News & Views Friday, April 19, 2024

Now that you’ve been working with your ensembles for a few weeks and know the strengths of your particular students, you are probably ready to program your Holiday concert. Let Stanton’s help!

*FREE*
Holiday Choral Reading Session
Saturday, October 1 2011 from 10:00-11:30 a.m.

James E. Strouse Workshop Hall
Stanton's Sheet Music
330 South Fourth Street
Columbus, OH 43215

We will read titles in all voicings for winter concerts selected from our school choral promotions. Even if you attended our August “School Choral Week,” we still encourage you to join us for this Holiday session, as we will be including many titles that have not been read on any previous Stanton’s sessions. Because we will be reading music directly from our large inventory and sharing the expertise of the Stanton's school choral staff, we are able to offer this reading session at no cost to you!

For more information, please contact us at 1.800.426.8742, ext. 1 or choral@stantons.com.

What’s the best way to review new music.  LIVE!

Throughout the year, Stanton’s provides reading session and workshop opportunities for directors of all kinds, so that you can experience the music yourself – LIVE – as you make your decisions. We also encourage you to call Stanton’s highly educated staff, and speak LIVE with someone about the specific needs of your ensemble. You can even email us, and be sure that the response will be from a real, LIVE individual who knows the repertoire and can make focused recommendations for you. If, after all these person-to-person, LIVE options, you still want more–check out Stanton’s YouTube channel.

On our channel, you will find videos about the various workshops that we offer, short segments that highlight new products about which we’re especially excited, and highlights from some of our recent reading sessions. There’s even a thorough video history of Stanton’s (that was somehow passed over by “the Academy”).

We offer so many ways for you to connect with our staff and their wealth of combined knowledge, that there’s never any need to be less than confident about your music purchases. If you have other ideas/requests for content on our YouTube channel, our website or this blog, we’d love to hear from you–LIVE!

Click here to watch video

Stanton’s Sheet Music pours over all of the new publications each school year–looking for the best sounding, most educationally valid and highly programmable music–to find the best pieces to recommend to you! Do you have a concert in October? Consider using one of these thematically appropriate pieces:

FRONTIER PHANTOMS
Deborah Baker Monday
ST6262 Gr. 2 $50.00
Ride an eerie western wagon train. Teaching Elements: no key signature-only accidentals • q=144 • cello shifts

MARCH OF THE SHADOWS
Brian Balmages
ST6257 Gr. 2 $45.00
It's broad, brooding and sinister. Teaching Elements: dissonance • Bb/Eb hand position • steady pizzicato

SPIDER DANCE
Michael Hopkins
35920 Gr. 3 $45.00
Have ghoulish, creepy, crawly fun. Teaching Elements: 16th note slash notation • Key of Gm • trills • glissandi

LEGEND OF THE PHANTOM PIRATES
Brian Balmages
ST6258 Gr. 3.5 $50.00
Paint a ghostly picture. Teaching Elements: chromatics • rhythmic patterns with no beat “1”

For more recommendations from Stanton’s, contact Dan in Orchestra!

Prepare for Christmas with your church choir with one of these outstanding anthems!

Listen, Children, Hear the Angels Sing!
This upbeat, a cappella offering from Victor C. Johnson features solid choral writing, close harmonies, and swing style. Repetitious phrases make it easy to learn, and delightful color chords and an optional short solo add to the fun in this selection that is great for worship or school. The original text centers on “Listen, children, hear the angels sing!,” and text from “Joy to the World” is also included.

Murmurs in a Stable
This tender Craig Courtney lullaby for SATB choir and keyboard, is perfect for Christmas Eve. It lyrically contrasts the murmurs of the stable sounds on that Holy night with the profound truths of the Incarnation. Your choir will love the gentle a cappella murmuring measures.

Never Been a Night Like This!
Celebrate the Christmas season with this rousing, gospel anthem from Lloyd Larson that is fun to sing and makes us witness to the birth of Jesus through the eyes of the shepherds and the angelic hosts who told them the good news. The addition of the soulful refrain, “O come, let us adore him,” is sure to make this a crowd-pleaser.

