Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 10:27AM Remembrance Revisited: Variations on Peace
Nearly one year ago, I took on an overly ambitious 365 project as a way of honoring the memory of my mother, Mary-Jo Daughtrey, who passed away on January 1, 2008. I took one of her favorite songs from church, "Let There Be Peace On Earth," and attempted to write a new variation on the theme every day throughout the year 2009. The project, or rather I, fizzled after 73 variations, but I was left with several little pieces of music that I'm quite proud of. I went through all of the proper channels to get permission for such an undertaking, which meant paying the copyright owners a licensing fee to arrange the song and host the recordings on my website. Unfortunately, they will be charging me a prohibitive amount every year I keep the variations on my website, so all will be removed come January 1st.
So... I'd like to share 12 of my favorite variations here, then you can choose whether you want to visit the other 61. All recordings were electronically generated from the Finale notation program using sounds from Virtual Drumline 2.5 and Garritan Personal Orchestra with the exception of two of the variations for which I recorded my own voice or otherwise. Please be patient, as some of these sound files take a little while to load.
Let There Be Peace on Earth
by Sy Miller and Jill Jackson
Copyright © 1955, Renewed 1983, by Jan-Lee Music (ASCAP)
This arrangement Copyright © 2009, by Jan-Lee Music (ASCAP)
International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted by Permission.
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me;
Let there be peace on earth,
The peace that was meant to be.
Variation 2 (Dorian Reflection)
Variation 4 (Marimba/Vibraphone/Rainstick)
Variation 27 (echoes of Josh Groban – one of my mom's faves)
Variation 31 (Concert Band Fanfare)
Variation 39 (Upbeat Inversion of the Theme)
Variation 41 (Woodwind Quintet)
Variation 44 (Body Percussion & Tuned Water Glasses Played with Pencils)
Variation 56 (Clarinet/Piano Inversion)
Variation 66 (Marimba/Vibraphone/Bass)
For the rest of the variations, please start with the first 365 entry. For those of you that followed the project starting at the beginning of the year, thank you so much for your encouragement & support and for helping me to honor my mom.
Happy Holidays & a Wonderful New Year!
Reader Comments (3)
Hey Bro... is there anyway to copy these off the website so we can listen to them whenever we want?! DO tell. Love you! -H
Nathan, I am both touched by the ambition of this, and impressed by your work. I hope you are not disappointed with yourself at having made the decision to discontinue. The body of work you've accomplished actually shows how much work each vatiation has been. Whew!
Warning: My master's was in theory, so I tend to appreciate composition endeavors from a different place than most performers.Having said that, I am particularly drawn to Var's. 4 (Marimba/Bive/Rainstick), 31 (Band Fanfare), and especially 59 (Full Orch). Would love to hear further development of 59. Found 27 & 29 very interesting, and laughed out loud at 39.
I enjoy reading of your adventures on FB, even the running experiences. My hubby and I ran for 20 wonderful years, and I have great memories of running nearly every weekend in races. We even started a yearly race from our home, called the "Poston Prance." It was for friends and their families. Ran, then came back for a huge covered dish meal outside. The last yr we held it we had nearly 100 participants.
Best wishes to you in your career and life in general. I'll keep "watching" you from afar. I know your mother's mighty proud, and is "watching" you as well.
Jo Ann Poston
Heather, I'll hook you up.
Jo Ann, thanks so much for the kind words. I, too, would love to develop the orchestral variation further, but because of copyright issues I will likely just use some of the textures and ideas in a new original piece. Happy holidays to you and your family!