Black Is the Color...

Robert Sheldon

Traditional, arranged by Robert Sheldon

General Info

Year: 2009
Duration: c. 3:00
Difficulty: I-1/2 (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Folksong
Publisher: Alfred Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $49.00; (digital) - $49.00   |   Score Only (print) - $7.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute/Oboe
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F
Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion, including:

• Bells
• Mark Tree
• Snare Drum
• Suspended Cymbal
• Triangle

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

The traditional folksong used as the basis of this setting was first known in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States, but most probably originated in Scotland. It is a poignant song about a girl who is waiting for her lover to return from sea. This stunning setting brings out the emotional content and makes a moving contribution to young band repertoire.

- Program Note from publisher

Black Is the Colour (of My True Love's Hair) (Roud 3103) is a traditional folk song first known in the USA in the Appalachian Mountains but originating from Scotland, as attributed to the reference to the Clyde in the song's lyrics. The musicologist Alan Lomax supported this Scottish origin, saying that the song was an American "re-make of British materials."

- Program Note from Wikipedia

The text references a girl who is waiting for her lover to return from sea.

Black is the color of my true love’s hair.
His face is like some rosy fair,
The prettiest face and the neatest hands,
I love the ground whereon he stands.
I love my love and well he knows,
I love the ground whereon he goes,
If you no more on earth I see,
I can’t serve you as you have me.
The winter’s passed and the leaves are green,
The time is passed that we have seen,
But still I hope the time will come,
When you and I shall be as one.
I go to Clyde for to mourn and weep,
But satisfied I never could sleep.
I’ll write you a few short lines,
I’ll suffer death ten thousand times.
I love my love and well he knows,
I love the ground whereon he goes,
If you no more on earth I see,
I can’t serve you as you have me.

In memory of Mark Williams.

- Program Note from score

Media

• Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

• Alabama: Class D
• Florida: II
• Georgia: III
• Louisiana: II
• North Carolina: III
• Texas: II. Complete

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• York High School Concert Band (Retsof, N.Y.) (Devin Vogel, Conductor) - 19 May 2022
• Kennesaw (Ga.) State University University Band (unconducted) – 22 April 2019
• Williamson County Honor Band Middle School (Jerell Horton, conductor) – 30 January 2015

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

• Pevensey Castle (Flex instrumentation) (1993/2012)
• West Highlands Sojourn (Flex instrumentation) (1993/2014)

