One Final Mission

SKU: AP.51029S

ISBN 9781470669607. UPC: 038081591551. English.

Inspired by the sounds of epic film and video game scores, One Final Mission takes the listener from the safety of home base right into the center of the action. Adrian Sims has written an extremely approachable work for developing bands with a deceivingly massive and sophisticated sound that is sure to have jaws dropping during the performance! (2:10)

About ColorFlex

SKU: AP.51029

ISBN 9781470669591. UPC: 038081591544. English.

Inspired by the sounds of epic film and video game scores, One Final Mission takes the listener from the safety of home base right into the center of the action. Adrian Sims has written an extremely approachable work for developing bands with a deceivingly massive and sophisticated sound that is sure to have jaws dropping during the performance! (2:10)

About ColorFlex

SKU: HL.1315785

ISBN 9798350110319. UPC: 196288179078. 9.0x12.0 inches.

So you've just started playing this compact wonder – now what? Hal Leonard's First 50 series is here to help! Designed for new players, First 50 Songs You Should Play on Melodica features a variety of accessible songs in a wide range of styles, simply arranged so you can start playing right away. Choose to play just the melody or enhance it using the chord labels or left hand part – the possibilities are endless for wherever you are on your melodica journey! Songs include: All of Me • Blinding Lights • Cabinessence • Canon in D • Easy on Me • Final Countdown • The Flight of the Bumblebee • Hallelujah • Heart of Gold • Imagine • A Million Dreams • Perfect • Someone Like You • Toccata in D Minor • Wellerman • You Raise Me Up • and more.

About First 50

You've been taking lessons, you've got a few chords under your belt, and you're ready to buy a songbook. Now what? Hal Leonard has the answers in its First 50 series. The First 50 series steers new players in the right direction. These books contain easy to intermediate arrangements for must-know songs. Each arrangement is simple and streamlined, yet still captures the essence of the tune.

SKU: HL.14036187

ISBN 9780853607236. 6.75x9.75x0.132 inches.

Composed by Sheila Wilson, this a fun, dramatic cantata based on the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho, consisting of 6 songs linked by short rhyming narrative passages. The songs are: Rattle And Roll!, Joshua's Song, Men With A Mission, I Will Walk With You, Finale and Bring Down The Walls. A CD of backing tracks is also available: SWRW2.

SKU: CL.011-2013-02

Excitement explodes with the opening allegro in this intriguing overture for contest and concert. A masterfully arranged slow section provides just the right amount of contrast, and young players will thoroughly enjoy both the rehearsals and final concert.

SKU: PR.16500102F

ISBN 9781491131749. UPC: 680160680276.