O Come to Set Us Free
Mary McDonald has created this wonderful Christmas arrangement in an easy blues style with a light swing. It opens with roots in the gospel hymn “Jesus Is My Lord,” then uses parts of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” before partnering the two together. The wonderful choral parts are supported by a fantastic accompaniment that can be enhanced with the use of optional instruments.

Prepare the Way of the Lord
A treasure from 1987 has been re-released in 2011 for the Advent season. Admonishing Christians to “Make straight his path, Prepare the way!” William Rowan uses words based on Isaiah 40:4-5, much as Handel did for his Messiah, telling parishioners, “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all mankind shall see it together.” Prepare your congregation with this jewel!

A Silent Night Brings New Light
This quintessential Christmas Eve anthem is a beautifully refreshing take on the holy night of Christ’s birth. The keyboard introduction quietly evokes the mood with references to “Silent Night, Holy Night.” The poetic text references scripture illuminating the journey through Advent to Epiphany, and the contemplative choral opening offers the option to feature male and a female solos.

If you're looking for a cantata for this Christmas, Joseph Martin's Tapestry of Light is an excellent choice.  The joy and hope of Christmas are celebrated in this new Celtic-styled cantata from the pen that brought you The Mystery and the Majesty and Winter’s Grace. This jubilant work is filled with tuneful carols, thoughtful narration, and sparkling orchestrations. Traditional melodies form the foundation of this tapestry of light bringing to your holiday presentation a pleasing mixture of choirs, carols, and candlelight.  Other quality cantata options are Shout the Good News! by Lloyd Larson, and Jay Althouse's Joy to the World (A Celebration of Carols).

For more quality suggestions for your church choir, click here to view our complete Sacred Choral promotion for Fall 2011, or contact us at 1-800-426-8742.

We're sure you've been counting down, but in case you need a reminder - “Glee” returns TONIGHT for Season 3!  Here are the latest choral titles available since our last update:

The chart-topping Lady Gaga song Born This Way (available in arrangements by both Alan Billingsley and Roger Emerson) is a powerful and dramatic anthem of inclusiveness and affirmation!  Featured in the Season 2 “Glee” episode of the same name, it builds into the full-voiced chorus, “I'm on the right track baby, I was born this way!”

Nominated for Song of the Year and Record of the Year, the PG-rated version of Cee Lo Green's smash hit Forget You was covered by Gwyneth Paltrow and the “Glee” cast in Season 2.  Sassy and fun!

Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri (available in arrangements by both Andy Beck & Mark Brymer) is a powerful ballad about the end of a relationship.  First heard on “So You Think You Can Dance,” this song is a huge hit that translates beautifully for SSA groups!

In Season 2, the “Glee” cast devoted a full episode to the 1977 powerhouse hit album Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. Opening with the bright pop sound of “I Don’t Want to Know,” moving into the sultry “Dreams,” and building into “Don’t Stop,” this six-minute choral tribute spans the generations in its appeal!

(Please note that some of these titles are not yet off-the-press; please contact us for detailed availability information)

“Talk like a Pirate Day,” September 19th be fast upon us! Why not spend the day swashbucklin' by perusin' these great grand resources for yer little lads and lasses?

New for 2011, A Pirate Christmas, combines a hearty crew of pirates on an island with Santa’s frosty elves–will “plundering” or “giving” win the day. 

How to Be a Pirate in Seven Easy Songs
This reproducible mini-musical transforms landlubber students into proud pirates, through story, song and simple costumes and props.

Pirates! The Musical
Join this salty crew of colorful scallywags, hoist the Jolly Roger and set sail for a mighty adventure. Perfect for upper elementary and middle school performers

Treasure Island
Based on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, this 55-minute adaptation introduces Jim, Billy Bones, Long John Silver and a host of interesting characters and features eight original songs.

Ruth E. Schram's collection Every Day's a Holiday includes an original number for “Talk like a Pirate Day,” as well as songs in a variety of styles for creative holidays all year round.

Our Principal's a Pirate Packed with humor and set in a jolly, pirate-style jig (complete with genuine pirate lingo), this 2-part choral arrangement even features a simple spoken part to involve your own principal.

