Umoja
Lindsay Stetner
Ensemble: Concert Band
Year of Composition: 2015
Publisher: LES Music
Year of Publication: 2015
Publisher Catalog Number: LES022
Available: Yes
How to Acquire: Publisher, Purchase
Links:
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
B♭ Clarinets 1,2
B♭ Bass Clarinet
E♭ Alto Saxes 1,2
B♭ Tenor Sax
E♭ Baritone Sax
B♭ Trumpets 1,2
F Horn
Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Mallet Percussion
Conga Drums
Bass Drum
Percussion
Shekere (or Maracas)
For Umoja - One Heart, One Voice (Marlene Hinz, director).
Program Notes:
At one of the schools that I was teaching at one year, there was a unique musical group in the school by the name of Umoja - One Heart, One Voice. The group was made up of Grade 7 and 8 students that auditioned for the group. The 25 or so students were led by Mrs. Marlene Hinz, who is an amazing arts education teacher in the city. I had taken an Orff class with the Marlene when I was still an education student at the university.
The idea for this piece came about as the school year was ending and I got to hear the group perform. The students loved what they were doing and the audience knew that. I was teaching Grade 6–8 band in the school and Marlene and I ended up collaborating on a Music Monday Assembly. With the limited time that I was actually in the school, we each had our own parts of the assembly. I started to think about how much fun it would be if we could have combined our two groups of students for a piece in the future. The piece relies very heavily on the African Percussion instruments that Marlene uses in her teaching.
(Lindsay Stetner)