Ever since the success of my series of wind ensemble works Places in the West, I've been wanting to write a companion piece for national parks on the other side of the north American continent. The earlier work, consisting of GLACIER, THE YELLOWSTONE FIRES, ARCHES, and ZION, spanned some twenty years of my composing life, and since the pieces called for differing groups of instruments, and were in slightly different styles from each other, I never considered them to be connected except in their subject matter. In their depiction of both the scenery and the human history within these wondrous places, they had a common goal: awaking the listener to the fragile beauty that is in them; and calling attention to the ever more crucial need for preservation and protection of these wild places, unique in all the world. With this new work, commissioned by a consortium of college and conservatory wind ensembles led by the University of Georgia, I decided to build upon that same model---but to solidify the process. The result, consisting of three movements (each named for a different national park in the eastern US), is a bona-fide symphony. While the three pieces could be performed separately, they share a musical theme---and also a common style and instrumentation. It is a true symphony, in that the first movement is long and expository, the second is a rather tightly structured scherzo-with-trio, and the finale is a true culmination of the whole. The first movement, Everglades, was the original inspiration for the entire symphony. Conceived over the course of two trips to that astonishing place (which the native Americans called River of Grass, the subtitle of this movement), this movement not only conveys a sense of the humid, lush, and even frightening scenery there---but also an overview of the entire settling-of- Florida experience. It contains not one, but two native American chants, and also presents a view of the staggering influence of modern man on this fragile part of the world. Beginning with a slow unfolding marked Heavy, humid, the music soon presents a gentle, lyrical theme in the solo alto saxophone. This theme, which goes through three expansive phrases with breaks in between, will appear in all three movements of the symphony. After the mood has been established, the music opens up to a rich, warm setting of a Cherokee morning song, with the simple happiness that this part of Florida must have had prior to the nineteenth century. This music, enveloping and comforting, gradually gives way to a more frenetic, driven section representative of the intrusion of the white man. Since Florida was populated and developed largely due to the introduction of a train system, there's a suggestion of the mechanized iron horse driving straight into the heartland. At that point, the native Americans become considerably less gentle, and a second chant seems to stand in the way of the intruder; a kind of warning song. The second part of this movement shows us the great swampy center of the peninsula, with its wildlife both in and out of the water. A new theme appears, sad but noble, suggesting that this land is precious and must be protected by all the people who inhabit it. At length, the morning song reappears in all its splendor, until the sunset---with one last iteration of the warning song in the solo piccolo. Functioning as a scherzo, the second movement, Great Smoky Mountains, describes not just that huge park itself, but one brave soul's attempt to climb a mountain there. It begins with three iterations of the UR-theme (which began the first movement as well), but this time as up-tempo brass fanfares in octaves. Each time it begins again, the theme is a little slower and less confident than the previous time---almost as though the hiker were becoming aware of the daunting mountain before him. But then, a steady, quick-pulsed ostinato appears, in a constantly shifting meter system of 2/4- 3/4 in alteration, and the hike has begun. Over this, a slower new melody appears, as the trek up the mountain progresses. It's a big mountain, and the ascent seems to take quite awhile, with little breaks in the hiker's stride, until at length he simply must stop and rest. An oboe solo, over several free cadenza-like measures, allows us (and our friend the hiker) to catch our breath, and also to view in the distance the rocky peak before us. The goal is somehow even more daunting than at first, being closer and thus more frighteningly steep. When we do push off again, it's at a slower pace, and with more careful attention to our footholds as we trek over broken rocks. Tantalizing little views of the valley at every switchback make our determination even stronger. Finally, we burst through a stand of pines and----we're at the summit! The immensity of the view is overwhelming, and ultimately humbling. A brief coda, while we sit dazed on the rocks, ends the movement in a feeling of triumph. The final movement, Acadia, is also about a trip. In the summer of 2014, I took a sailing trip with a dear friend from North Haven, Maine, to the southern coast of Mt. Desert Island in Acadia National Park. The experience left me both exuberant and exhausted, with an appreciation for the ocean that I hadn't had previously. The approach to Acadia National Park by water, too, was thrilling: like the difference between climbing a mountain on foot with riding up on a ski-lift, I felt I'd earned the right to be there. The music for this movement is entirely based on the opening UR-theme. There's a sense of the water and the mysterious, quiet deep from the very beginning, with seagulls and bell buoys setting the scene. As we leave the harbor, the theme (in a canon between solo euphonium and tuba) almost seems as if large subaquatic animals are observing our departure. There are three themes (call them A, B and C) in this seafaring journey---but they are all based on the UR theme, in its original form with octaves displaced, in an upside-down form, and in a backwards version as well. (The ocean, while appearing to be unchanging, is always changing.) We move out into the main channel (A), passing several islands (B), until we reach the long draw that parallels the coastline called Eggemoggin Reach, and a sudden burst of new speed (C). Things suddenly stop, as if the wind had died, and we have a vision: is that really Mt. Desert Island we can see off the port bow, vaguely in the distance? A chorale of saxophones seems to suggest that. We push off anew as the chorale ends, and go through all three themes again---but in different instrumentations, and different keys. At the final tack-turn, there it is, for real: Mt. Desert Island, big as life. We've made it. As we pull into the harbor, where we'll secure the boat for the night, there's a feeling of achievement. Our whale and dolphin friends return, and we end our journey with gratitude and celebration. I am profoundly grateful to Jaclyn Hartenberger, Professor of Conducting at the University of Georgia, for leading the consortium which provided the commissioning of this work.

SKU: PR.16500104F

ISBN 9781491132159. UPC: 680160681082.

