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Works for Solo Voice
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Instrumentation
My solo vocal scores
(unless otherwise noted)
are scored for a specific voice part and piano accompaniment. The Blake Songs can be sung by either a male or female singer.
Please see the individual descriptions of each piece to determine the specific ensemble needs of each work.
A Word about Piano Accompaniments
Although it is typical to accompany the voice with piano, I believe that this pairing is one of expediency and practicality, and not one of ideal musicianship. The voice's beautiful qualities are usually not enhanced or supported by the piano, which tends to be spiky and percussive.
Although most of the works here are for piano and voice, and they work quite well, I myself prefer other more suitable accompaniments for voices. If there is something here that you wish me to orchestrate for a small ensemble of your choice rather than the piano, I will happily oblige. Please contact me for for specific details and pricing.
Road Tested
All of my solo vocal works have been 'road tested' - that is, they've been rehearsed and successfully
performed by both amateur and professional musicians in church and concert settings.
Any bugs in either composition or music engraving have been worked out and corrected. You can purchase and perform my scores without fear of something going wrong on my end and wasting valuable rehearsal time on yours.
Personalized Arrangements
I can re-arrange or tweak any of the works listed here to suit your specific ensemble needs -
please contact me for details. Although I prefer to keep the works in their original key, I understand that vocalists' lives can be made immeasurably easier by moving the key gently up or down. I can change the key of any arrangement for an additional $5.00 per score.
I am also available for commissions or specific
composing or arranging needs.
I work quickly and efficiently
and can guarantee a work
of high quality for a very
reasonable price.
A Note About My Scores
Purchasing the work allows the buyer to copy as many parts as are needed for their specific ensemble.
Buyers are kindly asked not to lend, sell or otherwise distribute my scores outside of the specific ensemble for which they were purchased. Please refer interested parties to my website.
Performances
When you perform one of my works, I would be delighted to know how it was received - by both the audience and the musicians. This will help me both improve and document my compositions.
Programs, press releases, critical reviews and recordings are all sincerely valued and appreciated.
Recordings
Audio (unless otherwise noted)
is for reference only and will give your musicians an opportunity
to hear the composition.
My audios are typically created using
Wallander Note Performer 2.0
and Sibelius 7.5 - 8.5
If you need anything...
If you have a question about anything, please drop me an email and I'll do my best to provide you
with an answer as quickly as
I am able.
Thank you for being here.
I appreciate your interest
and hope to work with you.
David
William Blake
Songs of Innocence and Experience
William Blake (1757 - 1827) was a visionary, mystic,
and one of the most profound artists, poets and thinkers of the
modern era. His work "Songs of Innocence and Experience"
was the first of his "illuminated books" and was first published in 1789.
Blake embedded his poems in beautiful watercolours using a process he learned in a dream from his dead brother.
These beautiful and sometimes disturbing poems have inspired countless composers across the centuries to set them and to sing them. Blake himself is said to have composed melodies for all of the poems.
Much has been written about the significance of Blake and his works.
I will simply say that he has had a profound influence on me since I was introduced to him by my high school English professor Robert Donohue, to whom I will be forever grateful for many things, particularly for starting this wonderful relationship.
My settings can be done by either a male or female singer and piano. I hope that you enjoy these offerings, and invite you to delve deeply into Blake's cosmic vision. You'll never be the same...
Now I a fourfold vision see
And a fourfold vision is given to me
Tis fourfold in my supreme delight
And three fold in soft Beulah's night
And twofold Always. May God us keep
From Single vision & Newtons sleep.
Blake, Letter to Thomas Butt, 22 November 1802
Introduction - Piping Down the Valleys Wild
$ 25.00 (USD)
Introduction (Piping Down the Valleys Wild) is the first poem in the Songs of Innocence. Scored for solo voice (male or female) and piano, this energetic and gracious setting in 6/8 gently undulates between 2 and 3 (hemiola) creating a subtle dance like movement.
Price includes vocal score with piano accompaniment. One copy may be made for the singer.
Score purchase is not transferable between ensembles. Scores may not be shared, copied, lent or used by any other person or persons except the purchaser and his or her ensemble.
The Lamb
$ 25.00 (USD)
The Lamb is perhaps Blake's most beloved lyric. This setting for voice (male or female) and piano has a very subtle mixed meter accompaniment that appears to gently 'stumble' along, much as a new born lamb, unaccustomed to his new spindly legs, would walk. An optional solo "C" instrument is included with the score, for added colour.
Price includes vocal score with piano accompaniment and "C" instrument score. Copies may be made for the singer and the instrumentalist.
Score purchase is not transferable between ensembles. Scores may not be shared, copied, lent or used by any other person or persons except the purchaser and his or her ensemble.
The Tyger
$ 25.00 (USD)
The Tyger asks Blake's terrifying question: "Did He who make the Lamb make Thee?" Accompanied by a growling and tense undercurrent provided by the piano, the vocal part sears through the accompaniment and demands our attention as we see the Tyger in all its 'fearful symmetry' created, witness creation's stunned reaction, and finally ask the ultimate question of God.