The Pirate's Life Uncover a hidden treasure with this swashbuckling 2-part novelty song. From the first “Yo-ho!” to the final “Yarr!” it’s rollicking fun all the way.

If ye be needin' more idears, holler at us!

The National Endowment for the Arts' American Masterpieces: Choral Music initiative is designed to celebrate our national musical heritage by highlighting significant American choral composers and their works of the past 250 years.  Stanton's Sheet Music is proud to present this series highlighting the composers and their works featured in this groundbreaking project.

(from NEA.gov)
R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) belonged to the generation before William Dawson and perhaps because of that has been less well-known until recently, but his achievements were no less impressive. He possessed sterling academic credentials including a doctorate from Harvard University and study with Nadia Boulanger at the Paris Conservatory.

As a concert pianist, he played at Carnegie Hall and other august venues. He was hired in 1933 to conduct a 16-voice choir for Stromberg-Carlson's weekly NBC radio broadcasts. In addition to writing prize-winning articles on “Negro music,” he edited notable collections of spirituals and folksongs. Dett also created his own distinctive arrangements of spirituals and composed several major works for chorus and orchestra.

Although he was clearly dedicated to the cause of African American music, he insisted on the right and even duty of African American musicians to avail themselves of Western European classical music forms. He believed that traditional African-American melodies and rhythms were fully amenable to being incorporated into operas, concertos, and orchestral concert music.

“Listen to the Lambs,” an anthem for eight-part mixed chorus written in 1914, is one of his best-known choral works. His collections of spirituals in his own arrangements are principally found in his publications Religious Folksongs of the Negro and the Dett Collection of Negro Spirituals. Other notable choral works include “Ave Maria” for baritone and four-part mixed chorus, and two oratorios based on spirituals, The Chariot Jubilee and The Ordering of Moses.

Selected Works:
Ave Maria
The Chariot Jubilee
Listen to the Lambs

For more distinguished choral repertoire suggestions, please contact us.

If you missed our Elementary General Music Clinic this August, you can still check out these new titles recommended by the elementary/classroom music specialists at Stanton's Sheet Music :

Famous African Americans
African American history comes alive through music and singing as Patsy Ford Simms presents us with the contributions of Ella Fitzgerald, Scott Joplin, Garrett Morgan, Benjamin Banneker, Jessie Owens, Ora Mae Washington, George Washington Carver and Daniel Hale Williams. The collection contains songs thatcan be used individually or performed together with the rhyming script, creating a mini-musical or revue. Along with reproducible parts, there are learning activities, games and staging suggestions and choreography ideas. This outstanding collection also contains an Enhanced StudioTrax CD.

Jazzy Fairy Tales
A delightful offering from classroom teacher and storyteller Susan Milligan and jazz singer and music teacher Louise Rogers, the “Jazzy Fairy Tales” Resource Guide and CD is designed to bring jazz music into your classroom. The activities provided in the manual are a charming way to introduce young children to jazz with the musical stories of “The Three Jazzy Little Pigs,” “The Three Jazzy Goats,” and “The Three Jazzy Bears,” “Jazzy Fairy Tales” Resource Guide and CD may be used as a supplement to an existing program or to provide a ready-made, easy-to-use, all- encompassing music curriculum. The Appedix includes music theory terms, jass terminology, standard blues form and notation (melody with chords) for most of the themes and songs. It is user friendly and requires no previous musical knowledge. A delightful educational resource for any classroom. Recommended for Preschool-k and for special needs children.

For more information on these or other elementary resources, contact Stanton's today!

As church choirs start up again for the fall and Christmas season, Stanton's Sacred Choral Music staff has carefully chosen these pieces to be appropriate for a variety of worship styles and services throughout the coming months:

All Hail the Power
Mixing classical touches with his own dynamic style to create a spirited selection for twenty-first century choirs, Mark Hayes has brilliantly crafted this timeless hymn favorite to incorporate three celebrated tunes. Opening with DIADEM, flowing into MILES LANE, and closing triumphantly with CORONATION, this majestic setting also features optional brass and percussion to add a regal touch.

