SKU: A0.891202

SKU: A0.891196

Movement four of four Cowboy Songs of the American Southwest

This fun-to sing TTBB a cappella concert arrangement set of regional folksongs are evocative of barbershop, concert, and a cappella styles and utilize some fun extended techniques in the second movement.  Also appropriate for a versatile barbershop or men's quartet, upper HS level or above.

These four cowboy songs that make up the song cycle Cowboy Songs of the American Southwest are among the nearly 3,000 field recordings recorded in the U.S. Southwest, Mexico and Spain collected by John Donald Robb over 40 year while at the University of New Mexico.  These recordings preserve many of the musical traditions of these areas, especially New Mexico and Southern Colorado, and include Native American, Hispano, Mexican and African American music, as well as railroad and cowboy songs, fiddle music and the music of festivals and fiestas.

I.  The Call of the Range- Evocative of a carefree, lone cowboy singing while strumming his ukulele.  Barbershop harmonies, similar to ukulele harmonies, suggest a personification of both the ukulele and the rangeland itself as a character in the unfolding drama of the seemingly solitary cowboy.
II. I'm Sad and I'm Lonely- Whispered syllables and whistles evoke percussion and a bowed saw in this despondent tale of unrequited love and solitude.
III. Wild Horse of the Desert- The melody fights with the downbeat to mimic the wild horse fighting against land rights and fencing.
IV. When Cockle Shells Turn Silver Bells- An overly carefree, lighthearted shrug at lost love to embrace the lone cowboy lifestyle.

Due to current restrictions of the John Donald Robb field recordings housed at the University of New Mexico, movements I. The Call of the Range and III. Wild Horse of the Desert are offered with permission and without charge with the purchase of public domain arrangements of II. I'm Sad and I'm Lonely and IV. When Cockle Shells Turn Silver Bells forming an entire song cycle.  Movements II. and IV. are also available for purchase individually.

2017 Choral Contest Entry

SKU: A0.891214

A good choice for a pop-fusion harmonic language that will speak to your young adult choir, and possible open some meaningful dialogue about relationships.

The composer writes: In the wisdom or fog of High School, I would daydream about what love truly was. I pined away from summer camp for the boy back home, imagining that I had found the Real Thing.  It is now several decades later, and after a few bumps and bruises suffered from trying to figure out just what true love actually is, I have discovered that this text is more about the journey of love and not about the destination.  This poem, like great Art, shifts and changes in meaning as the reader grows in understanding and changes.  I imagine that Love is like Art in this way- shifting in meaning over a lifetime of maturity and growth.

Included in Project : Encore, 2017, Quarter 2

2017 Choral Contest Entry