Category: instrumental
Dawn (Awakening)
Dancing in the Shadows from Meditations & Reflections
Sunday Morning Music: Elephants Piss in Fear
The title of this movement from Time Grown Old – Images of the Mahabharata, that I composed back 1995, is a literal translation of an actual phrase from the Mahabharata. The entire four movements form a concerto for pipe organ, percussion, and electronic sound. This recording is me as organist, with the University of South Florida Percussion Ensemble, Robert McCormick, Director. It was recorded recorded at the Bayshore Baptist Church, Tampa, Florida.
To listen to today’s Sunday Morning Music, click HERE.
If you decide later you’d like to listen to all four movements, click HERE. Should you listen to the entire piece, please note that movement 2 begins EXTREMELY softly.
The Missing Dream
Busts made of cork spinning slowly through the air
ST ANNE with descants plus 3 chorale preludes on the tune
The tune name of this famous Hymn is St Anne. The words are equally famous: “O God, Our Help in Ages Past.” Seems like an appropriate text for these days.
This rendition has all 6 verses as found in NCH #25. There’s a very short intro and the first verse begins when the trumpet enters. Hang on to your part because starting in verse 3 the descants begin (there’s 4 verses with descants)!
Here’s a link to three chorale preludes for solo piano I composed a couple years ago that are based on ST ANNE. They’re audio streaming (nothing to download). You can hear the famous melody used in various ways. For instance, in the slow movement, it’s the top notes of the accompaniment.
(To listen to preludes, click on following link, then the “play” button)
https://soundcloud.com/hilton-kean-jones/sets/3-preludes-on-st-anne-for-solo
And…you’re welcome to download the score HERE, for free. Of course, every composer hopes maybe somebody will feel like playing a piece if there’s a free score on offer!
Wendeyaho
(original hymns, anthems, solo keyboard pieces, hymn-tune settings). Because of the corona virus lockdown, I’ve been doing all those same things, but for online posts by Lakewood. If those interest you, you can hear those posts at https://lakewooducc.org/category/posts/music/.
I’ve decided to post some of those here: the ones that feature original content by me. This post was originally posted on March 29, 2020 at http://lakewooducc.org/2020/03/29/wendeyaho/.
Something different this morning! It’s not found in any hymnal although it should be; rather, it’s a Native American hymn traditionally sung to the four directions in the morning by the women of the community. The arrangements and orchestrations are my own. I’ve done several settings–orchestra, solo piano, and choir–the first two of which are presented here.
“Wendeyaho” is often described as a “Cherokee Morning Song.” However discussion of it on the Internet indicates that the word, “Wendeyaho,” is not contemporary Cherokee, although it may have its origins in an ancient form of the language. The translation I was able to piece together from various internet sources is as follows:
Translation – We n’ de ya ho
Freely translated: “A we n'” (I am),
“de” (of),
“Yauh” –the– (Great Spirit),
“Ho” (it is so).
First, here is my orchestral arrangement.
And, here is the piano solo arrangement. Feel free to download the 2 page sheet music PDF from THIS LINK so you can play it at home, yourself. You need to do some tricky shifting of hands to cover all the parts in the last two variations, but it’s doable, I promise.
Score and reorchestration of The Geography of Dreams
I completely re-orchestrated The Geography of Dreams. I like it much better. It’s limited to strings & harp plus 3 solo woodwinds (flute, oboe, english horn) and 2 solo brass (horn & trumpet). I got a much better mix and mastering this time, too, I think (well…at least, I think I think…).
Here’s link for SoundCloud album: https://soundcloud.com/hilton-kean-jones/sets/the-geography-of-dreams.
As part of this re-orchestration I also finally (!!!) got the score done. For free download go to http://hiltonkeanjones.com/PDFs/The_Geography_of_Dreams.pdf, right-click and “save as…”
LYRIC RAGS — a sonata for violin and piano
LYRIC RAGS — a sonata for violin and piano
Mov 1 – City Nights
Mov 2 – Silent Waltz
Mov 3 – Sky Highway
Composed in 1975, the 3rd movement is my favorite of the three, but I’m also fond of the 2nd movement. The first movement is a bit severe…more dissonant than I remember. The score is available at http://hiltonkeanjones.com/scores/Lyric_Rags.pdf.
https://soundcloud.com/hilton-kean-jones/sets/lyric-rags-a-sonata-for-violin-and-piano