Be Still and Know
Based on the familiar passage from Psalm 46:10 - “Be still and know that He is God” - this reflective anthem from Victor Johnson delivers a powerful and devotional statement of faith and assurance. The haunting melody, rich harmonies, and inspiring lyrics are sure to bring comfort to those in times of difficulty and misfortune.

Climbin' Up the Mountain, Children
Larry Shackley lends his golden touch to this traditional spiritual by incorporating a fun swing feel and luscious blues harmonies. With a lively, entertaining piano accompaniment and a great “break-out” part for the basses, the congregation and choir alike are sure to enjoy this anthem time after time!

Ever in Joyful Song
One of the most joyful and delightful hymns is raised to new heights in this energetic treatment. Written for choirs of any size, this hymn anthem is presented with an optional orchestration giving larger churches greater performance options. Rediscover the strength and relevance of this congregation “evergreen.”

Great Day!
An exciting SATB setting with a strong, rhythmic accompaniment, offering a wonderful opportunity for a strong soloist. Based on the Isaiah 52:8-10 prophesy. Suitable for any occasion, but particularly effective for Advent.

Then Sings My Soul (How Great Thou Art)
Inspired by what is considered to be one of the greatest hymn texts of the 20th century, Mary McDonald has crafted an exceptional, new anthem for SATB choirs. With altered melody and lush harmonies, this fresh treatment awakens new breadth and splendor into this timeless hymn, giving rise to the greatness that it invokes in worshiping God, our Creator. The gorgeous orchestration, by Michael Lawrence, is a true complement to Mary's splendid choral writing.

River of God's Love
Original words and music likening God’s love to a river are combined with familiar “river” songs to create a beautiful offering for use in a variety of worship settings. I’ve Got Peace Like a River, Like a River Glorious, and When Peace Like a River have been woven together with a lovely new melody in this truly unique anthem.

Was I Faithful?
“Was I Faithful? Did I help the blind and weak, did my love include the meek?” This beautiful arrangement, with a scriptural text from Matthew, challenges Christians to evaluate their lives and service to God. Dramatic and powerful, Mary McDonald’s setting features lush choral writing supported by a stunning keyboard accompaniment or optional orchestra.

For more quality suggestions for your church choir, click here to view our complete Sacred Choral promotion for Fall 2011, or contact us at 1-800-426-8742.

Just in time for the new school year, renowned band education publisher, C.L. Barnhouse has released a new grade 2 solo collection, Solos for the Rising Band Musician.  Titled in correlation to their Rising Band series of arrangements, this collection features 10 original solos in various concert styles from respected composers James Swearingen, Robert W. Smith, David Shaffer, Ed Huckeby, and Rob Grice. Â 

A piano accompaniment CD is included with each solo book, in addition to a published piano accompaniment for performance purposes. Â Designed with the young musician in mind, a second set of CD tracks and accompaniment book in alternate keys have been created to properly accomodate the comfort levels and ranges of developing oboists and hornists.  These collections are affordable ($12.95/solo book; $14.95 piano accomp.), and are perfect for junior high solo contest, or for private studio teachers looking for new repertoire for their younger students.

New from Eric Whitacre, “The City and the Sea” is a set of five settings on poems by E.E. Cummings.  According to Whitacre, the entire set is based on white key clusters on the piano - a compositional practice he playfully calls the “oven-mitt” technique.  i walked the boulevard vividly portrays an urban street scene, the meditative the moon is hiding in her hair features a chaconne-like left hand pattern in the piano, maggie and milly and molly and may breaks the characteristic clusters into arpeggios and features delightful wordplay, the tender as is the sea marvelous creates an image of the ebb and flow of the sea, and little man in a hurry closes the set with colorful contrasts, fun, humor and rhythmic wordplay.

Also now available from Whitacre are two high-quality choral collections - The Eric Whitacre Collection, and Light and Gold, which contains selections from his new CD of the same name - and a TTBB re-voicing of his stunning work The Seal Lullaby.  For more distinguished repertoire choices, please contact us.

The new Jefferson Academy of Music is a group instruction program on Saturday mornings for beginning and intermediate students in grades 1-6.

