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Composition - - American Recorder Society
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It's An August Day
By Kass Finlay McAuliffe 2021
 
S/A A/T A/T T T B
 
 
This sextet for recorders was written on a mild Spring day in August 2021 during the months-long COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney. However, globally that day, the situation was far different, with wild fires burning in the USA and across Greece, and Kabul fell to the Taliban. This sextet tries to capture the extremes of human experience that day.

It's An August Day has the structure of a song, with four Verses (each of 8 bars), and matching Choruses (also of 8 bars) in G major, followed by 4 more discordant /energetic bars in E minor, reflecting the strife of the month. The repeated laid-back middle section is in C major, and the whole song has a similar chordal opening and closing section in G to establish the mood.
-- Kass Finlay McAuliffe
 
 
This is a relaxed song in an easy key for recorders, with inner parts that alternate between chordal support on the beat and staggered notes like a strumming guitar. The melody is mostly in the soprano part, which could fit comfortably on an alto reading up the octave; the 4 middle lines all fit on tenors as well. Occasional fun harmonic clashes and surprises keep the music fresh without being technically demanding, and the regular structure is comforting despite the world problems happening at the same time, as described by the composer.
-- Glen Shannon
 
 
No. of Recorder Parts:
6
Difficulty:
Moderate
Occasion:
Any
Libraries:
New Music for Recorder
Date Added:
11/29/2021
Style:
Social/Casual, Concert, Tonal/Melodic