High voice and piano - Medium - Digital Download SKU: MQ.8318-4E Composed by Gwyneth W. Walker. Secular, 21st century. 9 pages. E. C. Schirmer Music Company - Digital #8318-4E. Published by E. C. Schirmer Music Company - Digital (MQ.8318-4E). The five letters which provide the lyrics for the songs (adapted by the composer) were selected for their range of topics and sentiments. Some portray the wildlife in the mountains (“Glacier Birds...�). Others extol the beauty of the Sierra (“Mountain Glory,� “Yosemite Falls�). One expresses the whimsical/temperamental personality of the author (“Ice!�). And the final letter (“Sequoia�) speaks reverently of the great trees, in a language both naturalistic and sacred. They are the “greatest light in the woods, the greatest light in the world.� The musical settings, especially in the piano accompaniment, are quite programmatic. Glacier birds scamper up and down the keyboard in tone clusters. “Icy� glissandi float off. The great trees take root in large, block chords, and waterfalls cascade down in scales.There is personality in the letters. The bond between John Muir and Mrs. Carr (whom he addresses formally) is one of great kinship- a blending of the souls, a “spiritual romance.� As he marvels at the beauty of the wilderness, he writes ardently, “I wish that you could see this...� When he learns that Mrs. Carr, a botanist (whose plants suffer from the frost), dislikes ice, he chides her, and creates a “mock argument� over the value of glacial ice.The songs begin with an ascent into the mountains. They close with the return to the coast, to the magnificent Sequoia trees, where John Muir camps for the night, in the company of a squirrel. Charmingly, he writes “therefore, my Carr, goodnight.�.

High Voice,Vocal Solo - Level 5 - Digital Download SKU: A0.767060 Composed by Mike Lyons. 20th Century,Contemporary. 18 pages. Lyons Music Services #238419. Published by Lyons Music Services (A0.767060). This song was written in response to Siegfried Sassoon's well-known war poem of the same title. I have tried to emulate the ironic tone of Sassoon's descriptions of the treatment of wounded and damaged men by the society for whom they have been fighting. This is as current a topic today as it was 50 years ago. The song is short at just under 2 minutes, but demands some difficult techniques from both singer and pianist. The vocal line, in particular, will need good control of breathing and pitch in the sliding arpeggio on the Ah!! after letter B and the line And people won't say that you're mad. The sudden ending is quite deliberate and the final bar rest should be counted in full. The listener should expect more, but there isn't anything more to say - we treat our soldiers badly!