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As She Goes
Price:
$3.95
Description:
for SSA and piano As She Goes sets words by the composer on a reflective yet inspirational theme ('We were born to fly, but your wings come without a trial run'), against the backdrop of images from the natural world. The choral lines are simple and melodic, drawing on the sound-world of the folksong 'My Love's An Arbutus', which opens the work. Ideal for adult and youth upper-voice choirs, as well as children's choruses. Programme Notes: As She Goes is a memorial commissioned by the people who loved choral educator Eileen Hower, born Eileen Catherine Murphy. Both names will have a virtual presence in any performance, since I've linked the letters in those names with musical pitches, similar to my choice of key: 'E' for 'Eileen'. The music, literally, grows out of her name. The melody is her name. I'm using an old Italian technique, and so I give the vowels in Eileen's name an Italian pronunciation. Bearing in mind that in continental Europe 'do-re-mi' is 'ut-re-mi', I take the vowels in 'Eileen Catherine Murphy' (e, i, e, e, a, e, i, e, u, y) and construct a melody, first heard at bar/measure 12: 're, mi, re, re, la, re, mi, re, ut, ti'.) At first I keep the âlaâ in this melody lowered to 'so' and then find various ways to let the note bloom upward in a gesture of release and fulfillment, such as in bars/measures 16 and 24. Another reason why the âlaâ of C# is at first lowered to the âsoâ of the B (also a featured note in the piano part) is that in the European tradition, B natural is called 'H': 'H' for 'Hower', Eileen's married name. Folk songs were important to Eileen, so this piece opens with a quote from 'My Love's An Arbutus' and closes with 'Wild Mountain Thyme', which I believe was the last song Eileen heard in this world. Both folk songs are linked through a falling E, C#, B motif, and through the simple but heart-charged word 'go'. Both of these songs should also share 3/4 time, but I have nudged 'My Love's An Arbutus' into 4/4, and you can feel how the melody yearns for the lilt of triple time, like shoulders yearning for wings. In the same way that I first deny the 'la' in the melody so that I can fulfil it, I deny the opening quote its 3/4 time so that I can fulfill it with 'Wild Mountain Thyme'. For me, the entry of 3/4 is like the soul lilting upwards, an effect similar to the uplift when the voices finally move into three part harmony at the word 'sky' at bar/measure 45.
Sample Audio
Table of Contents:
for SSA and piano As She Goes sets words by the composer on a reflective yet inspirational theme ('We were born to fly, but your wings come without a trial run'), against the backdrop of images from the natural world. The choral lines are simple and melodic, drawing on the sound-world of the folksong 'My Love's An Arbutus', which opens the work. Ideal for adult and youth upper-voice choirs, as well as children's choruses. Programme Notes: As She Goes is a memorial commissioned by the people who loved choral educator Eileen Hower, born Eileen Catherine Murphy. Both names will have a virtual presence in any performance, since I've linked the letters in those names with musical pitches, similar to my choice of key: 'E' for 'Eileen'. The music, literally, grows out of her name. The melody is her name. I'm using an old Italian technique, and so I give the vowels in Eileen's name an Italian pronunciation. Bearing in mind that in continental Europe 'do-re-mi' is 'ut-re-mi', I take the vowels in 'Eileen Catherine Murphy' (e, i, e, e, a, e, i, e, u, y) and construct a melody, first heard at bar/measure 12: 're, mi, re, re, la, re, mi, re, ut, ti'.) At first I keep the âlaâ in this melody lowered to 'so' and then find various ways to let the note bloom upward in a gesture of release and fulfillment, such as in bars/measures 16 and 24. Another reason why the âlaâ of C# is at first lowered to the âsoâ of the B (also a featured note in the piano part) is that in the European tradition, B natural is called 'H': 'H' for 'Hower', Eileen's married name. Folk songs were important to Eileen, so this piece opens with a quote from 'My Love's An Arbutus' and closes with 'Wild Mountain Thyme', which I believe was the last song Eileen heard in this world. Both folk songs are linked through a falling E, C#, B motif, and through the simple but heart-charged word 'go'. Both of these songs should also share 3/4 time, but I have nudged 'My Love's An Arbutus' into 4/4, and you can feel how the melody yearns for the lilt of triple time, like shoulders yearning for wings. In the same way that I first deny the 'la' in the melody so that I can fulfil it, I deny the opening quote its 3/4 time so that I can fulfill it with 'Wild Mountain Thyme'. For me, the entry of 3/4 is like the soul lilting upwards, an effect similar to the uplift when the voices finally move into three part harmony at the word 'sky' at bar/measure 45.
Sample AudioTable of Contents:
| Catalog: | PE9780193413412 |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press USA |
| Composer: | Hatfield, Stephen |
| Artist: | |
| Arranger: | |
| Voicing: | SSA and Piano |
| Level: | B |
| Pages: | 8 |
9780193413412