SKU: HL.35027797
UPC: 884088545000. 5x5 inches.
This 2-part choral is a gem for teaching and celebrating African American's Civil Rights. Each verse is filled with key events in black history, set to fun and upbeat music and a chorus using the phrase “Dream, dream, they had a dream.” Perfect for any concert throughout the year and especially February to celebrate Black History Month. Available separately: 2-Part, StudioTrax CD. Duration: ca. 2:55.
SKU: PR.111402650
UPC: 680160643516. Text: Lorna Goodison. Lorna Goodison.
Angel of Dreamers is a song cycle for bass-baritone (or mezzo-soprano) singer, trombone, and either string orchestra, string quintet, or piano. It is based on the extraordinary poetry of the Jamaican-American poet, Lorna Goodison, whom I have had the great pleasure of getting to know in the course of writing this piece. The work was commissioned by a friend from my undergraduate college years at The Eastman School of Music, Maury Okun, trombonist and director of the Detroit Chamber Winds And Strings. The work was premiered in 2011 by bass-baritone Daniel Washington, trombonist and U. of Michigan faculty member David Jackson, and the string section of the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings. Daniel and David gave the second performance of the work with Lorna Goodison and Maury Okun in attendance at The Juilliard School the following year. I was approached by Maury Okun and David Jackson to write this piece as a tribute to Maury's father who had recently passed away. They also introduced me to their colleague and friend Lorna Goodison, suggesting her poetry. Reading several volumes of her work, I was absolutely captivated by the vivid imagery and beautiful messages of her words. I chose five of the poems, forming a cycle about life and death and home and parents. Lorna is originally from Jamaica, and the rich, vivid imagery, language and story lines of her poems beautifully reflect her roots. The work, in the tradition of Brahms' songs for voice, viola, and piano, features a singer with an obligato lyric instrumental line, which, in my piece, is the trombone, an instrument that blends so beautifully with the sound of a bass singer. The first song, O Love You So Fear the Dark is hopeful and uplifting, describing enduring love throughout the twists and turns of our lives. The music is strong and declamatory, but also tender. The second song, God A Me actually portrays a fish in Jamaica which is almost amphibious, flying up out of the water onto the land, and somehow, magically, returning to the water! For me this poem depicts the enjoyment of seeing parts of life that are fun and enjoyable and almost magical! The third song, All Souls Day depicts a holiday, somewhat magical, but also full of life and energy. The final two songs are a tribute to our parents -- My Mother's Sea Chanty, recalling a dream of seeing one's mother, with lyrics of tender love and remembrance, and finally, This is my Father's Country which is a tribute to the life of a loving father, recalling his spirit, his love of the music Harry Belafonte, and his enduring spirit. Angel of Dreamers was a special piece for me to write: for and with friends, old and new, collaborating with a poet whose beautiful, meaningful, and touching words were so inspiring, performed by fantastic musicians who poured themselves into the music, and commissioned by a dear friend from years gone by. THIS is why we write and perform music!.
SKU: HL.14042113
ISBN 9788759826058. International (more than one language).
THE DREAMERS for horn, violin and piano is the sixth of a series of seven compositions named after Karen Blixen's collection of short stories Seven Gothic Tales. My musical gothic tales are written for very different ensembles - THE SUPPER AT ELSINORE is a saxophone quartet, THE OLD CHEVALIER is for bass trombone and piano, THE MONKEY is a chamber orchestra work - but they all share musical material in a criss-cross of contextual references reminiscent of Blixen's narrative complexity: Themes and motivs from one piece appear in others in new and surprising shapes and combinations. Karen Blixen's THE DREAMERS has the most complex narrative structure of all her seven gothic tales.The story is made up of three tales with different narrators, but with the same principal caracter in various disguises, all three imbedded within a fourth tale that serves as a framework for the entire short story. The main story line unravels the life of a famous opera diva who looses her voice during a terrible fire. Before this her life was perpetual bliss, and the tragedy drives her into assuming different personality guises in order to escape reality. Toward the end she is confronted with her true identity, and dies. THE DREAMERS isn't 'about' anything. The music is inspired by the artistic content of Blixen's short story - it's emotionalism, dramatic construction, atmosphere, period and settings - but unfolds in time and musical space in ways that are completely independent of the story's narrative progression... except one might say that the three players try their best to either catch or escape each other, and that when they finally meet, it happens abruptly, even tragically - and only barely provides a little consolation. Duration: approximately 15 minutes.
SKU: CF.CAS98
ISBN 9781491146583. UPC: 680160904082. 9 x 12 inches. Key: G major.
