Church Cantatas for Lent and Easter

Lead your congregation in Lenten or Easter worship with one of these dynamic cantatas!

Master composer Joseph M. Martin brings us The Lenten Sketches, a series of musical tableaus illustrating the pivotal final day of Christ’s earthly ministry, the triumphal entry, the last supper, the garden of Gethsemane and the crucifixion.  With a performance time of approximately 30 minutes, this cantata is easily integrated into a worship event.  Expertly orchestrated by Brant Adams, this important work is destined to become a Lenten classic.  Outstanding!

John Leavitt’s Calvary’s Mountain can be used as a special service anytime during Lent or Holy Week, and would be especially appropriate for Palm Sunday or Good Friday when the Passion Narrative is preferred.  The readings are the Passion account according to St. John.  The work can be done with choir alone in a special music presentation or including the congregation for a fully participatory worship experience.

Near the Cross (Suite for Lent or Holy Week) is perfect for groups looking for a shorter option to a complete cantata.  Approximately nine minutes in length, this suite is perfect for incorporation into regular worship.  Three beloved hymns frame the work: Near the Cross reassures us as we journey in the shadow of the cross; Beneath the Cross of Jesus calls us to bear witness once again to Christ’s passion; and I Will Sing of My Redeemer unites us as Christians to affirm our faith in the Christ of the cross.  The music is inspired, accessible, and easily prepared by choirs of all sizes, and the dramatic narrative allows for one or more readers.

For Easter Sunday, Crown Him Lord by Susan Naylor Callaway is an excellent choice.  Originally published in 1998, the familiar Easter hymns and compelling new songs are just as moving today.  From the darkness of the crucifixion to the triumph of the resurrection, “Crown Him Lord” is an easily-prepared cantata which presents the Easter message in a fresh and meaningful way.

For more recommendations for your choir during the upcoming Lenten and Easter season, please call us at 1-800-42-MUSIC or visit us online.

Sacred Choral Reading Session THIS SATURDAY!

Make your plans for the weekend; the Stanton’s Sacred Choral Clinic is THIS SATURDAY January 9th, 2010! This popular annual clinic features new choral publications for Lent, Easter and beyond. The clinic will be held in its usual place at the Battelle Fine Arts Center at Otterbein College in Westerville, OH.

 Attending this clinic is a fantastic way for you to choose new church anthems for your choir by hearing the music read live at the clinic. This January’s clinicians will be Stanton’s own Judy Henry and president emeritus Jim Strouse.

Please feel free to contact Stanton’s at 1-800-42-MUSIC and speak with choral staff member for the details of the event, no pre-registration is necessary for this event. We look forward to seeing you at 8:30 for coffee and doughnuts followed by a wonderful morning of singing!

Stanton’s Top Choices for Concert Band

All right, band directors!  Your elementary and middle school bands are gaining maturity, high school football is done, your Christmas concerts are in the can, you’re getting solos and ensembles doled out to your students and you have a mountain of promotional concert band recordings from a bunch of publishers to check out for winter and spring concerts, festivals and adjudications…
Let Stanton’s give you a hand. Our band staff has already looked at and listened to all the new music from publishers for the 2009-2010 school year and has separated the wheat from the chaff so you don’t have to spend valuable time doing it yourself. Think of us as your partner in music education. Stanton’s choices  will be the best-sounding, most educationally valid and easily programmable pieces of the new year.  Check out the recordings of these Top Choices at www.stantons.com and place an order.  You can’t go wrong!

TOP THREE GRADE 1 CONCERT BAND
LITTLE STAR arr. Rob Grice
Mature sounding setting of Mozart’s Twinkle Variations.
NOMADIC ADVENTURES by Steve Hodges
Reinforce minor tonalities and steady rhythmic patterns.
SUPREMACY by Sean O’Loughlin
Introduce dissonance, musical conflict & resolution.

TOP THREE GRADE 1.5 CONCERT BAND
AZTALAN (City of Mystery) by Michael Sweeney
Mature, mysterious film-score-like effects such as tone clusters.
BIG RAVEN by Vince Gassi
Express art and nature in music with birdcalls, rain and forest sounds.
SHADES OF GOLD by Ed Huckeby
Absolutely beautiful 3/4 ballad to improve balance, blend and phrasing.

