Product Description
This 7-minute piano quartet was a National Finalist in the 2024 Rapido Composition Competition, presented by the Atlanta Chamber Players in Atlanta, GA. It was one of five compositions selected for this honor.
When the Rapido 2024 assignment was announced, two challenges emerged. The first was composing a piece of music in a short time frame while maintaining the high standards of my other work. The second challenge was devising a musical and engaging way to address the motto/inspirational source.
Incorporating or quoting well-known tunes from the Americana/Folk Music repertoire can be detrimental to a composition, especially if the material is popular and associated with other great works. For instance, using even a small portion of Beethovens Ode to Joy will likely cause listeners to think of the original symphony, and this could distract from the composers original musical ideas.
On the other hand, if the allusion is too obscure, the audience may become confused or disappointed if they do not recognize the reference.
To avoid these pitfalls, I decided to choose a less familiar piece of music. While performing with (jug band legend) Jim Kweskin over the last few years, I came across the old song The Cuckoo (or Coo-coo). This moody, bluesy song features a minor-third motif and stays in one key throughout. My favorite version was recorded by Clarence Tom Ashley in 1929 in Johnson City, Tennessee. Ashley voice and banjo playing is truly remarkable, and the combination of the lamenting melody and driving banjo rhythm is mesmerizing.
Audiences will undoubtedly notice the fiddle-inspired stylings in the strings and banjo-inspired grooves in the piano, not to mention the melancholic Cuckoo motif/phrase appearing in various disguises.
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.