Composed by Brian Joyce. 21st Century, Contemporary Classical, Impressionistic, Post-Romantic. 19 pages. Published by Brian Joyce (S0.160877). - - 21st Century,Contemporary Classical,Impressionistic,Post-Romantic - Brian Joyce

Composed by Brian Joyce. 21st Century, Contemporary Classical, Post-Modern, Neo-Classical. 36 pages. Published by Brian Joyce (S0.158763). - - 21st Century,Contemporary Classical,Post-Modern,Neo-Classical - Brian Joyce

Composed by Brian Joyce. Contemporary Classical, Sacred, Lent. Score, Set of Parts. 48 pages. Published by Brian Joyce (S0.160657). - Score,Set of Parts - Contemporary Classical,Sacred,Lent - Brian Joyce

Composed by Brian Joyce. Contemporary Classical, Sacred, General Worship, Christmas. Score. 29 pages. Published by Brian Joyce (S0.161021). - Score - Contemporary Classical,Sacred,General Worship,Christmas - Brian Joyce

Composed by Brian Joyce. Contemporary Classical, Christian, Folk. Score, Set of Parts. 27 pages. Published by Brian Joyce (S0.158141). - Score,Set of Parts - Contemporary Classical,Christian,Folk - Brian Joyce

Composed by Brian Joyce. Contemporary Classical, Sacred. Score, Set of Parts. 30 pages. Published by Brian Joyce (S0.161463). - Score,Set of Parts - Contemporary Classical,Sacred - Brian Joyce

Composed by Brian Joyce. 21st Century, Neo-Classical, Christian, Sacred, General Worship. Score. 37 pages. Published by Brian Joyce (S0.241799). - Score - 21st Century,Neo-Classical,Christian,Sacred,General Worship - Brian Joyce

Instrumental Duet Instrumental Duet,Medium Voice - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.836719 Composed by Brian Joyce. Arranged by Brian Joyce. Contemporary. Score and parts. 18 pages. Brian Joyce #6567925. Published by Brian Joyce (A0.836719). Even very well-versed singers can be forgiven if they have never heard of Everett Maxwell (1858-1940). He was simply one of millions in the vast American workingclass, one who was known to jot down a poem or two now and then.Here we have six examples of his work, poems which he wrote for his childhood sweetheart whom he waited fifty years to marry. Maxwell’s great grandson asked me to set these poems to music saying, the poems illuminate a picture of life in the American midwest during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His poetry serves as a lens through which we can view his . . . youthful romantic view of nineteenth-century prairie life.Since the poems are so imbued with nostalgia and 19th century romanticism, I endeavored to set them with an equally strong sense of the classic art song tradition.Curiously, these songs feel longer than they actually are. There are many pieces about which one could say the same thing with less charity, but in this case it’s a good thing: the poems are quite short (the longest is only twelve lines, the shortest only four!)The entire cycle lasts just under 12 minutes. The audio sample includes most of one song (A June Night) and all of a second (Have You Found a Place?). These are enough to give you a sense of the whole cycle.

Organ - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.836714 Composed by Brian Joyce. 20th Century,Christian,Christmas,Sacred. Score. 8 pages. Brian Joyce #4805139. Published by Brian Joyce (A0.836714). New for the 2019 Christmas Season, here is a Noël (a set of variations of a type popular in the French Baroque) on a somewhat less well known Advent Carol for manuals only.  Venez, divin Messie (O Come Divine Messiah) is an anonymous 16th century tune to which Abbé Simon-Joseph Pellegrin added the words in the early 18th century. It is a charming melody and this new setting will provide organists with a little something beyond the ordinary Advent/Christmas fare.Originally conceived for harpsichord, this piece easily makes the transition to organ manuals. Performance time is between 9 and 10 minutes depending largely on the acoustics of the room. The attached audio file will tell you everything there is to say about the music. You will hear the entire tune plus the beginning and ending of each variation.

Small Ensemble Flute,Harpsichord,Marimba,Multi-Percussion - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.836702 Composed by Brian Joyce. Contemporary. Score and parts. 45 pages. Brian Joyce #2897325. Published by Brian Joyce (A0.836702). It’s a brave musician who, armed only with a piccolo, is willing to walk onto a stage strewn with the assorted weaponry of a determined percussionist. One’s confidence can be shaken to the point of asking, who is the soloist here, anyway?But the rewards for courage are great: where else will you find bongos, a harpsichord and a piccolo performing together? How many times do you come across a military march in 3/4 time? In what other circumstances would Goldilocks intrude on the Seven Dwarves? What more could you ask?Percussion required (one player): marimba, glockenspiel, field drum, bongos, suspended cymbal with yarn sticks, sleigh bells, maracas (1 or 2, one hand).Piccolos required: one (1).The score assumes a five-octave double-manual harpsichord, but adjustments can be made to accommodate a single without appreciable harm to the music.The audio file accompanying this blurb features snippets of the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th and 7th movements.  Performance time is approximately 12 minutes. Good luck!

