Happy Fourth of July! In honor of the U.S.A.’s Independence Day, we’d like to share John Kuzma‘s fun and quirky arrangement of John Philip Sousa‘s spirited march, The Stars and Stripes Forever. This performance was done by the Heartland Men’s Chorus (the arrangement is also available for SATB and SSAA).
Richard Wilbur, a Poet Laureate of the United States, evokes an image of the Statue of Liberty at the beginning of his poem “Immigrants Still“. His words were set musically by Kenneth Fuchs in a work for SSAATB that was commissioned by the Oklahoma Choral Director’s Association. It’s a piece full of lush harmonies and interweaving, lyrical lines. There’s a slightly minimalist feel to some of the textures Fuch’s composed, allowing for subtle harmonic nuances to be beautifully expressed as only the human voice can do. The last lines of Wilbur’s poem states…
“We are immigrants still, who travel in time,
Bound where the thought of America beckons;
But we hold our course, and the wind is with us.”
You can browse through the first seven pages of the score here.
Immigrants Still
[audio:http://yrmusic.com/audio/fuchs.kenneth/ImmStill.mp3]
Does your chorus yawn when they sing about “the rockets’ red glare” and the “bombs bursting in air”? If so, then perhaps your ol’ stand-by arrangement of “The Star-Spangled Banner” just isn’t cutting it anymore. Might be time to update your library with Brian Throckmorton’s clever re-imagining of this patriotic song. It has very subtle “twists” that will put more fireworks into your performance and engage your audience’s ears!
Throckmorton’s “Star-Spangled Banner” is available for men’s, women’s/children’s and mixed choruses (all a cappella). Click on previous links to view a PDF of the first two pages of each score.
Star-Spangled Banner (men’s)
[audio:http://yrmusic.com/audio/throckmorton.brian/YR1T12v1.mp3]
Star-Spangled Banner (children’s)
[audio:http://yrmusic.com/audio/throckmorton.brian/YR1T12v3.mp3]
