My Soul to Keep

Julie Giroux

Julie Giroux

Subtitle: Dedicated to Everyone Touched by Gun Violence

General Info

Year: 2019
Duration: c. 7:30
Difficulty: III+ (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Julie Giroux
Cost: Score and Parts (digital) - "Free for everyone. Forever." Download here.

Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
Contra-Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Contra Alto Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Timpani
Percussion, including:

• Glockenspiel
• Vibraphone

SATB Choir

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

It is with great joy and with great sorrow that I finally get to announce what has been in the works for over two years.

On October 13, 2019 My Soul to Keep will premier with a 150-piece band and 150-piece chorus. The location will be The Plaza Live Orlando, 425 North Bumby Avenue, Orlando Florida at 4 pm. This will take place at the LGBA [Lesbian and Gay Band Association] National Convention in Orlando, the city where the second largest mass shooting in our country took place. The LGBA event is where ALL are accepted, celebrated and loved.

The massacre that took place the day I married my wife on our 20th anniversary, the day 49 people lost their lives and 53 were injured. The day we almost changed our wedding until Kay said the words "If we change our wedding, he wins." The day 49 people's stories came to an end.

My Soul to Keep will be FREE of cost to everyone. Forever.
Let me repeat, My Soul to Keep will be FREE of cost to everyone. Forever. Free to play-free to download-free for everybody.

It is a hymn in emotional style and will be playable with either a wind band or a wind band and SATB chorus. grade level 3+ - easy 4. I also hope to complete a Grade 5 wind ensemble version as well. If you would like to perform this work on the same day it premieres, the same weekend you will be able to do so.

This work has been extremely difficult to compose and it seems like there has been a shooting every day that I've been working on it. The violence has to stop. Mental Illness awareness and care must be a priority.

The place you will download the complete work and files will be on my website Juliegiroux.org. as soon as it is finished. Please consider premiering the work with us.

We are our brothers keepers. We are our sisters keepers.
Your soul is mine to keep safe. My soul is yours to keep safe.
Please join me in celebrating the glory & memories of the lives lost and forever changed by gun violence.

I leave you the final lyrics of the last few measures of "My Soul to Keep."

Some will watch.
Some will pray
All will bear my soul away.

If you live in the Orlando area, please consider attending the concert and singing with us because the audience will get to add their voices to ours!

I saved this announcement for the first day of Pride Month. It is so very sad that it is in the wake of another tragic mass murder, in a country where mass murder is commonplace.

- Program Note by Julie Giroux

Commercial Discography

None discovered thus far.

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• Mississippi State University (Starkville) Wind Ensemble (Julie Giroux, conductor; MSU State Singers) - 4 March 2020 (86th Annual ABA National Convention)
• Texas A&M University (Lubbock) Symphonic Winds (Travis Almany, conductor; Century Singers) – 1 March 2020
• University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) Symphonic Band (Randall O. Coleman, conductor; Alexis Davis-Hazell, soprano) – 20 February 2020 (CBDNA 2020 Southern Division Conference, Natchitoches, La.)
• University of Miami (Coral Gables) Frost Symphonic Winds (Steven Moore, conductor; Melissa Martinez, soprano) – 16 February 2020
• University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) Symphonic Band (Randall O. Coleman, conductor; Alexis Davis-Hazell, soprano) – 1 February 2019
• Young Harris College (Ga.) High School Honor Band (Andrea DeRenzis Strauss, conductor; Carli LeJuene, vocal) - 18 January 2020
• Eastman (N.Y.) Community Music School Music Educators Wind Ensemble (Bill Tiberio, conductor) – 20 October 2019
• LGBA National Band - 12 October 2019 (Orlando, Fla.) *Premiere Performance*

