Three songs for trebles SA, horn, and piano
(playable on natural horn)
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- Thomas Earp (D. H. Lawrence)
- Full Fathom Five (William Shakespeare)
- Ploughing on Sunday (Wallace Stevens)
Durations: 2 min 20 sec; 2 min 50 sec; 2 min 30 sec.
Here are recordings of Thomas Earp, Full Fathom Five, and Ploughing on Sunday.
I wrote these songs for the choir of Booksin Elementary School in San Jose, CA. Janice King was the music director. Each of these songs calls for the choir to imitate something: in Thomas Earp, a chicken; in Full Fathom Five, a bell; and in Ploughing on Sunday, a horn. The horn part is written for natural horn, though it can be played on the modern horn with valves if needed.
Thomas Earp (D. H. Lawrence)
I heard a little chicken chirp:
My name is Thomas, Thomas Earp!
And I can neither paint nor write
I only can set other people right.
All people that can write or paint
Do tremble under my complaint.
For I am a chicken, and I can chirp,
And my name is Thomas, Thomas Earp!
Full Fathom Five (William Shakespeare)
Full fathom five thy father lies
Of his bones are coral made:
Those are pearls which were his eyes
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rare and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell
Ding dong!
Hark, now I hear them!
Ding dong bell!
Ploughing on Sunday (Wallace Stevens)
The white cock’s tail
Tosses in the wind.
The turkey-cock’s tail
Glitters in the sun.
Water in the fields.
The wind pours down.
The feathers flare
And bluster in the wind.
Remus, blow your horn!
I’m ploughing on sunday,
Ploughing North America.
Blow your horn!
Tun-ti-tum,
Ti-tum-tum-tum!
The turkey cock’s tail
Spreads to the sun.
The white cock’s tail
Streams to the moon.
Water in the fields.
The wind pours down.