SKU: A0.1074352

PROGRAM NOTES As of the present writing, this choral tone poem had been gestating for over thirty years, and the concept and harmonies for it for over forty years. In the 1980s I began to work with the latter two in my brief orchestral piece Little Sea Nocturne. When reading the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), I am most struck by how musical they are. When recited aloud they exhibit their own rhythmic sense. I was eager to incorporate those rhythms into my music. I had long been familiar with his poem The City In the Sea and began to sketch choral passages for the present choral tone poem in the 1990s. It took me until 2022 to complete it because I required many more years of experience at my craft to do so to lead into out of the choruses. In 2012 I completed a seven-minute unaccompanied version of the choruses with music unique to and unifying it simply called The City In the Sea. In composing The City In the Sea - Choral Tone Poem, my goal was to write a piece that, while steeped in tradition, sounds unlike anything in the literature that had come before it. The result is an original hybrid work that successfully and memorably combines salient aspects of the tonal, atonal, and modal musical languages into an organic whole. George Perle coined the term “twelve-tone tonality� to describe the music of Alban Berg and composers influenced by him such as Luigi Dallapiccola. The last title of which I am aware that accomplishes anything remotely related to what I am trying to accomplish musically in this choral tone poem is the piece Paradiso Choruses by Donald Martino (1974). However, I take twelve-tone tonality in entirely other directions in my work. That the duration of The City In the Sea - Choral Tone Poem came out to be thirteen minutes seems appropriate for piece about a sunken city. Rather than write program notes that narrate how the music unfolds I will simply shout out the most memorable aspects of what careful listeners will discern: a recurring heartbeat motif; shifting polychordal harmonies; echo technique; rhythmic diminutions and augmentations; an a cappella chorus featuring those harmonies with a surprisingly memorable recuring theme on top; sensuous flute duets; string section underpinnings by way of either sustained passages or wave-like gestures; tritone-related melodies, harmonies, and tone centers; several strategically placed grand pauses; tritone-related modal-sounding passages; melodic and chord clusters, especially the two climactic ones. INSTRUMENTATION 2 Flutes (2. doubles on Piccolo) 2 Oboes (2. doubles on English Horn) 2 Bb Clarinets 2 Bassoons 2 F Horns 2 C Trumpets 2 Trombones Tuba Timpani Percussion (Gong, Bass Drum, Chimes, Glockenspiel) Harp Strings DURATION 13:00 Stanley M. Hoffman (b. 1959) For biographical information visit: www.stanleymhoffman.com.

SKU: A0.1308788

*Purchase 10 copies to perform this piece with your ensemble of any size
*Purchase the instrumental pack (bass and drum part) here: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/beyond-the-sea-instrumental-pack-only-22605052.html

This arrangement came to me over a number of weeks in a very organic way that began with the ostinato piano figure that prevails throughout the piece. I began playing it unattached to any tune and I just liked the way the line descended in the left hand and how I had to find voicings in the right hand that made harmonic sense – like a puzzle. As I was playing around with this puzzle, thoughts of my father were swirling around in my head – I was at the end of a 4 year period of separation from my parents owing to the fact that I’m a Canadian expat living in the US and the borders were closed for a long time because of Covid, and then I had work visa issues and my parents were getting older before my eyes. They were also losing friends to cancer and other ailments and my dad, in particular, had experienced the loss of many close family members and friends during our separation and it was taking a toll.

 

One day I sat down and played the now familiar-to-me ostinato but randomly I started to sing “Beyond the Sea� over it and it fit perfectly. I thought it a happy coincidence. As the days went on I committed to putting my ostinato with Beyond the Sea and the lyrics started to seep into my brain. I have, of course, heard these lyrics many times before, (who hasn’t seen Finding Nemo?) but the lyrics didn’t mean what I thought they meant… They’re NOT about the ocean, they are about my dad!!! Well, kind of… I realized, through careful reflection and by slowing the words down, that the lyrics are talking about a person in heaven who is patiently waiting for their partner to join them.