All Wind Works

• African Adventure (2011)
• An American Hymntune (as arranger) (2004)
• Appalachian Legacy (1995)
• Appalachian Morning (2008)
• Armenian Anthem (2003)
• Art in the Park (2008)
• As Twilight Falls (2011)
• As a Wind from the North (2006)
• An Australian Sea Ballad (2007)
• An Austrian Carol (2012)
• Awakened Like the Morn (2005)
• Barrier Reef (2002)
• A Bayside Portrait (1984)
• Bellefonte Overture (2006)
• Bermuda Triangle, The (2006)
• Beyond the Higher Skies (1999)
• Beyond the Riverbend (2013)
• Big Brass on Patrol (2004)
• Big Sky Round-Up (2011)
• Black Is the Color... (2009)
• Blaze of Glory (2003)
• Blessed Legacy (as arranger) (2019)
• The Blue Ridge (as arranger) (2017)
• Bounty Hunter from "Advent Rising" (2005/2006)
• Bright Auroral Skies
• Bright Lights! (2015)
• Bristol Bay Legend (1988)
• Brule River Celebration (2002)
• By the River's Edge (2020)
• Canadian Ballad (as arranger) (2010)
• Cape Fear Chronicles (1997)
• A Carol Francais (as arranger) (2016)
• A Carol of Two Mangers (as arranger) (2005)
• Cataclysm (2018)
• Celebration and Song (2009)
• Cellular Symphony (2005)
• The Celts of County Clare (2021)
• Century Point (1998)
• Chanteys (2000)
• Charleston Harbor Celebration (2007)
• Chiaroscuro (2002)
• A Child's Lullaby (2017)
• Children of Gaia (2015)
• Chimney Rock Celebration (2017)
• Choreography (2009)
• A Christmas Couplet (as arranger) (2004)
• Christmastimes Three (as arranger) (2002)
• Cimarron Fanfare (2016)
• Coldwater Creek (1996)
• Commemoration Overture (2013)
• The Common Denominator (2013)
• Commonwealth (2021)
• Construction Zone (2010)
• Continental Divide (2010)
• Conundrum (2008)
• The Corsair's Landing (1991)
• Crazy for Cartoons (2011)
• Crest of Nobility (1989)
• Crossing the Rubicon (2020)
• The Crossings (1999)
• Dances of a Shimmering Spirit (2020)
• Dances of Serenity (2017)
• Danse Celestiale (1989)
• Danzas Cubanas (2010)
• Daydreams (2013)
• Der Lehrmeister (2017)
• Divertimento (1976)
• Dorian Dreamscape (2004)
• Eagle Mountain Overture (1990)
• Edifice (2014)
• El Rey de Fransia (as arranger) (2003)
• El Taco Picante (2017)
• Falcon Lake Overture (2004)
• Fall River Overture (1981)
• Fanfare and Festival (2020)
• Fanfare and Intermezzo (1998)
• Fantasy on an Early American Marching Tune (2008)
• The Final Voyage (2003)
• The Fires of Bandai (2014)
• Flight of the Piasa (2008)
• Flowing Stream (2018)
• Four Winds (1993)
• From Glen to Glen (2022)
• Garden of the Black Rose (2001)
• Gently Touch the Sky (2001)
• Gently, I Wander (2017)
• Ghost Fleet (2001)
• Glorious Insurrection (2020)
• Golden Panther March (2005/2021)
• Halo Theme (as arranger) (2001/2006)
• Harbinger (2015)
• Hawkeye Overture (2017/2019)
• Hill Country Holiday (2001)
• Holiday Bobsled Run (2013)
• Holiday Sleigh Ride (2003)
• Holiday Snippets (as arranger) (2009)
• Holidays on Parade (as arranger) (2008)
• Hues of Blue (2015)
• Iberian Escapades (2009)
• Images (1994)
• In the Center Ring (2003)
• In the Shining of the Stars (1996)
• In This Quiet Place (2003)
• Incandescent Sky (2019)
• Infinite Horizons (2001)
• Integrity (2007)
• Intrada for Winds (1983)
• Intrepid Journey (2015)
• An Irish Air (2006)
• Irish Ballade, An (2003)
• Jolly Rockin' Nicholas (as arranger) (2015)
• A Joyful Journey (2002)
• Korobochka (2003)
• Lake County Landscapes (2015)
• A Lantern in the Window (1998)
• Legend of Starved Rock (1996)
• Let Evening Come (2000)
• Lindbergh Variations (1991)
• Lion's Gate (2019)
• Lone Eagle (2020)
• A Longford Legend (1999)
• The Lords of Greenwich (2010)
• Lost Colony (1994)
• Lost in Mammoth Cave (2006)
• Lydian Lullaby (2006)
• Manatee Lyric Overture (1986)
• Maqamat (1974/2005/2021)
• March Ceremonial (2005)
• March Mixolydian (2005)
• March of the Hyperion Guards (2014)
• March of the Majestics (2004)
• Mark of Triumph (1985)
• Melody Park (2014)
• The Message on the Rock (2004)
• Metrix (2011)
• Metroplex (2006)
• Mills on the Merrimack (2015)
• The Monster Under the Bed (2005)
• Moon Rocks (2016)