Piano,Violin - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.836715 Composed by Brian Joyce. 20th Century,Classical,Romantic Period. 44 pages. Brian Joyce #4887927. Published by Brian Joyce (A0.836715). A Violin Sonata written in 2019, but which sounds more like 1869? There’s a reason for that: apart from the obvious and enjoyable challenge of writing an extended faux-19th century piece, the sonata is dedicated to the memory of my mother who - being a Brahms & Tchaikovsky gal through and through - had little use for music written after 1900. For instance, I remember when I was a lad and my father and I would listen to Stravinsky’s Le Sacre, Mom would always go out for a walk until it blew over. The Sonata has four movements: I. Largo-Moderato (7:10), II. Allegretto (5:00), III. Andante (7:00), IV. Bagatelles. Allegro non troppo (6:00). Total performance time is about 25 to 26 minutes. The audio file accompanying this description gives you a couple of minutes of each movement: most of the exposition of I; the end of the Scherzo and beginning of the Trio (with its curious three-measure phrases) of II; the closing measures of III; and the beginning of IV. (The sonata has been read by professional players and is guaranteed to work, but at this writing it has not been performed or recorded. Therefore the audio file is only a computer playback. Living musicians will be able to make far more sense of it.)

Clarinet,Piano - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.836709 Composed by Brian Joyce. Contemporary. Score and part. 27 pages. Brian Joyce #3074129. Published by Brian Joyce (A0.836709). A piece shrouded in mystery and intrigue. For myself, I mean: I don’t even know what the title means, nor why this particular piece should wear it. The music and the title came as a package deal, falling on me out of the blue one day. It wasn’t on my to-do list, nor was I looking for extra work. But perhaps that’s the answer: the piece itself is the Agent, breaking into my nicely ordered studio and disrupting things for the next few months. I’ll have to think about this some more.But I digress. Whatever its meaning or provenance, it’s an odd little sonatina. For instance, at its heart the second movement is a traditional scherzo and trio, but it is as misshapen as anything H. P. Lovecraft himself might have envisioned. Even I am not sure where the beginnings and endings of the sections are without a score in hand. Mystery upon mystery.  Another example: as I began to work on the third movement, I wasn’t sure if it would be a simple binary or ternary form, a rondo or a sonata-allegro. I never did find out, to be honest. All I know is that, to my ears, it sounds like what might have resulted if I had been asked to write the theme to The Simpsons. The audio sample will give you some idea of what I mean.More questions than answers.Performance time is a little under 14 minutes.

Choral Choir (SATB) - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.836712 Composed by Brian Joyce. Christian,Sacred. Octavo. 21 pages. Brian Joyce #4325937. Published by Brian Joyce (A0.836712). If you ever need a break from the soundbyte theology found in so many contemporary Christian lyrics, why not revisit the words of Isaac Watts (1674-1748), who could stretch a single coherent thought across multiple verses of his hymns? Watts was a prolific writer on many subjects, including geography, astronomy, ethics, and psychology. His book on Logic became a standard university text, being used at Oxford for over 100 years. But his greatest desire was to assist Christians in the worship of God and it is his hymns for which he is best remembered today.These old words are here set to new music which represents a blending of three different traditions: First, and most obvious, is the rustic sound of early American shape-note singing. Second is the strong linearity of 13th century Ars Antiqua voice leading, in which each part was more or less independent. And third is my own fondness for mixed meters and sonorities built on fourths and seconds. Yet it all works somehow: these are actually very singable hymns once the choir has acclimated to the style. Most fall comfortably into a simple diatonic language and would present no jarring problems for the listener. Five of the hymns are for standard mixed voices (SATB); one is for men’s voices (TTB); one for women’s (SSA) and the last, a Doxology, is in six parts (SSATTB) with a florid threefold amen. There is admittedly a certain sameness about these settings; perhaps it’s best if they are not all sung in one go, cover to cover. Taken individually, however, there is no reason they couldn’t make for a refreshing change from the usual church anthem, and a group of three or four could easily find a place on a choral recital program.

String Quartet String Quartet - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.836707 Composed by Brian Joyce. Christmas,Contemporary. Score and parts. 67 pages. Brian Joyce #3226073. Published by Brian Joyce (A0.836707). What’s Christmas without a few toys? Here is a new suite of older carols for string quartet in which each musician is required to play a wee bit of percussion in addition to his or her real instrument. The potential for entertaining visual theater is nearly as high as the potential for mishap. (If all goes according to plan, nothing should actually go airborne.)This is something of a sequel to my earlier Christmas quartet And Therefore Be Merry, which has never been out of print since it was first published over twenty years ago. But where that work was a continuous medley, this is a set of independent and more fully developed movements, each able to stand on its own. As mentioned above, each member of the quartet is responsible for a small item of percussion. These are all things which could readily be found in a local school band room: a triangle, a tambourine, a suspended cymbal - played with a soft (yarn) stick - and a small frame drum, played with the bare hand. These are all earlier, earthier carols than what one typically finds on the radio or playing over the speakers at the mall. They include Gloucestershire Wassail, Riu Riu Chiu, Angelus ad Virginem, The Sans Day Carol, The Wexford Carol, and Masters in This Hall. Being perhaps less familiar, they bring a welcome respite from the overworked seasonal fare we all hear a bit too much of each year. They speak of simpler times, and of a far less frantic approach to Christmas. These fresh and inventive arrangements will make a useful addition to a quartet’s repertoire, provided the players have the requisite spirit of adventure. Score and Parts total 67 pages. Performance time is about 14 minutes.

Composed by Brian Joyce. 20th Century. Score and part. 24 pages. Brian Joyce #2912977. Published by Brian Joyce