Songs Without Borders
(previously "Middlefield Folk Song Suite")
Steffan Brunette
Ensemble: Wind Ensemble
Grade: 4
Duration: 15:30
Year of Composition: 2016
Publisher: self-published
Available: Yes
How to Acquire: Composer
Links:
Flutes 1,2
Oboe
Bassoon
B♭ Clarinets 1,2
B♭ Bass Clarinet
E♭ Alto Saxes 1,2
B♭ Tenor Sax
E♭ Baritone Sax
B♭ Trumpets 1,2
Horns 1,2
Trombones 1,2
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
4 Percussion
Score and parts available from the composer at no charge.
In four movements:
I. Youth
II. Lullabies
III. Landscapes
IV. Devotion
Program Notes:
This piece was written for the Senior Concert Band at Middlefield Collegiate Institute. In May and June of the previous school year, students in the grade 10 class were assigned the task of researching and notating a folk song that would be familiar to their parents or grandparents. This was done in part to connect the music curriculum to the cultural diversity of the school, and to help engage the parents in the music process. The folk songs for the nine students who were continuing with music in the coming school year were collected for the purposes of this composition project. In this way, the grade 11 class would have a strong creative connection to the music they would be playing.
The nine songs fell nicely into four thematic groups which became the movements of the suite. The first movement, "Youth", draws on songs about youthful foolishness as well as the recognition that youth is fleeting. The second movement, "Lullabies", consists of lullabies from Sri Lanka and China. The third movement, "Landscapes", begins with a song that takes place on a mountain, and transitions to a song about living by an ocean. The final movement, "Devotion", begins with a simple love song, progresses into a song about a mother’s love, and finally into a musical statement of religious devotion.
An important aspect of this music was to provide some ownership of the material to the students. Therefore, the first statement of each folk song is written so that the student who submitted the song is an important participant in his or her chosen melody.
(Steffan Brunette)