Price includes vocal score with piano accompaniment. One copy may be made for the singer.
Score purchase is not transferable between ensembles. Scores may not be shared, copied, lent or used by any other person or persons except the purchaser and his or her ensemble.
Nurse's Song
$ 25.00 (USD)
Nurse's Song conjures up childhood memories of playing outside after dark - the wild innocence of youth as looked upon by an older nurse. Blake's lyrics here are nostalgic without being sentimental, and for me awoke a pleasure I had long forgotten. This score calls for several voices at the end to sing a wonderful canon-like passage, and although optional, it's really one of my favourite parts of the work.
Price includes vocal score with piano accompaniment. One copy may be made for each singer.
Score purchase is not transferable between ensembles. Scores may not be shared, copied, lent or used by any other person or persons except the purchaser and his or her ensemble.
A Cradle Song
$ 25.00 (USD)
A Cradle Song is a beautiful sacred lullaby. This particular setting was written for the birth of my first son Noah John in 1998. It was the first Blake song I set to music. A gentle rocking motion pervades the work, and there are quotes from Robert Schumann's "Of Foreign Lands and Peoples" embedded at the end as a wish for my son to see the world.
Price includes vocal score with piano accompaniment. One copy may be made for the singer.
Score purchase is not transferable between ensembles. Scores may not be shared, copied, lent or used by any other person or persons except the purchaser and his or her ensemble.
The Garden of Love
$ 25.00 (USD)
The Garden of Love is an ironic and twisted title to this lyric, which blasts the Church for it's demonizing and extermination of natural pleasures. Blake gives us the image of a beautiful garden filled with flowers transformed into a grave yard full of corruption, in which sits a small chapel with the legend "THOU SHALT NOT" writ over the door. Not for the faint of heart....
Price includes vocal score with piano accompaniment. One copy may be made for the singer.
Score purchase is not transferable between ensembles. Scores may not be shared, copied, lent or used by any other person or persons except the purchaser and his or her ensemble.
The Ecchoing Green
$ 25.00 (USD)
The Ecchoing Green as in The Nurse's Song, is a beautiful and winsome song about carefree children at play, observed by old folks under a tree. The old folks, rather than resenting the children for their frivolity and irresponsibility, look on them longingly, fondly remembering the times in their own youth when they were so disposed.
This setting calls for a number of optional instruments: Tin Whistle, Scottish Small Pipes, Bohdran, and Violin. Again, while all of these forces are optional and the piece can be done very effectively without, if you can add one or more of these instruments, the playfulness and 'din' of the band helps to contribute to the joy of this lyric.
Price includes vocal score with piano accompaniment. One copy may be made for the singer and each instrumentalist.
Score purchase is not transferable between ensembles. Scores may not be shared, copied, lent or used by any other person or persons except the purchaser and his or her ensemble.
The Divine Image
$ 25.00 (USD)
The Divine Image is Blake's poem about the Biblical idea that we are created in the image of God. In this lyric, Blake tells us as Christ did, 'whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, you did also to Me'. I have quoted the ancient plainchant "Divinum Mysterium" (The Divine Mystery) in this setting. This beautiful chant sings of the miraculous incarnation of Jesus.
Price includes vocal score with piano accompaniment. One copy may be made for the singer.
A Poison Tree
$ 25.00 (USD)
A Poison Tree is a cautionary tale for those who deem it 'polite' to hide their true feelings about their brothers and sisters, rather than expressing them and letting the light dissipate the poison of hatred, envy, malice and selfishness. Interestingly, Blake originally title this poem "Christian Forbearance". A terrifying experience.
Price includes vocal score with piano accompaniment. One copy may be made for the singer.
The Sick Rose
$ 25.00
The Sick Rose
O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
What's left to say?
Price includes vocal score with piano accompaniment. One copy may be made for the singer.
Night
$ 25.00 (USD)
Night is the final poem in many editions of the Songs of Innocence. (In Blake's original conception, no two copies of the book were to be identical, and even the page order was not fixed). This beautiful lyric is accompanied by a tender yet evocative piano accompaniment, and the tune is sweet, natural and effortless. The piano plays an equal role to that of the voice in this setting, and is reminiscent of the style of Tony Banks.
Price includes vocal score with piano accompaniment. One copy may be made for the singer.
Score purchase is not transferable between ensembles. Scores may not be shared, copied, lent or used by any other person or persons except the purchaser and his or her ensemble.
Anti-Lamentation --- soprano and string orchestra
$ 100.00 (USD)
Anti-Lamentation was composed to 'commemorate' the dissolution of the dance major at Eastern University in November 2015. This signaled the beginning of the end of the arts at the university, and marked a decline in the quality and intelligence of the governing bodies at Eastern.
Written for my wife Janine Bryant - former director of Dance, and the wonderful dancers at Eastern.
poem here:
Copies may be made for the singer and all instrumentalists as needed.