New Mexico Composers' Archive

Publication Date

2017

Abstract

Phillip, a neighbor at my composing and teaching retreat in northern New Mexico, was a self-taught artist and poet. Over coffee one morning, he recalled a dream he had the night before. The Southwestern Indians believe that “silver birds” (their name for ravens) are messengers from the gods. Phillip's dream was about a large raven that was protecting a boy who was lost in the forest. Phillip said he heard a melody in the dream, and he played it for me on his harmonica. I was struck by both its simplicity and its richness. The changing meters were not self-conscious efforts at “being different,” but rather they were organic uses of time. I immediately arranged it for strings, with youth orchestra in mind.

Description

A work for student string orchestra

Associated Publications

A free sequenced performance of the piece can be heard and downloaded at https://soundcloud.com/michael-mauldin/phillips-tune-sequenced

Publisher

M Mauldin

Keywords

youth orchestra, string orchestra, dream, ravens

Document Type

Musical Score

Comments

Duration: 2:37

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