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Composition - - American Recorder Society
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Modal America
By Anthony St. Pierre March 2021
 
S A T B
 
 
Composers as disparate as J.C. Bach, Beethoven, Forkel, Paganini, and Ives have written variations on ‘America.’ (‘My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,’ or ‘God Save the King/Queen’) These four modal variations on ‘America’ — one in each of the church modes (Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian) — are easy sight reading for players between the novice and intermediate stages. This brief opus (approx. three minutes) provides a fun way to introduce modal scales to a young ensemble or a school audience.
-- Anthony St. Pierre
 
 
This clever little set of variations on a popular well-known melody explores four of the medieval church modes- Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian and Mixolydian (a scale of the white notes on a keyboard starting on D, E, F and G respectively). The top part has the melody, but the less familiar placement of whole- and half-steps in the modes creates surprise harmonic twists, while the tune remains recognizable. The composer includes a brief description of the music and the modes as part of the PDF download.
-- Glen Shannon

The composer has provided a play-along recording:
No soprano - you play soprano (melody)
 
 
No. of Recorder Parts:
4
Difficulty:
Very Easy
Occasion:
Any
Libraries:
New Music for Recorder, Play-alongs
Date Added:
03/24/2021
Style:
Social/Casual, Fast/Up-tempo, Laid-back/Slow, Tonal/Melodic, Variations/Fantasies/Adaptations, Recorded Accompaniment