TOP THREE GRADE 2 CONCERT BAND
ELECTRICITY by Brian Balmages
Modern harmonies and great percussion writing with intensity.
PATH OF DESTINY by Sean O’Loughlin
A study in contrasts in the style of movie battle music.
WILLOW CREEK FESTIVAL by Steve Hodges
Intriguing harmonies, keys, counterpoint and time signatures.

TOP THREE GRADE 2.5 CONCERT BAND
CELEBRATION AND SONG by Robert Sheldon
Boyant syncopation and lyrical midsection with a short alto sax solo.
A DISTANT LIGHT by James Swearingen
Lyrical and subtly shifting tempos with emphasis on rubato playing.
THE RED BARON by Eric Morales
Musical depiction of the World War I flying ace – even a dogfight!

TOP THREE GRADE 3 CONCERT BAND
CANADIAN FOLK TRILOGY arr by Vince Gassi
A hearty sailor’s song, tender Inuit lullaby and boisterous sea chantey.
CHOREOGRAPHY by Robert Sheldon
Frolic in the ever-changing palette of the many faces of footwork.
A JAMESTOWN TRILOGY by Gary Fagan
Celebrate the proud, indomitable spirit of America’s founding fathers.

TOP THREE GRADE 3.5 CONCERT BAND
EXHILARATION by Larry Clark
A bold and effervescent overture that’s exceptional in every respect.
PIRATES by Travis J. Welter
Prepare to attack, engage in a fierce battle and celebrate with ribald revelry!
ON WINGS OF ANGELS by Barry Milner
Uplifting and spiritual with colorful chord clusters and dramatic modulations.

TOP THREE GRADE 4 CONCERT BAND
BEYOND THE HORIZON by Rossano Galante
Visions of magnificent earthscapes in a work of profound expression.
SHENANDOAH arr. by Randol Alan Bass
Timeless and exquisitely beautiful with an extraordinary whispered ending.
SOUTHERN HYMN by Samuel Hazo
An original hymn overflowing with the reverence and inspiration of a classic.

TOP THREE GRADE 5 CONCERT BAND
ANTIPHONAL FANFARE by Aleksander Sternfeld-Dunn
Triumphant and powerful opener  with a focus on rhythmic and melodic polyphony.
MIDNIGHT ON MAIN STREET by Brian Balmages
Explosions and celebrations contrasted with an impressionistic light and shadow blend.
VELOCITY by Robert Sheldon
Built for speed, brimming with style and an astonishing array of textual variations.

See and/or hear some things you like?  Place your order online, email or call Stanton’s at 1-800-42-MUSIC (Ext 2 for band music)  Thanks for your orders–we truly do appreciate them.

12 Folk Songs for Solo Singers

Alfred Publishing has been very successful in producing high-quality solo vocal literature for developing singers.  The newest collection now available is 12 Folk Songs for Solo Singers, featuring fresh settings by well-known Alfred arrangers including Jay Althouse, Andy Beck, Mark Hayes, Douglas E. Wagner, and more.  These 12 varied folk songs from near and far offer lots of opportunities for your young singers to experience a wide variety of music all in one collection!  The accompaniment CD has piano accompaniments that are perfect for lessons, home practice or performances.

Other wonderful vocal collections from Alfred include Folk Songs for Solo Singers, International Folk Songs for Solo Singers, and Spirituals for Solo Singers.  Please contact us for more great repertoire ideas for young singers!

January Sacred Choral Reading Session!

Once again, we are coming up on the Stanton’s Sacred Choral Clinic, January 9th, 2010, featuring new choral publications for Lent, Easter and beyond. The clinic will be held in its usual place at the Battelle Fine Arts Center at Otterbein College in Westerville, OH. Attending this clinic is a fantastic way for you to choose new church anthems for your choir by hearing the music read live at the clinic. This January’s clinicians will be Stanton’s own Judy Henry and president emeritus Jim Strouse. Please feel free to contact Stanton’s at 1-800-42-MUSIC and speak with choral staff member for the details of the event. We look forward to seeing you at 8:30 for coffee and doughnuts followed by a wonderful morning of singing!