Composer Bud Woodruff takes his musical inspiration for Adventurer's Dream from a rooster named Wally. Mr. Woodruff turns this charming four-note crow into the main thematic material for this piece that is reminiscent of classic movie scores.The principal theme to this piece has an interesting history . We had a very young rooster named Wally . He had a quite rhythmic four-pitched crow, which was very unique and consistent . As he aged, his crow settled into pitches and the opening melodic figure of this piece is the very pitches and rhythm of Wally’s crow . However, Wally had a touch of a glissando between the last two pitches, which I chose to eliminate, for musicality’s sake . Wally's crow is spun out in different ways and used one way or another in all the sections of the piece . Wally was a very energetic, if not egotistical, young bird, and the piece should be performed accordingly, in a dashing, swashbuckling, heroic style, which Wally would appreciate greatly and agree that it was very appropriate!Rehearsal suggestions:The most difficult thing to accomplish in this work will be deciding if you want the repeated eight-note figure on the string or off the string . I don’t care as long as it sounds staccato . On the string, it needs to be played at or by the camber point; off the string, that point will change depending upon your tempo, but the stroke itself should remain consistent .Although the basses never have the melody, they are a critically important section and can make or break this piece . Their part counters the others and fills in rhythmic gaps in a number of places . It needs to be played aggressively and metronomically; they are the glue that makes the piece work . The cellos need to sing for all they are worth at m . 63 and do so with joy in their hands . Their theme needs to be very lyrical and smooth . The countermelody at m . 79 should be understated, yet not buried while being intertwined with the cellos’ theme . It harkens back to the main theme and needs a dreamy quality to it .The piece was written as a string orchestra piece . The optional harp part was added later and is not necessary for an effective performance of the piece . However, it does add some extra variety and color to the piece, and reinforces the basses when they fill in those rhythmic gaps to which I referred earlier .A very special thanks goes to harpist Jane Minnis for the great and insightful suggestions for this part .Thank you for playing this piece . I trust you will enjoy it as much as I do .
About Carl Fischer Concert String Orchestra Series
This series of pieces (Grade 3 and higher) is designed for advancing ensembles. The pieces in this series are characterized by:
SKU: PR.144407290
ISBN 9781491135150. UPC: 680160687008.
Jazz luminary Ali Ryerson traces a unique and personal artistic path in this solo work. With an engaging form reminiscent of jazz charts (a dreamy introduction, a catchy, swinging head, and improvisatory-feeling 12-bar choruses), Ryerson’s music pays deeply-felt homage to Charlie Parker and other jazz greats, while maintaining an organic connection to the lineage of unaccompanied woodwind music in the classical tradition. Classical players will gain insight into jazz harmony, rhythm, and expression as they learn this knockout recital piece, while Ryerson fans in the jazz world gain an image of her musical mind in this fully-notated composition.Jazz Dream, a jazz-inspired solo flute piece, was commissioned by Claudia Anderson for her Glass Ceilings project. Claudia once told me that playing jazz flute has been one of her musical ambitions. I daresay her performance of JD could very well break a glass ceiling of her own!Moved by the events of 2020, composing Jazz Dream became my way of honoring my musical heroes from the Black community, namely the jazz musicians who created this music and truly broke glass ceilings. As jazz shares its origins with the blues, both genres having originated in the African-American community, I decided on a 12-bar blues form as the framework for the piece.The opening theme gently draws us into a dream-like state, with a melody in slow motion and lines that linger. When the REM cycle kicks into gear, there’s an abrupt rhythmic shift that leads straight into a swingin’ blues. Idiomatic jazz rhythms abound, with blue notes galore – the tension notes that virtually define the sound of both the blues and jazz (i.e. the flatted third, fifth, and seventh notes of a scale in place of the expected major intervals).After several groovin’ choruses of a 12-bar blues in B(, often played as if the soloist is improvising, the blues modulates to the key of E(, and as a tribute to the great Charlie Parker (AKA Bird), I harmonically suggest the more complex set of bebop changes that Parker introduced in his composition, Blues for Alice. Often referred to as Bird Changes or Bird Blues, instead of the basic I - IV – V chord progression commonly used in the blues, Parker used a series of sequential ii-V progressions (and secondary ii-V progressions). With the addition of some tritone substitutions, a chromatically descending bass line deftly replaces the original I-IV-V root movement. This is the harmonic background I was hearing as I wrote this particular chorus.After my 12-bar nod to Bird’s changes, the introductory dream theme returns, now in tempo and with a straight-ahead swing feel. Variations on this theme follow, again to be played as if improvising, with the soloist once again bringing their own personality into the performance. This section builds to a climax, the music pauses, then modulates to C, with a return to the original blues theme. The energy and groove increase through the final flourish, where a blues line ends on the idiomatic flatted fifth.
SKU: FL.FX071021-24
Text source: Pascal Dubost.
Sans se retourner is a musical story built around the theme of sea, which is often an unattainable dream for lots of children. Two children, Zac and Loula, live in the suburbs in a grey building with an out of order elevator. They dream of leaving on a ship towards south to reach warm seas... They dream of going onto the sea as said on all the songs they have listened to. This is decided, next summer, they go!
SKU: CF.CAS102
ISBN 9781491146620. UPC: 680160904129. 9 x 12 inches. Key: A minor.
Blindsight is the ability of certain blind people to respond to visual stimuli or can be used to describe the ability of people who lose their sight to still form images when they dream. This piece, Blindsighted, contrasts an intensely rhythmic ostinato with freer lyrical material creating rich textures that will both teach and inspire.Blindsight is the ability of some people who are blind to respond to visual stimuli that they cannot consciously see, for instance to accurately track motion . It also is used to describe the ability of people who lose their sight to still form images when they dream .Musically, Blindsighted contrasts an intensely rhythmic ostinato with freer lyrical material . This contrast in textures should be highlighted to create rich contrasts between rhythm and lyricism . The middle section at m . 67 should sing freely and should contrast with the rhythmic drive that surrounds it . Measures 87 to 105 are at a faster tempo, but should start to pick up sonic intensity and more rhythmic drive as they proceed, while still remaining essentially lyrical . The section starting in m . 105 gradually intensifies the rhythmic energy, culminating at m . 113 with a return of the opening material . The work concludes with a dramatic drive to the end starting at m . 129 .I enjoyed writing this piece and hope your students will enjoy playing these contrasting styles and that you will find the piece beneficial in teaching important musical concepts .
