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Shenadoah's Simple Gifts
General Info
Year: 2008
Duration: c. 5:10
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Carl Fischer
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $85.00; (digital) - $85.00 | Score Only (print) - $12.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
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
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion I-II, including:
- Bass Drum
- Bells
- Chimes
- Crash Cymbals
- Suspended Cymbal
- Triangle
- Vibraphone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Two of the most popular American folksongs are ingeniously combined in this beautiful setting. It begins with the gentle flow of the river, followed by full statements of both songs. A brass cascade leads into a powerful build to the climax of the piece, where both tunes are heard simultaneously. The delicate, flowing ending fades to a soft close.
- Program Note from publisher
Writing this piece was very special to me, because it gave me the opportunity to honor a man through my music that has had a profound effect on me as a musician. That person is Dr. Pat Rooney. The piece has been written for performance at his final concerts as Director of Bands at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, to celebrate his retirement after twenty-five years of service to the University.
I felt it was fitting to combine two songs closely associated with Harrisonburg and James Madison University. The school is located in the Shenandoah Valley within the view of the beautiful Appalachian Mountains. The hauntingly beautiful folk song Oh, Shenandoah is believed to have originated in Virginia and named for the Shenandoah River. The song is used as the main material for this setting. Simple Gifts, long associated with the Appalachian region of the country, was written by the Shaker elder Joseph Brackett and has become one of the most popular of all American songs.
The piece is built around presenting the sounds of a flowing river. The piece begins with the sounds of calm still waters with light ripples. Oh, Shenandoah is initially stated by a solo clarinet (Dr. Rooney's instrument). The waters then begin to move as the first fragment of Simple Gifts is heard played by a solo flute. The piece weaves the two songs together as the accompaniment figures emulate different water-type effects, including the cascading brass during the middle section of the work. The piece moves through several keys before it builds to a climactic presentation of both songs played together at the same time. The work completes with a return of the solo clarinet, the flowing river and a short quote from the fight song of James Madison University to honor Dr. Rooney for his prestigious career.
- Program Note by composer
Media
- Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown
- Audio CD: Palmetto Concert Band (Paula L. Phillips, conductor) - 2008
State Ratings
- Florida: IV
- Indiana: ISSMA SENIOR BAND GROUP III
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Charlottesville (Va. ) Municipal Band (Stephen R. Layman, conductor) – 15 August 2017
- Albright College (Reading, Penn.) Symphonic Band – 12 November 2012
- Palmetto Concert Band (Columbia, S.C.) (Rebecca L. Phillips, conductor) – 20 December 2008 (2008 Midwest Clinic)
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- All-Purpose Performance Collection (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (2020)
- Armed Forces - The Pride of America! (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger)
- Bardic Air and Reel (Flex instrumentation) (2020/2021)
- Cold Mountain Saga (Flex instrumentation) (2006/2015)
- Digital Prisms (Flex instrumentation) (2001/2013)
- Radetzky March (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (1848/2015)
- Shining Moments (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- The Spirit of an Eagle (Flex instrumentation) (2008/2012)
All Wind Works
- Acclaim March
- Achievement
- Admiration March
- Adversary
- Aftershock
- Air and Caprice
- All-Purpose Performance Collection (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (2020)
- Allegiance
- Alliance
- Antagonist
- Antiphony
- Armed Forces - The Pride of America! (as arranger) (2006)
- Armed Forces - The Pride of America! (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (2006/2017)
- Ascending (2013)
- Autumn Mist
- Band-o-rama March
- Bardic Air and Reel (2020)
- Bardic Air and Reel (Flex instrumentation) (2020/2021)
- A Bartok Suite (as arranger) (1909/1997)
- Be Thou My Vision
- Canticle of the Sun
- Cartoon Symphony (as arranger) (1997
- Celebration (as arranger) (1980/1996))
- Celebrity March
- Celtic Echoes (2016)
- Character
- Christmas "a la" Big Band (1998)
- Chronicles LC
- Cimarron
- The Clarion Call
- Clash and Roar
- Cloud Dancing (2016)
- Cold Mountain Saga (2006)
- Cold Mountain Saga (Flex instrumentation) (2006/2015)
- Colossus
- Confidence March
- Conflict
- Conquest LC
- Consensus
- Contredanse
- Convergence (1997)
- Conviction (2012)
- Crystal Moon (2004)
- Crystalline (2016)
- Da Vincian Visions
- Dance of the Harlequins
- Dance of the Thunderbolts
- Declaration and Dance (1996)
- Digital Prisms (2001)
- Digital Prisms (Flex instrumentation) (2001/2013)
- Dream, Imagine, Live (2015)
- Elite March
- Enduring Traveller
- Engines of Resistance (1996)
- Envisage
- Epic
- Equinox (2007)
- Ethos (2014)
- Excelcia (1995)
- Exhilaration (2009)
- Expectations (2015)
- Fanfare Acclamations
- Fanfare Supernova
- Festival Chorale and March
- Flaming Arrow
- Fleur-de-lis March
- Flourish LC
- Genesis
- Genius (as arranger) (1937/2005)
- Geology - The Study of Rock
- Goin' Home for Christmas (as arranger) (2006)
- His Honor March (as arranger) (1934/2014)
- Honor March
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas (as arranger)
- Impressions
- Instinct
- Integrity
- Irish Tune from County Derry (as arranger, with Schmidt) (1918/2001)
- Joust
- Kinetic Energy (2007)
- A Land Remembered (2010)
- Lassus Trombone (as arranger) (1915/1998)
- Legacy of Honor LC
- Legends
- Loyalty March
- Magma
- March to the Movies (1998)
- Meet the Band
- Military Escort (as Harold Bennett) (as arranger) (1923/2014)
- Monmouth March
- A More Perfect Union
- Mustangs-The Spirit of the West
- Mystic Legacy
- A Natural Blues (2002)
- Omega One
- Out of the Winter
- Pavane, Op. 50 (as arranger) (1887/1999)
- Penta
- Phantom Echo
- Pieces of Eight (2010)
- Pinnacle of Distinction March
- Precision (as Harold Bennett) (as arranger) (1926/2011)
- Prestige March
- Primus
- Project (as arranger) (2002)
- The Pursuit of Knowledge
- Quest for the Throne (2018)
- Quintus
- Radetzky March (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (1848/2015)
- Recognition (2010)
- Recorder Rag
- Red Hill Special March (as arranger) (2003)
- Red Thunder (2004)
- Reflections LC
- Resurgence
- The Royal Irish Regiment (2015)
- SCDBA Fanfare
- Scottish Bobber
- Sentinel
- Seven Springs
- Shenadoah's Simple Gifts (2008)
- Shining Moments (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Shockwave
- Sicilienne (as arranger) (1893/1898/2009)
- Silent Night (as arranger)
- Sleep, My Child (2018)
- The Spirit of an Eagle (2008)
- The Spirit of an Eagle (Flex instrumentation) (2008/2012)
- Success (as arranger) (1912/2001)
- Suo Gan (as arranger) (2014)
- Swords of Evolution
- Symphony No. 1 Theme (as arranger, with Feldstein) (1876/2006)
- Talons of Fire
- Tartan Tapestries (2018)
- The Tell-Tale Heart (2002)
- Torch Burns Bright
- Triumph of the Vikings
- Twist of Fate
- Upon a New Horizon (1999)
- Valor March
- Vires Artes Mores
- Whispers (with Feldstein) (2007)
- Zodiac
Resources
- Clark, L.; Brackett, J. (2008). Shenandoah's Simple Gifts [score]. C. Fischer: New York, N.Y.