TUEBOR (2020)Concert Band Suite
Duration Approximately 12:15 Grade 4 MSBOA (Michigan) Basic Music List - High School Class A FULL SCORE / 2 (+Picc) 1 1 3 (+Bass, Contralto Bass) Alto (2), Tenor, Bari / 3 2 3 1 1 / Perc (5) (Click here to preview score) “TUEBOR” is a suite of folksongs from the State of Michigan scored wonderfully well for Concert Band. The suite is part of a long tradition of folksong settings going back to Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. The three movements are completely playable without giving up the brilliant colors and creative scoring. It is certainly a welcome addition to the concert band repertoire.
- H. Robert Reynolds, Director Emeritus of University Bands Arthur F. Thurnau Emeritus Professor of Music The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Click here for Program Notes and Folk Song Lyrics |
|
In 1938, a young folk music collector named Alan Lomax came from Washington, DC to record Michigan’s folk music traditions for the Archive of American Folk-Song at the Library of Congress. Lomax was particularly interested in the trove of ballads remembered by aging lumberjacks and Great Lakes sailors. In ten weeks, he recorded more than 120 performers from Detroit to the western Upper Peninsula. These recordings, along with the 1950’s recordings of Duane Starcher (recorded for WMUK Radio at Western Michigan University) were rich source material for this project. TUEBOR is a three-movement suite honoring the rich agricultural, maritime, and lumbering history of the state, incorporating the melodies of numerous Michigan folk-tunes.
Movement 1. “THE PROMISED LAND” is a march based on the melodies of “Michigan-I-A,” and several versions of “Michigan-I-O.” The lyrics of these tunes contain many appeals to Yankee farmers and laborers to come to Michigan and settle or work. Many promises are made by the singer, ensuring that with hard work, everything put in the ground would grow like “Jack’s bean.” Fortunes are waiting to be made in the logging camps of Michigan’s dense forests by the strong, brave souls who venture far from “ma & pop.”
Movement 2. “SIREN SONGS” is a ballad that incorporates the melodies of “The Bigler,” “The Clifton’s Crew,” and “The Gallagher Boys.” Shipping was a keystone of the state’s economy, and many sailors risked and lost their lives bringing goods from the Midwest across Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario. The Great Lakes are the largest freshwater bodies on the earth, and due to their sea-like characteristics (rolling waves, sustained winds, strong currents, great depths, and distant horizons) they have long been referred to as inland seas.
Movement 3. “TIMBER!” honors the men who made their living in lumber camps, drawing on material from “Once More A-Lumb’ring Go” and “The Logger’s Alphabet.” Since the 1860's, Michigan was synonymous with pine lumbering, a dangerous and lucrative business. A vast belt of white pine grew across the Lower Peninsula and parts of the Upper Peninsula — towering cathedrals of timber that could grow as tall as 175 feet, with stumps 8 feet in diameter. In addition, Michigan was blessed with a network of rivers and creeks to transport the timbered logs to mills.
Movement 2. “SIREN SONGS” is a ballad that incorporates the melodies of “The Bigler,” “The Clifton’s Crew,” and “The Gallagher Boys.” Shipping was a keystone of the state’s economy, and many sailors risked and lost their lives bringing goods from the Midwest across Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario. The Great Lakes are the largest freshwater bodies on the earth, and due to their sea-like characteristics (rolling waves, sustained winds, strong currents, great depths, and distant horizons) they have long been referred to as inland seas.
Movement 3. “TIMBER!” honors the men who made their living in lumber camps, drawing on material from “Once More A-Lumb’ring Go” and “The Logger’s Alphabet.” Since the 1860's, Michigan was synonymous with pine lumbering, a dangerous and lucrative business. A vast belt of white pine grew across the Lower Peninsula and parts of the Upper Peninsula — towering cathedrals of timber that could grow as tall as 175 feet, with stumps 8 feet in diameter. In addition, Michigan was blessed with a network of rivers and creeks to transport the timbered logs to mills.
|
|
|