Amazing Grace (Ticheli) (flex)

Frank Ticheli

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Subtitle: For Flex Band or Flex Orchestra

General Info

Year: 1835 / 1994 / 2021
Duration: c. 4:55
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Manhattan Beach Music
Cost: Score and Parts (digital) - $75.00

Instrumentation (Flexible)

Full Score
Part 1

Flute
Oboe
B-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Trumpet
Violin

Part 2

B-flat Soprano Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet
Violin

Part 3

B-flat Soprano Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet
Horn in F
Viola

Part 4

Bassoon
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
Trombone
Euphonium
Horn in F
Cello

Part 5

Bassoon
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass

Timpani
Percussion I-II

(percussion detail desired)

Vocals (optional)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

I wanted my setting of Amazing Grace to reflect the powerful simplicity of the words and melody -- to be sincere, to be direct, to be honest -- and not through the use of novel harmonies and clever tricks, but by traveling traditional paths in search of truth and authenticity.

I believe that music has the power to take us to a place that words alone cannot. And so my own feelings about Amazing Grace reside in this setting itself. The harmony, texture, orchestration, and form are inseparable, intertwined so as to be perceived as a single expressive entity.

The spiritual, Amazing Grace, was written by John Newton (1725-1807), a slave ship captain who, after years of transporting slaves across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, suddenly saw through divine grace the evilness of his acts. First published in 1835 by William Walker in The Southern Harmony, Amazing Grace has since grown to become one of the most beloved of all American spirituals.

Amazing Grace was commissioned by John Whitwell in loving memory of his father, John Harvey Whitwell. It was first performed on February 10, 1994, by the Michigan State University Wind Symphony, John Whitwell conductor.

- Program Note by composer (1994 edition)

I was so Inspired by Amanda Gorman's amazing poem, I went out to my studio, worked around the clock, and completed Amazing Grace for flex band/orchestra with optional vocals. Completed on my birthday!

- Program Note by composer (2021 edition)

N.B. Poet Amanda Gorman read her poem The Hill We Climb at the presidential inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20, 2021.

Media

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

National Concert Band of America (Washington, D.C.) (Adrian Holton, conductor) - 24 October 2021
Oneonta (N.Y.) Community Concert Band (Ushuaia Diez, conductor) - 18 April 2021
University of Colorado Boulder Concert Band (Branden Steinmetz, conductor) - 14 April 2021

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

Amazing Grace (Adaptable Band) (1994/2021)
Cajun Folk Songs: Belle (Adaptable Band) (1991/2002/2020)
Dance (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
Earth Song (Adaptable Band) (2012/2020)
Here Take This Lovely Flower (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
In C-Dorian (Adaptable Band) (2020)
In Yonder Valley (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
Joy (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
Loch Lomond (Adaptable Band) (arr. Ambrose) (2002/2020)
Moving On (Adaptable Band) (2021)
Moving On. See also: Suite Treats
Portrait of a Clown (Adaptable Band) (1988/2020)
Simple Gifts (four movements) (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
Simple Gifts (one movement) (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
Vesuvius (Adaptable Band) (1999/2020)

All Wind Works

Abracadabra (2005)
Acadiana (2016)
Amazing Grace (Ticheli) (1994)
Amazing Grace (Adaptable Band) (1994/2021)
Amen! (2009)
An American Elegy (2000)
Angels in the Architecture (2009)
Angels Rising (2023)
Apollo Unleashed. See: Symphony No. 2
Ave Maria (as arranger) (1825/2004)
BASH (2021)
Belle. See: Cajun Folk Songs: Belle
Blue Shades (1996)
Boundless River (2020)
Cajun Folk Songs: Belle (Adaptable Band) (1991/2002/2020)
Cajun Folk Songs, Part One (1990)
Cajun Folk Songs, Part Two (1997)
Concertino for Trombone (1987/2007)
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble (2014)
Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble (2010)
Dance. See: Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs
Dancing on Water (2015)
December Snow (2015)
Earth Song (Adaptable Band) (2012/2020)
Earth Song for Band (2012)
First Light (2013)
Fortress (1988)
Gaian Visions (1990)
Ghost Tale (2020)
Here Take This Lovely Flower. See: Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs
In C-Dorian (Adaptable Band) (2020)
In Yonder Valley. See: Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs
Joy (2005)
Joy (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
Joy Revisited (2005)
Korean Folksongs from Jeju Island (2013)
Life-Stream (2021)
Loch Lomond (2002)
Loch Lomond (Adaptable Band) (arr. Ambrose) (2002/2020)
Lux Perpetua (2020)
Midnight in Nairobi (2019)
Midnight (2019)
Moving On (Adaptable Band) (2021)
Moving On. See also: Suite Treats
Music for Winds and Percussion (withdrawn)
Nitro (2006)
Over the Moon (2023)
Pacific Fanfare (1994/2002)
Peace (2015)
Portrait of a Clown (Adaptable Band) (1988/2020)
Portrait of a Clown (1988)
Postcard (1991)
Rest (2011)
Sailing the Sky (2021)
San Antonio Dances (2010)
Sanctuary (2006)
Serenade for Kristin (2018)
A Shaker Gift Song (2004)
Shenandoah (1999)
Silver Lining (2017)
Simple Gifts (four movements) (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
Simple Gifts (one movement) (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs (2002)
- In Yonder Valley (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
- Dance (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
- Here Take This Lovely Flower (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
Songs of Love and Life (2012)
Sun Dance (1997)
Symphony No. 1 (tr. Green) (2001/2011)
Symphony No. 2 (2004)
The Tyger (2008)
Under the Big Top (2019)
Vesuvius (1999)
Vesuvius (Adaptable Band) (1999/2020)
Wild Nights! (2007)

Resources

Amazing Grace, Wikipedia Accessed 2 August 2018
Frank Ticheli website Accessed 6 July 2020
Ticheli, F.; Newton, J. (1994). Amazing Grace: For Concert Band [score]. Manhattan Beach Music: Brooklyn, N.Y.