DECEMBER LULLABY
I grew up in Florida and never experienced the harshness or the beauty of winter until I was in my 20s. Now that I have lived farther north for over a decade, I still look forward to seeing the first snowfall each year. It rapidly transforms a bleak autumn landscape into a peaceful and delicate one, covering ragged leafless branches with a rounded cloak of snow. As you listen to this piece, imagine watching the first snow of the season while wrapped in a blanket, sipping hot chocolate next to a crackling fireplace. Throughout December Lullaby, there is an alternation between intimate chamber-like settings and lush full-ensemble textures. Opening with only a solo flute and piano, numerous woodwind, brass, and string solos follow, repeating the flowing melody as more and more instruments join the texture. The middle section is more agitated and more grand, with colorful and expansive harmonies. Eventually, the return of the first melody is combined with elements from the middle section, but calmness persists through to the end. - Roger Zare, composer
WISH
The piece is roughly comprised of three parts. The first part is a melody inspired by noshi, a kind of ceremonial origami fold given as a gift. The melody is played strongly, and after building to an apex at measure 45, the second half follows with a gentle passage of six measures. The second part is a more aggressive rendition of the lyrical first part. It has a rhythmic effect, and the tonality is reduced. Enjoy the contrast with the first part! Part 3 is a recap of the first theme.
The piece was selected in the call for scores for the first year of Heisei. I remember that the conductor, Mr. Frederick Fennell, and the people of Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra gave me a lot of instruction, which led to the recording and publication of the piece. It is my greatest pleasure to be able to transform it into a flexible quintet after 30 years and to premiere it on the album "Tokyo ELEMENTS" with members of the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. I would like to take this moment to say thank you. - Tsutomu Tajima, composer
MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO
My Neighbor Totoro stands out as one of the most popular films from the Japanese animation series produced by Studio Ghibli. This medley includes "My Neighbor Totoro," "Catbus," "The Path of the Wind," and "Stroll". The title song, "My Neighbor Totoro," was arranged in a light samba style while other parts of the medley such as "Catbus" have a jazzy feel. "Stroll" was arranged to encourage audience participation as they clap along to this delightful movie medley. - Hiroki Takahashi, arranger
CONTRAFACT TRIVIA GAME
This audience-participation activity was developed by the members of the Pierce College Hybrid Ensemble in Fall 2021. Wanting to improve our arranging skills, the ensemble divided into two groups to compose contrafacts of popular and video game music. A contrafact is a piece of music that borrows the chord progression of another song but creates a new melody and other elements (this is a useful skill in the popular music industry to create "new" music that references pre-existing music without getting sued since you can copyright melodies and lyrics but not chord progressions). The two composition teams selected significant music from their genres that were celebrating some sort of anniversary in 2021, then worked on collaborative music scores online using a program called Flat to compose our original contrafacts of well-known pop culture songs.
To play the game, use your electronic device to click through THIS LINK for the game or head to www.kahoot.it and enter the game pin: 08501349
*CONTRAFACT HINTS*
VIDEO GAME SUITE
SONG #1: This song comes from a Japanese video game released in 1986 - celebrating its 35th anniversary!
SONG #2: This song comes from an American video game released in 1991 - celebrating its 30th anniversary!
POP MUSIC MEDLEY
SONG #3: This British pop song was released in 1976 and is celebrating its 45th anniversary!
SONG #4: This song was released by an American pop star in 2011 making it 10 years old this year!
SONG #5: This song was released in 1991 by a local band - marking 2021 as its 30th anniversary year!
SONG #6: This song was also released 45 years ago in 1976 by an American rock band!
GLOW
In 2013, Disney teamed-up with Eric [Whitacre] to produce a song, “Glow”, written especially for World of Color – Winter Dreams show which premiered at Disney California Adventure® Park, Disneyland® Resort, Anaheim, California. 1473 singers, representing all 50 American States, submitted recordings, most of which were chosen, to be part of the World of Color Honor Choir, inspired by the Virtual Choir
GOOD KING WENCESLAS
After learning a basic setting of this carol, the choir was asked to come up with ideas to arrange the music creatively. The choir decided to to have the narrative text sung in parts by the choir and the lines spoken by characters in the story either sung as solos, or by sections in unison. The last verse they decided to sing in a round to express the idea of the page following the king in the story.
The story of King Wenceslas is based on legends about Venceslav, the Duke of Bohemia (907-935). The lyrics to the modern carol were written by John Mason Neale in 1853 and were set to the melody of a 13th century Easter carol.
WHITE WINTER HYMNAL
White Winter Hymnal was first released by the American indie folk band Fleet Foxes in 2008. The song was written by group member Robin Pecknold and has been covered by several groups, including Pentatonix in 2014. Pecknold explained that he intended this gently uplifting song to be simple, "something to hum along to as you do the dishes." When asked about the meaning, Pecknold suggested a somewhat melancholy feeling of reminiscence. Robin said the song is about “my experience when I was a kid...I had my really tight group of friends. But as we grew up from grade school to junior high to high school, everybody just kind of split off, and changed. It went from like this tight-knit group to, seemingly for no reason, everybody was kind of going their own way. That song is just about that feeling.”
BETELEHEMU
Babatunde Olatunji was from a small village in Nigeria, and came to the US on a scholarship in 1950 to Moorehouse College where he graduated with a degree in diplomacy. As he observed racial tension in the US he found that music, and drumming in particular, had the ability to break down some of the divisions he saw between people. He went on to influence many jazz and other musicians, while also continuing work in diplomacy including touring with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
While a student at Moorehouse, Olatunji presented one of his professors, Wendell Whalum, with the carol "Betelehemu." Some thought it Olatunji's original composition, while others assumed it a traditional Nigerian Carol. We now suspect that he drew on his knowledge of Nigerian musical traditions to create Betelehemu from traditional carols.
CAROL OF THE BELLS
Ukranian composer Mykola Leontovich was asked to write a song based on Ukrainian folk melodies. he created a piece titled "Shchedryk" based on a well-wishing song traditionally sung at the new year. When American choir director Peter Wilhousky heard Leontovich's "Shchedryk" sung by a choir, it reminded of him of bells, so he wrote new lyrics, and republished the song in 1936.