Folk and world music arrangements by Sheena Phillips

 

To purchase unpublished music please email me (sheenaphillips at gmail.com). For most scores there is a modest fee per singer for permission to copy from a licensed PDF file.

 

NEW or FEATURED

Aalo Aamar Aalo (Light, My Light)

SATB, piano or SSA, piano

Arrangement of a song by Rabindranath Tagore, in celebration of light

SATB version published by Canasg Music (with full pronunciation guidance)

 

Circle of Life

SATB chorus a cappella

Five Native American song poems

1. Falling 2. Waking 3. Singing 4. Leaving 5. Rising

You can listen to the entire work here.

3rd prize, 2013 Sorel Medallion Prize in Choral Composition

Published by Boosey & Hawkes, 2015

First performance by Voices of Ascension, New York City, dir. Dennis Keene

First European performance by Cathures, Glasgow, dir. Katy Lavinia Cooper

 

Dormir, Soñar, Jugar, Cantar

(To sleep, to dream, to play, to sing)

SATB a cappella

Suite of five Latin American children’s songs

Composed 2019 for Icosa

1. Arrorró mi Niño (Hush-a-bye my Baby)

2. Se Essa Rua Fosse Minha (If This Street Were Mine)

3. Tortillitas / Arroz con Leche (Little Tortillas / Rice Pudding)

4. Ronda de la Luna (Circle of the Moon)

5. Gumayta Puñen May (The Children Cry)

perusal score

recording of the premiere by Icosa, Guildford, 2019

 

Garbe Rame  (Dancing with Gourds)

SSAA or SATB, flute obbligato, percussion ad lib

Gujarati folk song depicting goddess Amba dancing with gourds

Recommended for Middle School choirs in the ACDA Choral Journal, August 2012.

Recording by the Kent State University High School Honor Choir, 2010

Published by Lorenz in SSAA and SATB versions

 

Mist-Covered Mountains (Chì mi na mòrbheanna)

SATB, soprano recorder, optional piano

Hebridean song of homecoming

Gaelic chorus and English verses

perusal score

performance by Belsize Community Choir and Islington Choir, 2019

 

Raagi Thandheera (Bringing Alms)

SSAA, drums

Devotional song by Purandara Daasa Vitthala, a key figure of South West Indian music

Arranged jointly with Smitha Vishveshwara

Premiere by Amasong Chorus, Champaign-Urbana, November, 2014

Recording by Amasong

Published by Earthsongs

 

River Song

Mixed voices (six parts)

Aleatoric soundscape based on the American song Shenandoah

Workshopped by CoMA at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in 2017

perusal score

recording of a performance by Icosa Chamber Choir, dir. Luke Mather, St Botolph-without-Newgate, London, April 2018

Also available for female voices

 

Sweet Honey & Common Bill

SATB and folk band (2 fiddles, whistle, guitar)

Two Ohio folk songs

Commissioned by the Lancaster Chorale, dir. Robert Trocchia

Recording by the Lancaster Chorale and the Yankee Celtic Consort, dir. Robert Trocchia, 2009

 

The Pear Tree Ballad

TBB 

Traditional N E Scotland ballad

Published by Santa Barbara Music Press

Recording by the Magpie Consort, Ohio, from the album The Garden, solo Dane Chavers

 

OTHER TITLES

Auld Lang Syne

SATB

Traditional Hogmanay (New Year) Scottish song

Broadcast live on Mr Anderson’s Fine Tunes, BBC Radio Scotland, 1998

Published by Canasg Music

 

Charlie is my Darling

SA piano

18th century Scottish song 

Commissioned and first performed by the Knox County Choraliers, Ohio, dir. Diane Dingler, May 2005

 

The Demon Lover

SATB, soprano solo, tenor solo, oboe, violin, cello, drum

Words by Sir Walter Scott; American ballad tune

First performed by the Magpie Consort, 2003

 

Dle, Dle  

TBarB 

Patter song from the Van district (Turkey, formerly Armenia)

Published by Canasg Music

 

Dream Angus

SATB  divisi

Traditional Scottish lullaby

Commissioned and first performed by the Lancaster Chorale, dir. Robert Trocchia, 2001

Recording by the Lancaster Chorale, dir. Robert Trocchia, 2001

Published by Canasg Music and in the Novello Book of British Folksongs for Mixed Choirs

 

Fhir a Bhàta (The boatman)

SATB

19th century Gaelic song

Published by Canasg Music

Recorded on Rudsambee company of singers' album Bottled at Source

 

Gaol Ise Gaol I (My Love Is She) 

