Resources for Teachers: Compositions for Children
Compositions for Children's Treble Chorus
Windy Nights (2009)
In two parts, with piano accompaniment and including optional soprano recorder descant. Text by Robert Louis Stevenson. Premiered by the Fairfax County Sixth-Grade All-County Chorus on April 24, 2010, under the direction of Dr. Lynnel Joy Jenkins. Appropriate for advanced fifth- or sixth-grade singers. Click the link for audio sample, score excerpt, text, and detailed program notes.
Flood (2008)
In two parts, with piano accompaniment. Text by student poet Hithem Shaw. Premiered by the Fairfax Choral Society on March 13, 2008, under the direction of Caroline Desmond. Appropriate for advanced fourth- through sixth-grade singers. Click the link for audio sample, score excerpt, text, and detailed program notes.
Compositions for Orff Instrumentarium
(Recorders, Mallet Percussion and/or Unpitched Percussion)
Crazy Recorder Jam (2011)
Four-measure composition in 7/8 meter; three soprano recorder parts and two unpitched percussion parts. Appropriate for fifth- or sixth-grade students.
Recording was performed by sixth-grade students at Keene Mill Elementary School, in Springfield, VA, under the direction of General Music Specialist Susan Lester.
Score · Teaching Process · SMART Board® file · Recording (MP3)
Two Clicks (2010)
Eight-measure composition in 6/8 meter; two mallet percussion parts, with optional drum or shaker accompaniment. Appropriate for third- through sixth-grade students.
Score · Teaching Process
Rondo a la Orff ("The Big County Fair") (2010)
Longer rondo-form (ABACA) composition in 4/4 meter; four mallet percussion parts and two unpitched percussion parts. Appropriate for advanced fifth- through eighth-grade students. This work was my submission for the 2010 Sonor Composition and Arranging Challenge.
Score · Computer-generated recording