 Jefferson @ OSU is now enrolling for Fall Quarter classes which begin on Sat, Sept 24. (Their schedule follows the OSU academic calendar of four quarters, each lasting ten weeks.) Registrations are processed in the order they are received for a limited number of places.

For more details about The University String Project or Jefferson @ OSU, please refer to their website or email your request.

If you missed our Elementary General Music Clinic this August, you can still check out these new titles recommended by the elementary/classroom music specialists at Stanton's Sheet Music :

Every Dog Must Have Its Day
This is an exciting new resource for teachers seeking a creative way for children to develop and showcase their musical aptitude. The song collection focuses on improving and supporting music skills such as singing, rhythm and note reading, listening, and playing Orff and classroom instruments. Wonderful for performances, there are also creative opportunities for incorporating movement and drama. Fully reproducible, the songs and their campy canines will delight and challenge your students. Perfect for classrooms, Orff ensembles, and choirs, the CD includes all musical tracks with both full performance recordings and instrumental versions as well. Every Dog Must Have Its Day will engage and enchant your students and concert-goers alike while addressing the standards and offering a solid music education. Recommended for upper elementary grades.

Creepy Creatures
Okay, how much fun can we have when we sing? These 13 crazy songs about creepy creatures are a blast from beginning to end. Learn a lot about each one of these critters, their habits, and their habitats. This entertaining collection of songs can be performed individually (25 minutes of music) or combined intoa 35-45 minute program, tied together by having students read some or all of the informative “Animal Factoids” before each song. 100% Reproducible and 100% creepy-crawley fun! Enhanced SoundTrax CD includes reproducible PDF files of student pages and Cover Art. Recommended for Grades 1-6

For more information on these or other elementary resources, contact Stanton's today!

My experience at the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshop was incredible! Beginning every morning at 8:30am with jazz theory and ending with a three hour faculty concert, every day was packed with great music and useful information.

The week began on Sunday, July 3 with a theory placement test and audition for everyone attending the workshop. The 365 attendees ranged in age from 8 to 80 and came from 27 countries. Backgrounds were as varied as novice improvisers to professional musicians and jazz educators. Based on my audition, I was thankfully placed in the advanced theory class and top combo.

David Baker from Indiana University was my theory instructor. Professor Baker is arguably the world’s preeminent jazz educator and has performed with all of the jazz giants of our time. The author of dozens of jazz publications, David Baker primarily worked with us using volume one of his publication, HOW TO PLAY BEBOP. I wanted to absorb every lecture he presented so my notes were sketchy but I recorded everything on my hard disc recorder. His classes were streams of consciousness full of first-hand anecdotes involving many of the iconic jazz figures of the 20th century.

My combo was coached by the master jazz educator, Jerry Coker. Mr. Coker has written dozens of jazz improvisation method books including the original, timeless classic, PATTERNS FOR JAZZ, published in 1970. The combo rehearsed twice each day for a daily total of three hours. These rehearsals were probably the most meaningful aspect of the entire workshop for me. Professor Coker had organized the combo’s repertoire into style periods beginning with bebop and ending with contemporary jazz. Every rehearsal was an in-depth application of jazz theory to jazz improvisation. Each musician in the ensemble would play several choruses and then pass on to the next musician for subsequent solos. After the combo was finished, Professor Coker would comment on the positive and negative aspects of each solo highlighting scales and patterns that would probably work better than what the musician had originally played. As an exercise, we would also sometimes trade solos over odd numbers of measures that didn’t correspond to the form of the tune we were rehearsing.

Instrument specific master classes were also a feature of the daily schedule. The age range and experience level of the group was across the board from young beginners to college educators like myself. Ideas and experiences were shared in a surprisingly ego-less and nonjudgemental atmosphere. It was great also to catch up with some colleagues I hadn’t spoken with in some time.

The entire week wrapped up on Friday with shortened classes in the morning and then performances by all 50 combos in the afternoon. The logistics of programming fifty ensembles on two separate stages was an amazing feat but everyone had performed by four o’clock in the afternoon and most were on their way home. The staff had just a brief rest before three hundred more participants showed up for the second week of the workshop.

