Par BUNTING CHRISTOPHER. Warming up and keeping one?s basic technique in peak condition, (or working to get to peak condition) is fundamentally important, yet many cellists do not have routine exercises to follow. This book, the second of a two volume set, which complements book 1, provides the exercises that every cellist needs, for both the left and right hands: bow off the string; right arm cho…

Par RAE JAMES. James Rae is the man who put fun into woodwind and brass teaching. His many compositions, especially in the jazz and blues idioms, have often featured on examination syllabuses. Recent years have seen his publications of easy flexible ensembles for younger players and now he turns his attention to the wind band. In his new series “The Concert Band Collection”, he has written excit…

Tropus. Par SCHNEIDER ENJOTT. In this composition Schneider uses the famous words from the liturgy for Good Friday: “Darkness fell, and on the ninth hour Jesus called out with a loud voice: My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” Here he draws on the earlier form of the “trope”, using what was a common device in composition in medieval times, inserted into already completed works as a sort of commenta…

Par L'ESTRANGE ALEXANDER (Arr.). Afton Water is a gentle, lyrical hymn of praise both to the countryside of Scotland itself and to a girl called Mary who lies sleeping by the banks of the river Afton near Ayr, south of Glasgow. Alexander L’Estrange’s arrangement is both enjoyable and approachable whilst being true to the spirit of the original song. This piece is part of the Faber Choral Singles …

Par FOGGITT PETER. This is a rowdy and lusty setting of a favourite song from the Coventry Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The music has tremendous swing to its stride, and a folksong quality to which, by the use of judicious pauses, the composer adds the feel of impromptu singing. A certain exaggeration might even be called for in performance, for example in the robustly canonic second verse…

Songs, Stories And History. Par WAYNE ERBSEN. Plus récent livre de Wayne Erbsen jette un regard profond sur la musique bluegrass pour découvrir ses vraies racines : ballades des premiers pionniers, écossais-irlandais fiddle tunes, spirituals noirs, mélodies de plantations, blues, meurtre ballades, chansons sentimentales parlor de styles de banjo Tin Pan Alley, en Caroline du Nord et Gospels. Le li…

Par LAURIDSEN MORTEN. Morten Lauridsen's I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes was written for Stephen Layton and Polyphony and has been recorded on Lauridsen: Nocturnes (Hyperion, CDA 67580). Purchase the sheet music here arranged for mixed vocal chorus. In speaking of Lauridsen in his book Choral Music in the Twentieth Century, the author Nick Strimple says of him, 'he is the only American composer in histor…