 

Somewhere beyond the sea

She’s there watching for me

…

It’s far beyond the stars

It’s near beyond the moon

 

And the lyrics end with them meeting, “We’ll meet beyond the shore, we’ll kiss just like before,� and the song ends with: “and never again I’ll go sailing.� It’s like the big bang went off in my head about why all these thoughts of my dad, and his friends, and this arrangement, and what it all meant suddenly just MADE SENSE and I was able to start formulating a plan.

 

Performance Suggestions: 

The improvisation solo in the middle should be free of any traditional “scat syllables� and should be more of a lament. Listen to singers like Aubrey Johnson improvise on ballads for inspiration. An idea for that improv section might be to have a male singer start the improv, then a female singer joins (as if together in heaven) then they sing letter F together (warning: will cause tears…). All solo sections do not have to be sung as written – soloists can take liberties with the melody as the spirit moves.

SKU: H1.C5705DP

Luke 2:8 - Luke 2:9 - Luke 2:10 - Luke 2:11 - Luke 2:12 - Luke 2:13 - Luke 2:14 - Luke 2:15 - Luke 2:16 - Luke 2:17 - Luke 2:18 - Matthew 2:1 - Matthew 2:9 - Matthew 2:10.

Traditional Christmas Spiritual Celebrate the season with this rousing arrangement that retells the Christmas story from the shepherd's perspective using the familiar words from the traditional spiritual Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow. Choirs and congregants will be delighted by Joel Raney's new melody, and captivated by the whimsical instrumental accompaniment - ideal for worship or concerts in church or school. The Instrumental packet includes a Conductor's Score and parts for: Clarinet, 6 Handbells (or Orchestra Bells), Guitar, Bass, Synth. & Drums.

SKU: A0.1019370

Bring His Love

Inspiration (below is a note I sent to my sister)

Hi Karen! In the fall of last year I started working on a new church anthem for FUMC. Over the years your choir has sung several pieces of mine; so I felt I should do something in return. I quickly got an idea for the music only (sometimes I will get some lyric ideas also, but didn't this time.) By the first of the year I had the basic structure sketched out on paper but then put it aside for Easter Rehearsals. When the pandemic stopped all church choirs I returned to the music and by early May had the score in the computer, close to completion. At that point I still didn't have any lyrics but began feeling that it should be about God's creation. All I could envision was a singer with his arms stretched out to the sun, the ocean, the moon, etc. while singing this piece. So I started searching for a possible prayer that might fit and came upon Canticle of the Son. As I read it through I liked the structure and began sketching out the lyrics. I couldn't help but wonder what our response should be to God's creation. How should we thank him or praise him or take care of it? I then turned my thoughts to FUMC and considered this - what phrase would sum up this churches mission? I almost immediately got Bring His Love. From there the balance of the lyrics fell into place. So attached is the recording and the music. I have no expectations but hope you and the choir enjoy the music.

The Music

The piece starts with 16th note broken chords in the upper register of the piano which lead to the opening theme. A tenor soloist begins by singing God's praises for all he has given us; ending with the thought How can we thank such kindness?; The answer Bring His Love the B section. At its conclusion we are returned to the opening theme, this time sung by the choir which again leads us to the same questionHow can we thank such kindness?, The answer Bring His Love the B section. A C section is then introduced with a change to a more beat driven accompaniment with the vocals alternating between the upper and lower voices. A return to the opening theme, with minimal chordal accompaniment, features the original soloist but then adds a second voice leading to a duet and a return to the broken chord accompaniment.. Finally the B section,Bring His Love is repeated and concludes in a rousing fashion..

Program Notes

The piece could work very well for Earth Day celebrations.

SKU: A0.1449955

Ring, Ring de Banjo is a minstrel song written in 1851. The song's words and music are from Stephen Foster. THIS ARRANGEMENT HAS BEEN UPDATED TO INCLUDE CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH AND DOES NOT INCLUDE REFERENCES TO SLAVERY OR DEROGATORY RACIAL TERMS.

The song, (originally) written to mimic the dialect of Black people in the Southern United States, is about a newly-freed slave who wishes to come back to his master's plantation. As his old master is dying, the singer plays the banjo on his old master's deathbed until he dies. It is one of minstrelsy's most explicit evocations of the potentially violent relationship in slavery between master and slave and inspired a number of imitators, including the abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe. -Wikipedia.