Check out these Spring 2024 performances and composer visits around the United States!

Shelter Song, commissioned by the Ramona Convent Secondary School Choirs, directed by Ruth Ballenger, sets the charming text by Libby Weber about the joy of adopting a rescue animal. The text playfully explores the different decisions required when adopting a pet, such as choosing which animal to adopt (the Sopranos want to adopt a Cat, while the Altos prefer a Dog) and what to name them! The poem also features a few moments of overlapping texts, which create funny new phrases between the Soprano and Alto lyrics (“I want them all” at mm. 34-35 and “OMG!” at mm. 39-45).

The music has historical influences reminiscent of J.S. Bach’s keyboard stylings, Baroque arias, and opera-like recitatives for dramatic and comedic effect. There is also a bit of G. Rossini’s famous Duetto Buffo di due Gatti (Comic Duet for Two Cats) and the music of comedian Peter Schickele’s fictional Baroque composer, P.D.Q Bach.

There is a customizable NAMES section (Rehearsal Letter E) where directors and choirs may choose to replace any of the names (except the last name of each line, in order to maintain the rhymes) with pet names meaningful to them or the community.

The hope of this piece is to foster awareness of the importance of adopting rescue pets and treating our furry friends with the love they deserve. It would be wonderful to encourage donations to a local animal shelter or animal-oriented charity at any concert or event featuring this piece.

This piece is suitable for any Treble Choir and would fit well on a concert about animals or nature.

Continue reading Shelter Song

Advice from a Kitten in Spring, commissioned by the South Bay Children’s Choir, directed by Julie Corallo, is a playful exploration of a day in the life of a kitten in spring. We would be wise to take some life advice from this lighthearted kitten, especially the piece’s concluding words of wisdom: “love, live, listen”. The melodic content and text were inspired by several composition workshops with the singers in the South Bay Children’s Choir in preparation for this commission.

This piece is suitable for any Treble Choir and would fit well on a concert about animals or nature.

Continue reading Advice from a Kitten in Spring

Happy to present two brand new additions to my Catalogue & Store! In Times of Stasis | SATB Choir (with featured Treble Choir) & String Quartet | 5:00 This piece is about the deep sense of stasis I experienced (as well as many other people, I imagine) during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in late 2020 … Continue reading August 31st, 2022

We are the Voices, commissioned by Dr. Kyle Weary and dedicated to the South Middleton School District Choirs, is an anthemic text that calls upon both the singer and the listener to sing: for ourselves, for those who have passed, and for the future we would like to create. This piece is full of rhythmic drive in the piano, creating an exciting bed for the singers.

This piece is also designed to use limited pitch and rhythmic materials in order to build singer confidence and solidify learned concepts. The melody only uses Major Pentascale (do-re-mi-fa-sol) and simple rhythms in simple meters (whole, dotted half, half, quarter, & paired eighth Notes, as well as whole, half, and quarter Rests).

A Guitar may accompany the Piano using the provided chord symbols. An optional Bongo Drum part has also been included and may be used or omitted as desired.

This piece is suitable for any Treble Choir looking for an accessible setting and anthemic text.

WEST-COAST PREMIERE RECORDING CREDITS:

Choir: Ball Junior High Intermediate Choir
Conductor: Lorraine Joy Welling
Pianist: Eunyoung Kang Sohng
Percussion: Daniel Garcia

Continue reading We are the Voices

The music and lyrics of We Have a Choice were composed as a reaction to the COVID-19 crisis. The piece explores aleatoric and performer-based textures that can be sung remotely through video conferencing platforms, such as Zoom, or in live settings. The text explores our ability to choose our own paths and reactions in every situation, hopefully ultimately choosing to embrace the story with love, joy, hope, and peace.

The piece alternates between mostly-unison chant-like textures and aleatoric branching textures, in which the performers may choose their own path.

This piece is suitable for any Treble-Voice Choir interested in exploring virtual singing and limited- aleatoric textures that give performers ownership of the material. The piece may be sung in virtual or live settings as circumstances allow.

Continue reading We Have a Choice (Treble Choir)

The music and lyrics of We Have a Choice were composed as a reaction to the COVID-19 crisis. The piece explores aleatoric and performer-based textures that can be sung remotely through video conferencing platforms, such as Zoom. The text explores our ability to choose our own paths and reactions in every situation, hopefully ultimately choosing to embrace the story with love, joy, hope, and peace.

The piece alternates between mostly-unison chant-like textures and aleatoric branching textures, in which the performers may choose their own path.

This piece is suitable for any Mixed-Voice Choir interested in exploring virtual singing and limited- aleatoric textures that give performers ownership of the material.

Continue reading We Have a Choice (SATB Choir)

Program Note: This simple melody was composed to inspire change through the art of singing. The melody can be sung completely in unison in any octave comfortable for the singers. It can also be performed as a  round, with each entrance 2 measures apart (see * for entrance points). Repeat as many times as desired. Feel free to close the round by all singing the melody in unison. There is an alternate verse that can be used  as a round to inspire people to create change through voting. Feel free to adjust the lyrics of  lines 1 and 4 to suit similar situations calling people to action.

Please report any performances or virtual choir broadcasts to amygordonmusic@gmail.com

Continue reading A Round for Change

I Celebrate Life (the second and last movement of the Light Cycle suite), commissioned by Jennifer Gaderlund for the Graham Middle School Choirs, sets the beautiful poem by Rhoda Gordon, the composer’s late grandmother, for SATB (orig. SSA) Choir and Piano. The piece opens with an excited yet hushed ostinato in the Piano. The choir sings the first four lines of the poem by repeating the beginning line and adding the next line until it is complete, utilizing the modern technique of additive processes popular in Minimalism. In the more pensive middle section, the ostinato transforms into a more poignant texture as the Choir “realizes the joy of being through seeing the glorious creation” that they are a part of. The ostinato then speeds up and returns to the hushed excitement heard in the opening. The piece concludes with the Choir building up to the most important line of the text: “The most powerful light to celebrate by is love.”

This piece is suitable for any Mixed-Voice ensemble.

Continue reading I Celebrate Life (SATB Version)

I Celebrate Life (the second and last movement of the Light Cycle suite), commissioned by Jennifer Gaderlund for the Graham Middle School Choirs, sets the beautiful poem by Rhoda Gordon, the composer’s late grandmother, for SA (SSA divisi) Choir and Piano. The piece opens with an excited yet hushed ostinato in the Piano. The Choir sings the first four lines of the poem by repeating the beginning line and adding the next line un.l it is complete, utilizing the modern technique of additive processes popular in Minimalism. In the more pensive middle section, the ostinato transforms into a more poignant texture as the Choir “realizes the joy of being through seeing the glorious creation” they are a part of. The ostinato then speeds up and returns to the hushed excitement heard in the opening. The piece concludes with the Choir building up to the most important line of the text: “The most powerful light to celebrate by is love.”

This piece is suitable for any Treble-voiced ensemble. It may be performed as a stand-alone piece or paired with Light Up as the complete Light Cycle suite.

Light Cycle was premiered on December 12, 2019 by the Graham Middle School Choirs conducted by Jennifer Gaderlund in Mountain View, CA.

Continue reading I Celebrate Life