SSAA, folk harp

Traditional Gaelic waulking (cloth-working) song from the west of Scotland

Recording extract  (Columbus Women’s Chorus, 2011)

 

Gaol mo chrì-sa Màiri Bhàn (Gaelic version) / Mairi Bhàn’s Wedding  (English version)

SATB a cappella

Recording (English language version) by the Magpie Consort, Ohio, from the album Celtic Voyages

Published by Canasg Music and in the Novello Book of British Folksongs for Mixed Choirs

 

Gradh Geal Mo Chrìdhe (The bright love of my heart)

SATB

Traditional Gaelic folk song also known as the Eriskay Love Lilt

Published by Canasg Music

Recording by the Magpie Consort, Ohio

 

The Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie

(i) SATB  piano

(ii) SATB oboe, harp, cello

Orkney ballad

First performed by the Magpie Consort, 2003

 

Healing River

(i) SATB a cappella

(ii) SSAA a cappella

Arrangement of a song by Fred Hellerman and Fran Minkoff

Published but now discontinued by Santa Barbara Music Press and new permission being sought from Appleseed Music.

 

Hush Little Baby

SATB a cappella with mezzo soprano soloist

Arrangement of a traditional Appalachian lullaby

Featured in the 2011 Ohio Music Educators Association reading session for High School/University choirs

Published by Canasg Music

Recording by the Magpie Consort, Ohio, from the album The Sound of America

 

I Shall Light a Candle

SATB divisi

Setting of an Apocryphal text and a Bengali folk song about finding a path through life

Written for Rudsambee company of singers, Edinburgh

 

Kis Kece Lanyom (My little white bride)  

SATB 

Traditional Hungarian wedding song

perusal score

 

Pokarekare Ana (The waves at Waiapu)

SATB, SAA, TBarB versions 

19th century Maori love song

Published by Canasg Music

 

Puirt-a-beul (Gaelic mouth music)

SATB and SSA 

Arrangements of traditional songs for dancing to

Published by Canasg Music

See Mouth Music Set 1Mouth Music Set 2 and Mouth Music Set 3 

Recordings from Rudsambee Company of Singers tour of the west of Scotland, 1999

SSA versions of some of the songs also available from Canasg

 

Roselil

SATB 

Traditional Danish folk song

 

Soun, Soun, Béni Béni (Go to sleep)

SATB 

Arrangement of a French lullaby from the Massif Central, as collected by Henry Walford Davies

Published by Canasg Music

 

Shaker Movements

SATB divisi

Suite of three movements based on Shaker tunes

Commissioned by the Cerritos Center for the Arts, California, 2003

Winner of 'American traditional' competition run by Zephyr: Voices Unbound

Premiered by Zephyr in Los Angeles, June 2003

Duration c 7:00 

perusal score

 

Tha Mi Sgìth (I am tired) 

SA piano

Traditional Gaelic song 

Commissioned and first performed by the Knox County Choraliers, Ohio, dir. Diane Dingler, May 2005

 

The Bedfordshire May Carol

SATB, soprano recorder, violin

Traditional English May song

Published by Canasg Music

Recording by the Magpie Consort, Ohio

 

The Water is Wide

SATB 

Traditional English (based on the version collected by Cecil Sharp)

First performed by Voice Columbus, Ohio, 2001

Published by Canasg Music

 

The Winter it is Past

SATB 

Arrangement of a song by Robert Burns

First performed by The Magpie Consort, Columbus, Ohio, 2004

Published by Canasg Music

 

Two Welsh Carols (Awake Were They Only and The Best of Mornings)

TTB

Published by Canasg Music

 

Vårvindar Friska  (Spring breezes)

SATB 

Traditional Swedish spring song

Published by Earthsongs

Recording by Rudsambee Company of Singers from the album Bottled at Source

 

Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go?

SATB, baritone solo, folk band (2 fiddles, whistle, guitar)

Arrangement of the song by Francis McPeake

Commissioned by VOICES Chorale of New Jersey, dir. Lyn Ransom

 

Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon

SSA, piano

Arrangement of the traditional Scottish song (words by Robert Burns)

Perusal score of the revised version (2020)

Audio realisation of the revised version (2020)

Recording by Otterbein Women's Chorale (original 2009 version)

 

Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon

SATB, flute or soprano recorder

Arrangement of the traditional Scottish song (words by Robert Burns)

Perusal score of the revised version (2020)

Audio realisation of the revised version (2020)

Recording by the Magpie Consort, Columbus, Ohio (original 2009 version)

 

 

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