Shakata: Singing the World into Existence

Dana Wilson

General Info

Year: 1989
Duration: c. 8:15
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Ludwing Music Inc.
Cost: Score and Parts - $95.00 | Score Only - $20.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II-III
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass 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
Euphonium I-II
Tuba I-II
Piano
String Bass
Percussion I-II-III-IV, including:

Bell Tree
Bongos
Cymbals (small and medium)
Glockenspiel
Go-Go Bells
Gong (Tam-Tam, Medium and Large)
High Hat
Marimba
Shaker
Snare Drum
Timbales
Tom-Tom
Vibraphone

Errata

(As provided by www.danawilson.org):

High Woodwinds, m.168: All high woodwinds should have the trumpet rhythm (and of 3rd beat)
Flute, m.151: Flute part is slurred, score tongued then slurred. Please slur the first two 16ths in all woodwinds.
Oboe I, m.45: Part is correct C# should tie to a C#.
Contrabassoon, m.7: Should have a tied half note to end the measure, instead of a rest.
B-flat Soprano Clarinet, m.41: Clarinet part says half note, score says whole note; score is correct.
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I, m.55: Articulation in Clar. 1 should match 2&3.
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I, m.84 & 86: Score is correct, error in part.
B-flat Bass Clarinet, m.81: G should be flatted.
B-flat Tenor Saxophone, m.23: Score is correct in tenor part; part is incorrect
B-flat Tenor Saxophone, m.115: Last note should be Cb, not Db (score is correct)
E-flat Baritone Saxophone, m.23: Second B should be sharped, (third should be natural).
Euphonium, m.57: Slur 16ths.
Tuba, m.7: Should have a tied half note to end the measure, instead of a rest.
All, m.65: Sextuplets all slurred.
All, m.67: Articulate beat 4 16ths if possible.

Program Notes

The Australian Aboriginals believe that the countryside did not exist until the ancestors sang it, and that still, to be perceived, it must be conjured by descendants following ancestral songlines. In the West, we also speak of such things as "exorcising evil" and "bringing out the good in each one of us". Shakata; Singing the World Into Existence is a sort of collective ritual whereby the ensemble conjures up - from the earth, from within. The term "shakata" has no literal significance, thereby perhaps allowing it to become a translingual (or pre-lingual) intonement.

Program Note by Dana Wilson

Commercial Discography

Audio CD: Ithaca College Wind Ensemble (Stephen Peterson, conductor)
Audio CD: University of Texas at Arlington Wind Ensemble (Ray C. Lichtenwalter, conductor)

State Ratings

New York: VI

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Yale University (New Haven, Conn.) Concert Band (Thomas Duffy, conductor) – 13 April 2018
State University of New York, Potsdam, Concert Band (Michael P. Schaff, conductor) – 28 February 2018

Works for Winds by This Composer

A complete list of Dana Wilson's compositions may be found here:

Avatar, The (2005)
Awakening... (2011)
The Banquet (2017)
Black Nightshade (2004)
Calling, Ever Calling (1990)
Clarion Call (1988)
Colorado Peaks (2009)
Concerto for Double Bass and Wind Ensemble (2010)
Concerto for Drum Set and Wind Ensemble (2021)
Concerto for Horn and Wind Ensemble (1997)
Concerto for Jazz Piano and Wind Ensemble (2019)
Concerto for Trombone (2015)
Concerto for Tuba (Wilson) (2012)
Conjurer, The (2015)
Dance of the New World (1992)
Day Dreams (2006)
Evolution (1999)
Fanfare for a New Center (2011)
Fanfare for Karel (2017)
Footsteps (2010)
Front Burner (2020)
How Very Close (2012)
Io Rising
Kah! Out of Darkness (1999)
Last Ride to Solutré (1998)
Leader Lieder (1993)
Liquid Ebony (2006)
Liquid Gold (2005)
May the Road Rise Up to Meet You (2013/2019)
Odysseus and the Sirens (2008)
Of my dream before me... (2021)
Old Number One (2017)
On Fire! (2017)
Piece of Mind (1987)
Primal Worlds (2000)
Quintessence (2019)
Sang! (1993)
Searching for Lost Dreams (2013)
Shakata: Singing the World into Existence (1989)
Shortcut Home (2003)
Speak to Me (2010)
...the harder they fall (2004)
the most sacred of times (2022)
Time Cries, Hoping Otherwise (1991)
To Set the Darkness Echoing (2005)
Uprising (1995)
Vortex (1999)
When I Am Gone Away (2006)
Winds on the Steppes (1994)

Resources

Dana Wilson website
Ferrari, Lois. (2007). Two Symphonic Wind Ensemble Compositions of Dana Wilson: Piece of Mind, Shakata: Singing the World Into Existence Doctoral Paper.