Works for Winds by this Composer

• Af-free-kah! (2013)
• All Good Things
• All Through the Night (as arranger) (2011)
• Always (2019)
• Amaranthine
• Appalachian Portrait (2017)
• The Ash Grove (2019)
• Away in a Manger (as arranger)
• Before the Sun (2013)
• The Bench by the Sea (2017)
• Bonsai Tree, The (2010)
• Bookmarks from Japan (2013)
• Boston Liberties (2003)
• Carnaval! (2013)
• Chorale for Wind Band and Melodic Percussion (as arranger)
• Christmas and Sousa Forever (as arranger)
• Christmas Toons (2012)
• Christmas with Mozart (2007)
• Circus Franticus (2001)
• Cordoba (2013)
• Crown of Thorns (1998)
• Culloden I and II (2000)
• Culloden III (2000)
• Crown of Thorns
• Dragon Sky (2015)
• Dream Dancer
• The Elements
• Empire (2006)
• Fantasy in French (2012)
• Fields of Gold (2019)
• The First Noel (as arranger)
• Fort McHenry Suite (2000)
• Glenbury Grove (2009)
• Glorious Light
• The Grace in Being (2013)
• Greatest Generation, The
• Hands of Mercy
• HardDrive
• Hark! Those Bells Are Smokin’ (2011)
• HearthStone, The (2016)
• Husaria Cavalry Overture (2006)
• Hymn for the Innocent (2016)
• I Got Rhythm for Christmas
• Il Burlone (2000)
• I'll Be Home A'fore Ye
• Imbizo (2007)
• Impressions (2013)
• In My Father's Eyes (2017)
• In the Bleak Midwinter (as arranger) (1906/2018)
• Incantations
• Italian Rhapsody (2005)
• Jerusalem (as arranger)
• Jingle Them Bells (as arranger) (1857/2011)
• Journey Through Orion (2006)
• Just Flyin'! (2015)
• Kalanu
• Khan (2008)
• La Mezquita de Córdoba (2005)
• Let Your Spirit Sing
• Little Drummer Boy's Bolero, The
• Louisiana Parish Sketches (2001)
• Mambo Perro Loco (2008)
• March of the Sun Dried Tomatoes (2000)
• Medalist Fanfare (2013)
• Moonshine: See Shine
  
• Movin' On Down the Line
• My Soul to Keep (2019)
• Mystery on Mena Mountain (1985)
• Nature of the Beast, The
• No Finer Calling (2006)
• No Man's Land (2017)
• Nothing That Is (2000)
• Nutcracker Fantasia (2012)
• O Holy Night (arr. Giroux) (1847/2011)
• Of Blood and Stone (2015)
• One Life Beautiful (2010)
• One Torch, Two Women, Three Ships and Men Rejoicing (2011)
• Opa! (2018)
• Ouachita (1987)
• Our Cast Aways (2018)
• Overture in Five Flat (2010)
• Paprikash (2014)
• Peter Patapan (2011)
• Poseidon
• Primality!
• Prisoner of the Ring (1986)
• Radiant Shadows (2016)
• Riften Wed (2013)
• River Shannon (2020)
• Shadow Falls
• Shine (2017)
• Space Symphony (1986/1991)
• Speed of Heat, The
• Stealing Home (2016)
• Stocking Full of Composers, A (2009)
• Symphony No. 5 (2017)
• Symphony of Fables, A (2006)
• Taboo for Trumpet and Wind Ensemble
• Three Fanfares (2003)
• Three Wise Guys (2011)
• Tiger Tail March (2000)
• A Time to Dance
• To Walk with Wings (2000)
• Twelve Days of Christmas, The (Giroux)
• The Twelve Gallon Hat (2013)
• Under the Willow (2015)
• A Very Merry Heart and Soul
• Vigils Keep (2005)
• Vortex (2015)
• Wagon Trail
• West Wind Overture (2012)
• What Child Is That Playing Carol of the Bells? (as arranger) (2011)
• What Goes in the Night (2000)
• When Country Comes to Town
• Where the Red Fern Grows (2016)
• Wild West Overture
• Without You
• Wolves in Moonlight (2019)
• Zephyr, Chorale and Dance (2012)

Resources

• Julie Giroux, personal correspondence, September 2019
• Julie Giroux website Accessed 1 June 2019