Three Potawatomi Songs by William Grosvenor Neil Sheet Music for SATB Choir at Sheet Music Direct

Product Details

Artist William Grosvenor Neil

Score Type

PDF, Included with PASS

Composer William Grosvenor Neil

Format Digital Sheet Music

Pages 30

Arrangement SATB Choir

Publisher TheComposerStudio.Com, LLC

Product ID 1076768

Genre Contemporary

Instruments Choir

Product Description

Three Native American chants set for SATB choir. The text, a Potawatomi prayer, is a joyous celebration of harmony with all creatures and creations from the Chant of the Man Bundle that declares that "we are all singing and dancing

in thanksgiving that we have lived so long." Indeed, I was taken by the directness of the prayer that comes straight
from the heart and, in a way, the piece simply celebrates the joy of singing and being alive. I was also inspired by
the natural sonorities of the wind and water that are suggested in the words. So, making the voices cascade and roar
and imitate the drumming and rhythmic dancing was my highest choice. I was also reminded of the spiritual power
of ritual music making and how it can lead to revelatory states and so the middle and end of the piece employ carefully tuned harmonies that draw a special inner tension from the voices as they remind us that the "Great Spirit will help us

while we are singing in this world". For the Potawatomi, all beings are persons, and elders of the tribe advise to go and spend time with the Standing people, the Beaver people and even the Rock people. Their different perspectives will remind us that humans don't have to figure out everything by themselves-that there are teachers all around them.

Audio sample of We All Sing is from a VOX rehearsal, conducted by David Tang.

This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.