The whole experience was truly spectacular and provided much food for thought and hours of material for the practice room. Being my first time at the workshop, I see the value of repeated sessions and hope to attend more in the future. The young sax player in my combo had just received her masters degree in jazz education from the University of North Carolina and was attending her seventeenth year at the workshop. I felt extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with some of the giants of jazz education and hopefully will bring some of those insights and experiences back to my friends and customers at Stanton’s Sheet Music.

The Jazz Guy

As you prepare for your first concert of the school year, Stanton's Sheet Music suggests that you consider one of these outstanding selections for your women's or men's choir:

In Farewell, My Love, soaring vocal lines and a fluid accompaniment are punctuated by unexpected chords and harmonies to illustrate love’s twists and turns in this sensitive pairing of two beloved folk tunes from Earlene Rentz. Featuring flowing phrases, independence of parts, and a partner song format, this piece is fantastic for teaching and is also appropriate for small or young ensembles.

With an electrifying piano accompaniment, James DesJardins has set Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho on fire! It works amazingly as a closing piece for your concert.  Sounds harder than it is, so you're assured success at the beginning of the year.

SSA voices will shine in this touching and expressive setting of My True Love Has My Heart by Laura Farnell. Rubato and legato phrases ebb and flow over a romantic, arpeggiated accompaniment for a superb concert showcase.

This arrangement of Canto del Agua, a Venezuelan folk song, is full of life!  Thoughtful part-writing and a supportive accompaniment ensure that young men's groups will excel. Add guitar and percussion for extra authenticity!

Gloria by Mark Patterson is a beautifully lyrical, yet energetically rhythmic setting of the traditional Latin text for young men. Patterson is careful with ranges, but gives both parts equally exciting and challenging lines. This will make an excellent choice for contest or festival.

Thulalila Lele is a traditional African song with text translating to: “What have we done to deserve this life and what will we have to say about it when the time comes?” This work is widely performed by Zambia’s own Zambian A Cappella Group, and sounds best when accompanied only by simple percussion such as a Djembe drum.

For more suggestions, check out our video below, or contact us!

Click here to watch video

Stanton’s is closed today to allow all our staff extra time to move their white clothes to the back of their closets. In the meantime, feel free to shop our website, and we’ll be back with you tomorrow!

Click here to watch video

If you weren’t able to get to any New Music Reading Sessions in the Summer, like the ones Stanton’s offers at The Ohio State University String Teacher Summer Workshop, we welcome you to consider gathering all your string teachers together, taking a professional work day and coming to Stanton’s Sheet Music as a group to read through new string orchestra material in Stanton’s side room – The James E. Strouse Workshop Hall.

Please call ahead at 1-800-426-8742 (1-800-42-MUSIC) Extension 2 to reserve the room for a morning and/or afternoon, spread the word among your fellow string teachers and have everyone bring his/her instrument and a music stand to experience new string music first hand, to see what might fit your groups.  Stanton’s is fully stocked on new pieces from classics to pops to Christmas to original pieces as well as standard titles and the string orchestra music on the OMEA Adjudication lists.

There are lots of great restaurants in downtown Columbus if you need a lunch break.  Bring your new purchase orders and you can take home the music that you want for your program.  You can also bill your music to a school activity account, booster organization or credit card.  So as they say on The Price Is Right – “Come on down!”

Now that you’ve been working with your ensembles for a few weeks and know the strengths of your particular students, you are probably ready to program your Holiday concert. Let Stanton’s help!

*FREE*
Holiday Choral Reading Session
Saturday, October 1 2011 from 10:00-11:30 a.m.

James E. Strouse Workshop Hall
Stanton's Sheet Music
330 South Fourth Street
Columbus, OH 43215

We will read titles in all voicings for winter concerts selected from our school choral promotions. Even if you attended our August “School Choral Week,” we still encourage you to join us for this Holiday session, as we will be including many titles that have not been read on any previous Stanton’s sessions. Because we will be reading music directly from our large inventory and sharing the expertise of the Stanton's school choral staff, we are able to offer this reading session at no cost to you!

For more information, please contact us at 1.800.426.8742, ext. 1 or choral@stantons.com.