Sweet Melody (Repertoire #3) by David L. Brunner

My third repertoire choice is very different from my first two.  The first two were easily accessible and easily altered.  This however, is a whole different ball game.

The piece is "Sweet Melody" by David L. Brunner, which was apparently commissioned by Kris Schave, or at least so the cover says.  Small world, as always.

This piece is one of those songs about music.  There are so many of them...and so many poorly written ones, with corny text.   This is not that.  This piece could certainly fill the closing slot on a concert.  The piano part is also very accessible; with some practice, I could probably do it (ish) myself.

This piece has some fairly challenging aspects to it, rhythmically and tonally, so I would likely reserve it for an older high school ensemble.  I might consider doing it as a closer, and then it would include all students in the high school choral program, but that would certainly take some doing.

• The soprano range is B below middle C to A above the staff.  The tessitura is around B in the middle of the staff.  I think this is very reasonable.  The lowest pitches are few and far between, and the A only once in a divisi chord.  Those who struggle that high could simply sing the S2 part.  
• The alto range is A below middle C to D in the staff.  The tessitura is around bottom space F.  This is fairly reasonable.  The few sustained low A's are not my favorite, but certainly doable.  
• The tenor range is C (octave below middle C) to F (just above middle C).  The line sits around B below middle C.  This seems very reasonable for high school tenors.  It only once goes down to the C, so the higher voices would not have to worry much about that.  
• The bass range is low F flat to C# (just above middle C).  I wouldn't count on every one being able to sing these pitches, but the extremes are fleeting, so I wouldn't worry about it.  The tessitura is around middle of bass clef E.

"Sweet Melody" has some jumps to dissonances and chromatic pitches.  This would be a challenge, but not an unconquerable challenge for a high school choir.

This piece can certainly be used to teach shifting meters, as well as line.  I would strive for legato even in the disjunct melody, especially with more experienced musicians.  Certainly text painting and line are at play throughout.  The piece also offers a variety of textures: unison, chorale, accompanimental singing. echoing, and duets.  There are two instances of triplet,  once within a beat, and once across a beat.  This would be good time to teach triplets without a lot of pressure.

This text is pretty darn great.  It has beautiful imagery and a great vocabulary.  There are wonderful opportunities to play with consonants.  The only downside is the mention of God at the very end.  However, it is vague and could refer to any monotheistic religion.  I'm not crazy about that, but it's not a deal breaker in this case.

There is no material that needs adaptation, at least not obvious material.  I might revoice the chords with low Fs and Fbs in the bass, if I didn't have the men for it.  At different times, both the men and women split into three parts.  If the students can't do that, it would be possible to reduce to only 4 parts at all times.  I might not want to do that though, since it would considerably alter the piece, and there is likely a suitable alternative.