Eire’s Call (Tone Poem No. 3)
Foss High School Orchestra
Premiered by the Foss High School Orchestra, Andrea Bryant director, in a benefit
concert at Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall, Benaroya Hall in Seattle on May 15, 2003.
This event was sponsored by the Composer Residency Program of the
Seattle Composer’s Alliance
in conjunction with Gilda’s Club of Seattle.
This page is a record of the process of writing this piece.
The Story Behind the Music
When St. Patrick was a teenager in Britain, he was captured by Irish raiders and
became a slave in Ireland, tending sheep. During this time, St. Patrick
developed spiritually, and would often pray while watching his master’s sheep.
After six years, he was told in a dream that he should be ready for a courageous
effort that would take him back to his homeland. He ran away from his owner and
traveled 200 miles to the coast. His initial request for free passage on a ship
was turned down, but he prayed, and the sailors called him back. The ship on
which he escaped was taking cargo to France. At some point he returned to his
family in Britain, and then seems to have gone on to study at a monastery in
France.
There, he had a vision where he heard a cry from a great multitude of people:
“Come back and walk once more among us.” This piece of music celebrates this
call of the Irish, which spurred St. Patrick’s return to a land thirsty for the
Gospel.
Older Versions
I thought it might be interesting to keep the older versions of the composition
posted here, so that you could see how the writing of a piece typically
progresses for me. Compare these older versions to the final one at the
bottom.
The first (incomplete) version
You can listen to the beginning of the composition here. I haven’t really finished
writing the rest yet, so I’ll be updating this about once a week, as I make
progress towards the 1-Apr deadline. Note that the current piano part is not yet
fully fleshed out. Also, the next section will have a more mysterious and
mischevious feel to it, and will be more technically difficult. This will be
followed by a recap of the begining and a finale.
You can look at the
score to the first (incomplete) version here, but it won’t sound
good, so just use the score to look at while listening to the
MP3.
The second (incomplete) version
You can listen to an MP3 of the incomplete composition here. Notice that I have the begining
and the end done, but still have a bit of work to do in the middle. This is
typical of how I write music—I find that I get an initial idea and spend a bit
of time developing the idea (the instrumentation, varations, fitting pieces
together, etc.). At some point, I have enough material to concentrate on how the
pieces fit together: transitions from one idea to another, making sure sections
fit aesthetically, and build up a structure that has a direction. Once the piece
has developed a sound structure, then I can re-arrange some of the pieces to
form an effective ending. In this version of the piece, you can hear how I’ve
borrowed ideas from the beginning of the piece, but have arranged them in a
slightly different order (and in a major key), forming something that is both
familiar (essential for an ending) and fresh.
Here’s the
score to the incomplete composition. Make sure you listen to the
MP3
instead of asking Scorch to play the music for you.
The Final Version
You can listen to the
final version of Eire’s Call here. Notice how various
sections of the piece are fitted together, especially compared to the previous
version where there were many abrupt changes. Also notice the slower 6/8 section
immediately following the 7/8 section, which provides a nice aesthetic ballance,
and helps provide a transition.
Take a step back and notice the over-all form of the piece: the jig melody which
is essentially repeated in variations; the variations fit together to form a
definite beginning, middle, and ending; these three sections function much like
a sonata form as themes, development, recapitulation; the original theme is
presented in two keys (major and minor), but the recapitulation adds a definite
feeling of resultion by presenting the themes always in major.
In any case, I hope you enjoy the bouyant feel of the piece, and the fun
challenge it will be to perform the piece!
Here’s the score, but make sure you listen to the
MP3 instead of
asking Scorch to play the music for you.
Questions? Comments?
Please, drop me a line!
Composition Resources
If you are interested in composition lessons, I highly recommend my teacher, Dr.
Peter F. Wolf. Contact me, and I’ll get you in touch.
Orchestration Books
By far, the best book I’ve come across about instrumentation would definitely be:
- “Instrumentation and Orchestration (2nd ed.)” by Alfred Blatter (published by
Schirmer Books) – If you had only one such book, this should definitely be it.
Other books I’ve come across that are good (but not as good) are:
- J. Wagner’s Orchestration: A Practical Handbook (McGraw-Hill) – Primarily useful
for how to transcribe from piano music to orchestra, and for ideas of different
accompaniment styles.
- Kennan’s The Technique of Orchestration (2nd ed., Prentice Hall) – Not a bad
general book, but Blatter’s is definitely better and more up-to-date.
- Rimsky-Korsakov’s Principles of Orchestration (Dover publishes an inexpensive
translation) – A classic resource. Contains many good points about orchestral
colorings. Good for a complete library, but Blatter’s book is far more
comprehensive.
- For concert band orchestration, J Wagner’s Band Scoring (McGraw-Hill) is also a
good book.