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This fresh setting of the Welsh tune, HYFYRDOL, works perfectly for an offertory, prelude, or devotional function. Although written for the Advent season, the multiple familiar hymns set with this tune (e.g., Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners; Love Divine, All Loves Excelling; Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus; etc.) make the piece suitable throughout the church year. It is readily performed by high school or higher musicians yet still contains sufficient variety and artistic expression to be rewarding for even advanced performers. The familiar melody is stated clearly throughout and accompanied with interesting and sonorous harmonies so as to be accessible to all audiences.
Duration: ~3’40”
for BRASS QUINTET
Trumpet in Bb 1 & 2
Horn in F
Trombone
Tuba
Fairest Friend is a medley of two beloved hymns, Fairest Lord Jesus and What a Friend We Have in Jesus. It is set as a flute and horn (or trombone) duet with piano accompaniment. Optional rhythm and strings/synth may be used if available or to add color but the piece works well with the three principal instruments.
Duration: ~4:00
a polytonal etude
Something a Little Different is a brief excursion into bi-tonality for tenor sax and piano. It’s a little bit jazzy, a little bit impressionistic, a little bit 20th century, and, well, something a little different. Suitable for intermediate and above players, this is a fun to piece to play and to hear. While it is unique and modern in its stylings, Something a Little Different is easy on the ears and very accessible for all kinds of audiences. It makes a great recital piece for the up and coming saxophonist to show off, or would work as a transition movement in a concert program, or for any program needing 21st century works.
Duration: ~2’30”
PICARDY for Mixed Skill Levels
Plenty of music is available for advanced ensembles, and some music is available for beginning and early music students. But what is available for a mixture of the two? This arrangement of Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence aims to provide that solution.
As originally written for an actual church ensemble with a mixture of professional, advanced amateur, and student string players, this piece can fit many different ensemble mixtures of a septet or larger. It features solo parts for violin and cello that will interest advanced players mixed with simple accompaniment by the ensemble at large. Whether you have a studio of mixed ability students, a faculty/student ensemble, or just a real-world church ensemble, this piece can work for you.
Duration: ~3’24”
Like a River Glorious is a brief once-through of the traditional hymn tune WYE VALLEY meant to be ready to play in one rehearsal. It depicts the order, peace, and timelessness of God’s eternal kingdom with a sense of perpetual movement through the metaphor of a grand and majestic river. Readily playable by your school age musicians yet colorful and interesting enough to satisfy your most experienced players, Like a River Glorious fits perfectly into your services as prelude, postlude, or transitional musical worship while still being suitable for academic or civic concert settings.
Duration: ~1’50”
And Can It Be?
OK, to answer your first question, call it “suh-JEE-nuh.” Rhymes with Regina. This arrangement is a colorful and moving setting of the Charles Wesley hymn, “And Can It Be,” for traditional orchestra. The beauty of the music, the prominence of the familiar tune, and the text painting of Wesley’s poignant lyrics will find immediate acceptance in the hearts of its hearers. Aside from frequently shifting asymmetrical meters the difficulty level is very basic yet your musicians should still find it interesting and fulfilling to play.
In 1825, Thomas Campbell published a collection of twenty-three tunes under the title of The Bouquet. Campbell gave each of these tunes the name of a botanical species. One, titled SAGINA, was named for the family of flowering plants that includes baby’s breath and carnations.
Almost a century ealier, in 1738, Charles Wesley wrote six stanzas for his hymn titled “And Can it Be” as a reflection on his conversion to Christianity. By the mid-twentieth century, Campbell’s tune had become irrevocably wedded to Wesley’s verse in Christian hymnody. Two of Wesley’s stanzas along with the refrain, shown below, were chosen as inspiration for the music in this arrangement of the classic hymn tune.
Three accommodations make the music more accessible to church and community orchestras. First, important passages are liberally cued to keep the music workable even without full instrumentation. Second, several optional parts for band instruments are provided to allow current and former band musicians take part beside your orchestra players. And third, the piano/synthesizer part doubles key passages from most of the less common instruments such as harp, vibraphone and chimes.
Robert Myers
S.D.G.
Duration: ~4’45”
In 1861, the sight of Northern troops assembling in Washington, D.C. inspired Julia Ward Howe to pen the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic, which begins, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” Although originally intended to stimulate patriotic fervor, the text’s potent depiction of biblical themes – God’s certain and final defeat of evil, the looming eternal judgment of all souls, Christ’s atonement on our behalf, and a clear call to sacrificial evangelism – the work became prominent in many American hymnals. As summer approaches with the major American holidays of Memorial and Independence Days you may be seeking appropriate music to use in recognition of God’s providence and sovereignty. Here is one option for you, my arrangement of Ward’s hymn titled Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, set for trombone/low brass quartet. It’s a short piece, suitable for prelude, offertory, postlude, or other moments in your service, or would make a marvelous addition to a patriotic service or a summer bandstand concert. It is accessible and enjoyable for intermediate and higher level musicians. With rich harmonies and shifting colors, a twist on the traditional meter, and variations in tempo, it is a delight to the ears that underscores the implications of the unvoiced lyrics.
Duration: ~3’40”
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