Are you with me here? In this movement, I depict the performers as they search to find connections to those they have lost, and to those still living.Over the course of his travels, Peart kept up a steady letter correspondence with his close friend Brutus. In one of his first letters, he repeatedly asks Brutus if he is with him in spirit. I found it to be very poignant that while in his self-imposed exile, Peart discovered that he still needed connections to humanity.I wish to thank Mr. Peart for granting me permission to use his phrases as the movement titles, and for serving as the inspiration for Road Warrior. Rarely do any of us make it through our lives without being touched by the loss of someone dear to us. I found Peart’s insights into his grieving and recovery process to be insightful, eloquent, and surprisingly comforting. His journey is a touching reminder that with enough fortitude and time, we can work through what fate deals us and continue down our own road of life.

SKU: HL.1496057

UPC: 196288218371.

With words by Grahame Davies, this ten minute work for chorus and orchestra was written by kind permission of the Master of Marlborough College, Mrs Louise Moelwyn-Hughes; commissioned by the Choirmaster of Marlborough College, Mr Adam Meehan-Staines, and made possible through the generosity of donors to the Arts Fund, Marlborough College Foundation. First performed on 20 March 2022 at the Chapel of St Michael and All Angels, Marlborough College, by Marlborough College Choral Society and Orchestra, conducted by AdamMeehan-Staines.

SKU: AP.49090

ISBN 9781470645908. UPC: 038081564289. English.

Perfect for opening or closing a concert for first-year band students, A Woodland Celebration by Robert Sheldon lends a light rhythmic style to a tuneful melody. As soon as young students can play a concert B-flat scale and learn the note concert A-flat, this piece is easily playable. Second clarinet does not go over the break, and second trumpet and horn have limited ranges as well.

A Woodland Celebration was commissioned by the Smallwood Drive School Band, Amherst, New York (Angela Antersol, Director) with appreciation for the generosity of the Smallwood PTA in celebration and recognition of the National School of Character Award presented to the school in 2019.

A Woodland Celebration correlates to Book 1, Level 5 of Sound Innovations for Concert Band. (1:45).

SKU: PR.165001000

ISBN 9781491129241. UPC: 680160669776. 9 x 12 inches.

Commissioned for a consortium of high school and college bands in the north Dallas region, FOR THEMYSTIC HARMONY is a 10-minute inspirational work in homage to Norwood and Elizabeth Dixon,patrons of the Fort Worth Symphony and the Van Cliburn Competition. Welcher draws melodic flavorfrom five American hymns, spirituals, and folk tunes of the 19th century. The last of these sources toappear is the hymn tune For the Beauty of the Earth, whose third stanza is the quatrain: “For the joy of earand eye, For the heart and mind’s delight, For the mystic harmony, Linking sense to sound and sight,”giving rise to the work’s title.
This work, commissioned for a consortium of high school bands in the north Dallas area, is my fifteenth maturework for wind ensemble (not counting transcriptions). When I asked Todd Dixon, the band director whospearheaded this project, what kind of a work he most wanted, he first said “something that’s basically slow,” butwanted to leave the details to me. During a long subsequent conversation, he mentioned that his grandparents,Norwood and Elizabeth Dixon, were prime supporters of the Fort Worth Symphony, going so far as to purchase anumber of high quality instruments for that orchestra. This intrigued me, so I asked more about his grandparentsand was provided an 80-page biographical sketch. Reading that article, including a long section about theirdevotion to supporting a young man through the rigors of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition fora number of years, moved me very much. Norwood and Elizabeth Dixon weren’t just supporters of the arts; theywere passionate lovers of music and musicians. I determined to make this work a testament to that love, and tothe religious faith that sustained them both. The idea of using extant hymns was also suggested by Todd Dixon,and this 10-minute work is the result.I have employed existing melodies in several works, delving into certain kinds of religious music more than a fewtimes. In seeking new sounds, new ways of harmonizing old tunes, and the contrapuntal overlaying of one tunewith another, I was able to make works like ZION (using 19th-century Revivalist hymns) and LABORING SONGS(using Shaker melodies) reflect the spirit of the composers who created these melodies, without sounding likepastiches or medleys. I determined to do the same with this new work, with the added problem of employingmelodies that were more familiar. I chose five tunes from the 19th century: hymns, spirituals, and folk-tunes.Some of these are known by differing titles, but they all appear in hymnals of various Christian denominations(with various titles and texts). My idea was to employ the tunes without altering their notes, instead using aconstantly modulating sense of harmony — sometimes leading to polytonal harmonizations of what are normallysimple four-chord hymns.The work begins and ends with a repeated chime on the note C: a reminder of steeples, white clapboard churchesin the country, and small church organs. Beginning with a Mixolydian folk tune of Caribbean origin presentedtwice with layered entrances, the work starts with a feeling of mystery and gentle sorrow. It proceeds, after along transition, into a second hymn that is sometimes connected to the sea (hence the sensation of water andwaves throughout it). This tune, by John B. Dykes (1823-1876), is a bit more chromatic and “shifty” than mosthymn-tunes, so I chose to play with the constant sensation of modulation even more than the original does. Atthe climax, the familiar spiritual “Were you there?” takes over, with a double-time polytonal feeling propelling itforward at “Sometimes it causes me to tremble.”Trumpets in counterpoint raise the temperature, and the tempo as well, leading the music into a third tune (ofunknown provenance, though it appears with different texts in various hymnals) that is presented in a sprightlymanner. Bassoons introduce the melody, but it is quickly taken up by other instruments over three “verses,”constantly growing in orchestration and volume. A mysterious second tune, unrelated to this one, interrupts it inall three verses, sending the melody into unknown regions.The final melody is “For the Beauty of the Earth.” This tune by Conrad Kocher (1786-1872) is commonly sung atThanksgiving — the perfect choice to end this work celebrating two people known for their generosity.Keeping the sense of constant modulation that has been present throughout, I chose to present this hymn in threegrowing verses, but with a twist: every four bars, the “key” of the hymn seems to shift — until the “Lord of all, toThee we praise” melody bursts out in a surprising compound meter. This, as it turns out, was the “mystery tune”heard earlier in the piece. After an Ivesian, almost polytonal climax, the Coda begins over a long B( pedal. At first,it seems to be a restatement of the first two phrases of “For the Beauty” with long spaces between them, but it soonchanges to a series of “Amen” cadences, widely separated by range and color. These, too, do not conform to anykey, but instead overlay each other in ways that are unpredictable but strangely comforting.The third verse of “For the Beauty of the Earth” contains this quatrain:“For the joy of ear and eye, –For the heart and mind’s delightFor the mystic harmonyLinking sense to sound and sight”and it was from this poetry that I drew the title for the present work. It is my hope that audiences and performerswill find within it a sense of grace: more than a little familiar, but also quite new and unexpected.

SKU: HL.48025250

UPC: 196288142942.

The composer and conductor Oliver Knussen (1952 - 2018) was loved by many companions for his generosity and musical intellect. To Detlev Glanert, whose works he loved to perform, he was a friend and one of his 'personal heroes'. By his own admission, he learned attention to detail from 'Olly', with whom he worked at Tanglewood as early as 1986. If Glanert's Trumpet Concerto, composed in 2018, is the large-scale symphonic homage to his role model, the solo “Little Letter to Olly” does the same in a small format. Two elegiac adagio sections frame a boisterous presto with all kinds of virtuoso tricks. The 'Letter without Words' owes its existence to a suggestion by the cellist Anssi Karttunen, who asked for commemorative pieces for Knussen's 70th birthday from a number of composers and premiered them at the Aldeburgh Festival 2022.