• Moravian Folk Rhapsody (2004/2008)
• Morning Mist (2012)
• A Most Wonderful Christmas (as arranger) (1934/2006)
• The Mystery of Duffy's Cut (2007)
• Mystic Journey (2004)
• Noel Francais (2003)
• Northwest Rising (1999)
• Ocean Ridge Rhapsody (1989)
• Ode to Joy (as arranger) (2013)
• Of Distant Peaks (2012)
• Of Kindred Spirit (1997)
• On Placid Seas (2015)
• Once the Man (2005)
• One Thousand Cranes (2010)
• Open Road (2013)
• Oracles of the Sirocco (2018)
• Overdrive (2015)
• Overture to a New Horizon (2014)
• Palimpsest (2003)
• Paragon (2005)
• Patriotic Salute (2003)
• Patriotic Snippets (2008)
• Pevensey Castle (1993)
• Pevensey Castle (Flex instrumentation) (1993/2012)
• The Phantom of Dark Hollow (2006)
• Phrygian Phantasy (2003)
• Piedmont Festival Overture (2016)
• The Pilgrimage (2011)
• The Pioneer's Passage (2000)
• The Pioneers (2010)
• Pop Culture (as arranger) (2007)
• Power the Earth (2019)
• Praeludium and Dance (2008)
• A Prairie Portrait (2006)
• Prairiescape (1996)
• Prelude on an Old English Hymn (2000)
• Presto! (2014)
• Prevail! (2018)
• Pride of the Grenadiers (2005)
• Pursuit of the Centaur (2016)
• Quest of the Knights Templar (2011)
• Quixotic Episode (2002)
• The Red Covered Bridge (2014)
• Red Rock Canyon (1994)
• Reflections on a New Tomorrow (2012)
• Renaissance Fair (2017)
• Requiem to a Land Forgotten (2007)
• Resurgences (2013)
• Rhapsodic Celebration (2011)
• Ritmico! (2001)
• River Trail Expedition (2011)
• River of Grass (2020)
• Riverside Overture (2019)
• Rock Island Trail (2002)
• Rock That Bach! (as arranger) (2012)
• Rock This Band! (2019)
• Royal March (2012)
• Sag Harbor Sunset (2011)
• Sandcastle Sketches (1987)
• Savannah River Rhapsody (2012)
• A Scandinavian Folk Tale (2003)
• A Scottish Ballade (2004)
• Serenade (2015)
• Shadows of the Equinox (2012)
• Shenandoah (as arranger) (2003)
• Shenanigans (2009)
• Sugar Creek Overture (2007)
• The Siege of Harlech Castle 2012)
• Silver Spring Soliloquy (1992)
• A Simple Celebration (2001)
• Sixty-Six (2023)
• Skydance (2018)
• Snow Globe (2010)
• Sonatina (2016)
• A Song of Hanukkah (as arranger) (2017)
• Sound Innovations Fanfare (2010)
• South Shore Soliloquy (2019)
• Southampton March (2017)
• Southwest Saga (1987)
• Spirit Lake Overture (1991)
• The Spirit of Killian Hill (2007)
• The Spirit of Thanksgiving (as arranger) (2014)
• Spontaneous Combustion (2011)
• Spoon River (as arranger) (1991)
• Star Bright (2018)
• Stately Dances (2015)
• Storm Warning! (2014)
• The Stormchasers (2012)
• Storybrook Mountain (1998)
• Sugar Creek Overture (2007)
• The Swords of Stavanger (2009)
• A Symphonic Celebration (2019)
• A Symphonic Narrative (1992)
• Symphonic Suite from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (as arranger) (2005)
• Synergies (2008)
• Tales of Dundee (2005)
• Tango Argentina (2016)
• There Will Come Soft Rains (2007)
• Three Carols for a Celebration (as arranger) (2007)
• Three Georgian Vignettes (2008)
• Three Miniatures for Winds and Percussion (2005)
• Tidings! (as arranger) (Traditional/2022)
• Timberline Overture (2003)
• Tirade
• To Conquer the Skies (2004)
• To a Wild Rose (as arranger) (2014)
• Travelin' Music (as arranger) (2016)
• Triumph of the Argonauts (2014)
• A Ukrainian Christmas (as arranger) (2017)
• Uptown Strut (2013)
• Variants on a Sea Shanty (as arranger) (2014)
• Variants on a Union Hymn (2005)
• Velocity (2009)
• Visions of Flight (1990)
• Voices from the Battlefield (1995)
• Walking Tune (as arranger) (2020)
• Wallaby Walkabout (2003)
• Welsh Ayres and Dances (as arranger) (2003)
• West Highlands Sojourn (1993)
• West Highlands Sojourn (Flex instrumentation) (1993/2014)
• Willow Grove (1992)
• Winds of Morocco (2001)
• Windward Overture (2016)
• With Every Sunrise (2016)
• A Woodland Celebration (2021)
• A Yiddish Lullaby (as arranger) (2012)

Resources

• Black Is the Colour (Of My True Love's Hair), Wikipedia Accessed 17 November 2017
• Perusal score
• Robert Sheldon website Accessed 3 September 2021