Ever since the success of my series of wind ensemble works Places in the West, I've been wanting to write a companion piece for national parks on the other side of the north American continent. The earlier work, consisting of GLACIER, THE YELLOWSTONE FIRES, ARCHES, and ZION, spanned some twenty years of my composing life, and since the pieces called for differing groups of instruments, and were in slightly different styles from each other, I never considered them to be connected except in their subject matter. In their depiction of both the scenery and the human history within these wondrous places, they had a common goal: awaking the listener to the fragile beauty that is in them; and calling attention to the ever more crucial need for preservation and protection of these wild places, unique in all the world. With this new work, commissioned by a consortium of college and conservatory wind ensembles led by the University of Georgia, I decided to build upon that same model---but to solidify the process. The result, consisting of three movements (each named for a different national park in the eastern US), is a bona-fide symphony. While the three pieces could be performed separately, they share a musical theme---and also a common style and instrumentation. It is a true symphony, in that the first movement is long and expository, the second is a rather tightly structured scherzo-with-trio, and the finale is a true culmination of the whole. The first movement, Everglades, was the original inspiration for the entire symphony. Conceived over the course of two trips to that astonishing place (which the native Americans called River of Grass, the subtitle of this movement), this movement not only conveys a sense of the humid, lush, and even frightening scenery there---but also an overview of the entire settling-of- Florida experience. It contains not one, but two native American chants, and also presents a view of the staggering influence of modern man on this fragile part of the world. Beginning with a slow unfolding marked Heavy, humid, the music soon presents a gentle, lyrical theme in the solo alto saxophone. This theme, which goes through three expansive phrases with breaks in between, will appear in all three movements of the symphony. After the mood has been established, the music opens up to a rich, warm setting of a Cherokee morning song, with the simple happiness that this part of Florida must have had prior to the nineteenth century. This music, enveloping and comforting, gradually gives way to a more frenetic, driven section representative of the intrusion of the white man. Since Florida was populated and developed largely due to the introduction of a train system, there's a suggestion of the mechanized iron horse driving straight into the heartland. At that point, the native Americans become considerably less gentle, and a second chant seems to stand in the way of the intruder; a kind of warning song. The second part of this movement shows us the great swampy center of the peninsula, with its wildlife both in and out of the water. A new theme appears, sad but noble, suggesting that this land is precious and must be protected by all the people who inhabit it. At length, the morning song reappears in all its splendor, until the sunset---with one last iteration of the warning song in the solo piccolo. Functioning as a scherzo, the second movement, Great Smoky Mountains, describes not just that huge park itself, but one brave soul's attempt to climb a mountain there. It begins with three iterations of the UR-theme (which began the first movement as well), but this time as up-tempo brass fanfares in octaves. Each time it begins again, the theme is a little slower and less confident than the previous time---almost as though the hiker were becoming aware of the daunting mountain before him. But then, a steady, quick-pulsed ostinato appears, in a constantly shifting meter system of 2/4- 3/4 in alteration, and the hike has begun. Over this, a slower new melody appears, as the trek up the mountain progresses. It's a big mountain, and the ascent seems to take quite awhile, with little breaks in the hiker's stride, until at length he simply must stop and rest. An oboe solo, over several free cadenza-like measures, allows us (and our friend the hiker) to catch our breath, and also to view in the distance the rocky peak before us. The goal is somehow even more daunting than at first, being closer and thus more frighteningly steep. When we do push off again, it's at a slower pace, and with more careful attention to our footholds as we trek over broken rocks. Tantalizing little views of the valley at every switchback make our determination even stronger. Finally, we burst through a stand of pines and----we're at the summit! The immensity of the view is overwhelming, and ultimately humbling. A brief coda, while we sit dazed on the rocks, ends the movement in a feeling of triumph. The final movement, Acadia, is also about a trip. In the summer of 2014, I took a sailing trip with a dear friend from North Haven, Maine, to the southern coast of Mt. Desert Island in Acadia National Park. The experience left me both exuberant and exhausted, with an appreciation for the ocean that I hadn't had previously. The approach to Acadia National Park by water, too, was thrilling: like the difference between climbing a mountain on foot with riding up on a ski-lift, I felt I'd earned the right to be there. The music for this movement is entirely based on the opening UR-theme. There's a sense of the water and the mysterious, quiet deep from the very beginning, with seagulls and bell buoys setting the scene. As we leave the harbor, the theme (in a canon between solo euphonium and tuba) almost seems as if large subaquatic animals are observing our departure. There are three themes (call them A, B and C) in this seafaring journey---but they are all based on the UR theme, in its original form with octaves displaced, in an upside-down form, and in a backwards version as well. (The ocean, while appearing to be unchanging, is always changing.) We move out into the main channel (A), passing several islands (B), until we reach the long draw that parallels the coastline called Eggemoggin Reach, and a sudden burst of new speed (C). Things suddenly stop, as if the wind had died, and we have a vision: is that really Mt. Desert Island we can see off the port bow, vaguely in the distance? A chorale of saxophones seems to suggest that. We push off anew as the chorale ends, and go through all three themes again---but in different instrumentations, and different keys. At the final tack-turn, there it is, for real: Mt. Desert Island, big as life. We've made it. As we pull into the harbor, where we'll secure the boat for the night, there's a feeling of achievement. Our whale and dolphin friends return, and we end our journey with gratitude and celebration. I am profoundly grateful to Jaclyn Hartenberger, Professor of Conducting at the University of Georgia, for leading the consortium which provided the commissioning of this work.

