Michelle:

 

Here are some suggestions based on music I have written.

 

Emily's Day is a set of three Emily Dickinson settings for SA + piano.

These are I'm nobody (which mentions frogs), A narrow fellow in the

grass (a snake) and The cricket sang.  Published by Hal Leonard.

If you go here, you can find page and audio samples.  Two additional

numbers (The robin is the one, Some keep the sabbath going

to church) weren't chosen by Hal Leonard for publication (Boo! Hiss!)

but they would also suit your theme.  Score and recordings

on request.

 

Joyful Noise is a set of four SA + piano settings of Paul

Fleischman poems, from the book of the same name.

The poems are about insects.  (Water Striders; The Moth's Serenade;

Requiem; Cicadas.)  The poems were written to

be recited by two voices; the setting preserves the spatial

aspects of the original poems.  Brichtmark publishes these;

let me know if you want to see a score and hear a recording.

 

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Cheers,

Brian Holmes

2012 Winner, The American Prize in Choral Composition

 

 

A movement from my Wendell Barry settings, "A Timbered Choir" might be of interest: http://tomflahertymusic.com/infopages/TimberedChoir_infopage.php

 

 

 

 

Missa Gaia from the Paul Winter Consort (Earth Mass) published by Hal Leonard - multiple movements SATB/Piano

 

The Earth's Been Good to me by Nick Page from Hal Leonard  SAB/Piano (ideal for middle school and not hard)

 

Love the Earth  by Nick Page from Boosey & Hawkes  SATB/Piano/hand drum/flute   challenging

 

NP

Hi Michelle,

You might like to consider some pieces of mine:

 

The Moth and The Fish Eggs, a complex round setting of part of Walt WHitman's Song of Myself.

http://choralnet.org/306140#themothand

 

Woody -- SATB --birdcalls and animals, from a traditional appalacian tune http://choralnet.org/306016#woody

 

Coyote -- SSA -- text from the Pima Indians -- performed at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center at the Bang on A Can festival. you can listen to it at http://fleap.com/adcomps.html

 

I can also recommend a dreamy, evocative, slightly funny, tricky round with ground bass by Larry Polansky, Leave Logs for Frogs, which you can download at http://music.dartmouth.edu/~larry/scores/index.html

 

good luck,

Anna

Robert Young wronte a nice little trio of songs called Songs of Nature:  God is at the anvil;  Deep wet moss;  Hang me among your winds.

 

I did a concert a few years ago called Voices of Nature.  Here;s some reo, though I don't recall much about the divisi. 

 

FLOWERS, RIVERS, TREES

Chères Fleurs  (from Chansons des Bois d’Amaranthe, 1901) . . . . . . Jules Massenet (1842-1912) - lovely piece

 

My Vistula, Grey Vistula, op. 46 (1987) . . . . . . . . . . . . Henryk Mikolaj Górecki (b. 1933) - no hard!

 

Les Fleurs et les Arbres, op. 68, 32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) - very fast, lots of french

 

SPRING

 

I have all the music and probably a CD if you can't find anything.  janower(a)albany.edu

 

Cheers!

David

Hi Michelle,

Please check out "There Is Music" by James Green and myself.  It talks about the music in the sounds of nature.  SA, flute and piano, published by Hinshaw Music.  

Best wishes on your program!

Valerie Crescenz

Hello Michelle,

May I recommend an original S(S)A environmental song for kids and kids at heart – The Parking Lot Song – by Bevan Skerratt (2006). It begins: "It seems like Paradise has come and gone as Joni Mitchell said– Where once the flowers bloomed and blossomed, stands a parking lot instead. Fossil fuel now fills the air – the flower's scent forgot! I think we need a little garden in the middle of a parking lot!" and gets increasingly optimistic from there. Another, Sakura (cherry blossoms) is an SSA arrangement of mine on a gorgeous Japanese melody; a good pianist is needed! Like The Parking Lot Song, the notes are relative easy to learn; the challenge - and fun - is in interpretation. A pleasant nature oriented SATB song, again with easy to learn parts, is the original, a cappella The Apple Tree in Bloom with lyrics by Vermont poet James Hayford. A more complex work, Kali’s Song (earthsongs) is an arrangement for SSA and piano of Martin Donnelly’s majestic song of the sea.  All may be heard and/or viewed at donaldpatriquin.com (SA and SATB secular). You will find more challenging songs, but these four do err on the side of easy/medium.

Regards,

 

Donald

Hi Michelle,

 

You might wish to peruse the ChoralNet Composition Showcase (http://www.choralnet.org/view/306612), which lists hundreds of works by ChoralNet member composers, with downloadable perusal pdf scores and mp3 recordings.

 

My SATB setting of the Jones Very poem, "The Tree," could work for your program.

 

Also, my setting of text by American naturalist John Muir, "Song of the Mountains," would be appropriate.  Even though there is some divisi in the treble parts, it was written for a combined middle school + high school choir and all parts are well supported.

 

If you would like a perusal pdf score, of either or both, just let me know.

 

    Greg

Hi Michelle:

 

I have two pieces for SA that might be of interest to you.  They are "Stillness" and "Small Winds" - all part of my choral cycle called "The Blueberry Lesson" and are available through TFS Music.

 

Best wishes,

 

Steve Murray

smurray7(a)nycap.rr.com

I have a *Prayer for the Earth* for (mostly) 2-pt mixed (mostly ST & AB paired in unison, with SATB only for a few bars at the end, plus some aleatory stuff at the beginning and end) and instrumental ensemble (2 fl, 2 cl, 2 hn or A. saxes, vc & hp or keyboard) which might be of interest. Please e- me privately if so.

 

Hope this helps,

Robert A.M. Ross

info(a)robertamross.com

Hi Michelle,  You might be interested in my THE WORLD IS FULL OF POETRY (one of three movements in EARTHSONGS).  There are both SSA and SATB versions.  Others might be SONG OF THE EARTH SPIRIT for SATB and THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE, SAB.  All are Boosey & Hawkes publications.  Let me know if you'd like to see a copy.  Best to you, David Brunner