SACRED ORGAN READING CLINIC

SACRED ORGAN READING CLINIC-JANUARY 16, 2010

Please join us for our first Stanton’s Sheet Music sponsored Sacred Organ Reading Clinic.  Brian Johnson, organist at Broad Street United Methodist Church, will be the clinician/organist for the clinic.  The best in recent organ music, as well as older “gems,” will be highlighted from various publishers like Morningstar, Lorenz, Concordia, Augsburg and others.  General use folios as well as those for Lent, Easter and Pentecost will be featured.  Difficulty levels will range from intermediate to advanced.   

 Place: Broad Street United Methodist Church, 501 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215

Time: Pre-registration-8:30 a.m.  Clinic-9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Cost:  $10.00

Please contact the Keyboard staff at Stanton’s if you have any questions. 

Stanton’s telephone number: 614-224-4257 extension 3 (keyboard)

Email: keyboard@stantons.com

Glee Songbook!

Can’t get enough of the music from Glee? Now you can learn all the hit songs for fun or performance with the Glee piano/vocal/guitar songbook!

This collection of 16 songs from the show is written for solo vocalist with piano or guitar accompaniment. (If you are looking for choral versions of songs from Glee, check our previous blog.) The songbook includes: Alone, Bust Your Windows, Confessions Part II, Don’t Stop Believin’, Gold Digger, Halo, Hate on Me, It’s My Life, Keep Holding On, No Air, Push It, Rehab, Somebody to Love, Take a Bow, Walking on Sunshine, and You Keep Me Hangin’ On. The hyperlinked titles are also available as singles for immediate download from Stanton’s Digital Delivery.

Check back regularly as we continue to update whenever new songs from Glee become available!

Vocal Transformation DVD

From the classroom to the concert stage, experience a high school choir’s vocal development from beginning to advanced level with Vocal Transformation, a new DVD resource featuring experienced educator Christine Bass.  Step by step, through daily practice and using proven techniques, Bass transforms her students’ singing into a free, healthy, blended and mature sound.  Click here for a four-minute sample from this worthwhile DVD.

Well-known choral composer Z. Randall Stroope praises, “’Vocal Transformation’ is one of the most remarkable teaching tools for conductors that I have ever seen.  Christine Bass absolutely understands the progression of teaching vocal technique from beginning to advanced stages, and expertly demonstrates these concepts in a manner not previously done in video.  ‘Vocal Transformation’ not only provides information on how to teach concepts of vocal production, color, vowel unification, intonation and such, but actually shows the remarkable improvement of the choirs over time as these concepts are consistently taught.  It’s a ‘must have’ in your library!”

This valuable DVD is sure to help you with your day-to-day classroom teaching as well as your preparations for upcoming contests, festivals and adjudications.  For more choral resources, call us at 1-800-42-MUSIC or visit us online.

For the jazzer on your list!

Hey, we all know that jazz musicians are naughty but they still need a little love! Just in time for the holidays, the latest installment in the Jazz Icons DVD Series is available. Featuring 7 full length DVDs and a bonus DVD of great vintage jazz concert footage, this series has fast become a favorite of jazz musicians and educators. The artists features in Series 4 are Jimmy Smith, Coleman Hawkins, Art Farmer, Erroll Garner, Woody Herman, Art Blakey and Anita O’Day. Included is a Bonus DVD with extra footage of Hawkins, Garner and Smith. The DVDs may be purchased as a set for $119.95 or individually for $19.95. If your jazz musician has been extra bad, we mean good, you’ll also want to buy  Series 1, Series 2 and Series 3.

A-caroling we go…

December is upon us, and soon many groups of singers will be heading out into the frosty air to share the holiday gift of song.  Even with limited rehearsal time, you’re sure to find something for your group in one of these collections:

The new SATB collection Sing a Merry Christmas by John Leavitt is perfect for many performance occasions.  The tasteful and creative arrangements exemplify Leavitt’s choral expertise.  Whether you’re caroling door-to-door or looking for tasteful a cappella arrangements for your concert, this is a sure-fire winner. 

The Christmas Caroling Songbook contains 50 well-known carols arranged for any combination of voices.  Ideal for holiday sing-alongs, community or family get-togethers, or house-to-house singing, this collection makes it simple to have a successful caroling experience.

For younger groups, the 3-part mixed collection A-Caroling We Go is a perfect choice.  Ten carol favorites are arranged in easy-to-sing a cappella settings, each with a special choral introduction and coda.  Also available for SSA voices.

Contact us for more choral collections for Christmas!