SKU: CF.YAS190F

ISBN 9781491151921. UPC: 680160909421. 9 x 12 inches.

As part of a collaboration between students and composer, Sean O'Loughlin, Dark Dreams is a dark and mysterious piece that utilizes techniques such as tremolo and pizzicato. Following a slow and mysterious opening which illustrates the tapestry of sound for the composition, the work develops the musical material into various vivid, intense, and gripping musical moments.

Dark Dreams was commissioned by the Westport, Connecticut Public Schools for the Bedford Middle School 7th Grade Orchestra, Michele Anderson, director. It is a piece influenced by many ideas from the students including such descriptive words as dark, mysterious, vivid, intense and gripping. The collaboration process on commissions like this are very rewarding for both the students and composer.

The students were looking to include techniques like tremolo and pizzicato, so the opening includes both of these to set the tapestry of sound for the composition. The slow and mysterious opening gives way to an intense fast section at m. 19. Trading off between upper and lower strings adds to the tension before the upper strings take hold of the melody at m. 31. This melody is derived from the slow opening material. The lower strings get their chance on the melody at m. 47 in an augmented form. This builds to a dramatic slow section at m. 57. The opening material returns at m. 66 to transition back to the fast material. Make sure to play the silence at m. 88 for maximum effect and really lean into the final note even though it is on beat 3 of the measure.

Dark Dreams was commissioned by the Westport, Connecticut Public Schools for the Bedford Middle School 7th Grade Orchestra, Michele Anderson, director. It is a piece influenced by many ideas from the students including such descriptive words as dark, mysterious, A vivid, intense and gripping. The collaboration process on commissions like this are very rewarding for both the students and composer.

The students were looking to include techniques like tremolo and pizzicato, so the opening includes both of these to set the tapestry of sound for the composition. The slow and mysterious opening gives way to an intense fast section at m. 19. Trading off between upper and lower strings adds to the tension before the upper strings take hold of the melody at m. 31. This melody is derived from the slow opening material. The lower strings get their chance on the melody at m. 47 in an augmented form. This builds to a dramatic slow section at m. 57. The opening material returns at m. 66 to transition back to the fast material. Make sure to aplaya the silence at m. 88 for maximum effect and really lean into the final note even though it is on beat 3 of the measure.

Dark Dreams was commissioned by the Westport, Connecticut Public Schools for the Bedford Middle School 7th Grade Orchestra, Michele Anderson, director. It is a piece influenced by many ideas from the students including such descriptive words as dark, mysterious, A vivid, intense and gripping. The collaboration process on commissions like this are very rewarding for both the students and composer.

The students were looking to include techniques like tremolo and pizzicato, so the opening includes both of these to set the tapestry of sound for the composition. The slow and mysterious opening gives way to an intense fast section at m. 19. Trading off between upper and lower strings adds to the tension before the upper strings take hold of the melody at m. 31. This melody is derived from the slow opening material. The lower strings get their chance on the melody at m. 47 in an augmented form. This builds to a dramatic slow section at m. 57. The opening material returns at m. 66 to transition back to the fast material. Make sure to aplaya the silence at m. 88 for maximum effect and really lean into the final note even though it is on beat 3 of the measure.

Dark Dreams was commissioned by the Westport, Connecticut Public Schools for the Bedford Middle School 7th Grade Orchestra, Michele Anderson, director. It is a piece influenced by many ideas from the students including such descriptive words as dark, mysterious, vivid, intense and gripping. The collaboration process on commissions like this are very rewarding for both the students and composer.

The students were looking to include techniques like tremolo and pizzicato, so the opening includes both of these to set the tapestry of sound for the composition. The slow and mysterious opening gives way to an intense fast section at m. 19. Trading off between upper and lower strings adds to the tension before the upper strings take hold of the melody at m. 31. This melody is derived from the slow opening material. The lower strings get their chance on the melody at m. 47 in an augmented form. This builds to a dramatic slow section at m. 57. The opening material returns at m. 66 to transition back to the fast material. Make sure to play the silence at m. 88 for maximum effect and really lean into the final note even though it is on beat 3 of the measure.

About Carl Fischer Young String Orchestra Series

This series of Grade 2/Grade 2.5 pieces is designed for second and third year ensembles. The pieces in this series are characterized by:
--Occasionally extending to third position
--Keys carefully considered for appropriate difficulty
--Addition of separate 2nd violin and viola parts
--Viola T.C. part included
--Increase in independence of parts over beginning levels