The second of two compositions I presented at the “composium” held after the first day of singing at the All-California Convention. This wound up sounding a little bit different than I had expected — the class tended to swing the tune just a little, so instead of being on the stately end of the spectrum (where I’d expected it to fall), it rocked.
After the composium, Karen Willard came up to me and suggested a couple of changes. After I thought about it for a bit, I decided she is absolutely right, and I’ve incorporated both her suggestions into the sheet music above.
One final comment about the composium: I am so grateful to Julian for organizing this event, and even more grateful to the many singers who showed up to sing these new compositions after a full day of singing. It’s very rare to get to hear one’s tunes sung by a large group — and they definitely do sound different when sung by, say, 50 or more people rather than ten or a dozen people; I learned a lot by listening to today’s class sing my tunes. An event like this is an important way to keep the Sacred Harp tradition alive beyond just singing the tunes we already know and love.
Update: Revised again, based on comments by Will and Jeremy:
I liked Market Street a lot — I’m wondering if the bass drone might better stay on the A — that is, in the first measure of the 2nd system, start with a A (and thus maybe create a little bass run, too). I noticed that the basses were dropping the drone, perhaps because they were anticipating the E).
I love drones.
I had the same thought as Will. Also, it would be easier to maintain the drone if the following measure were on the same line. The basses are like horses jumping a fence — have to see what’s on the other side to make the leap smoothly.
I love drones too.
Will and Jeremy — Great idea! I changed the first note of the bass part in measure 7 from E below middle C to the A below that. Yes, it does make more sense to sing it that way, and in fact it sounds better, too.
Jeremy — It’s a pretty short tune, and I think the whole tune could be typeset so that it fits onto one line. I will work on that.