Kokopelli - Kaiser Southern Music (Distributed by Hal Leonard) - (Grade 4) Click to hear and order - Instrumentation - Chamber Orchestra: Flute, Bb Clarinet, 3 Percussion and strings (8, 8, 5, 5, 5).
Kokopelli is a mythical humpbacked flute player kept alive in the stories of the Native Americans of the southwest, with pictures adorning the canyon walls of the Colorado Plateau. This piece is a musical depiction of the humpbacked flute player and his southwestern surroundings. It follows him through a day of activity: 1. Sunrise, 2. Awakening, 3. Activity, 4. Onset of Storm, 5. Storm, 6. Activity, 7. Sunset, 8. Activity.
Zombie Intruders - Grand Mesa Music - (Grade 3.5) Click to hear - JW Pepper Editor’s Choice - Capturing the feel of the undead creeping ever closer, the composer has incorporated a variety of non-traditional string techniques, including playing behind the bridge, glissando, and instrument body knocks. Creepy sounds from a few percussion instruments are added to the sound mix and layered onto an insistent groove to form a scarily colorful, memorable string orchestra production.
The Cloud Forest - WI Music - (Grade 4) Click to hear - A cloud forest is generally a tropical or subtropical moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover. Cloud forests usually develop on the saddles of mountains where moisture introduced by settling clouds is more effectively retained. Important areas of cloud forests are in Central and South America, East and Central Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua-New Guinea and in the Caribbean.
The natural beauty of the Indonesian cloud forests, the gamelan music of the Indonesian culture and my numerous experiences with clouds in the mountains of Colorado combined to be the inspiration for The Cloud Forest. Specific unique rhythms, particular scale patterns and the layering of sounds are all characteristics of gamelan music that have been incorporated into this composition.
Sounds of a Prairie River - WI Music (Grade 3) Click to hear (MIDI Recording) - The Poudre River, also known as the Cache la Poudre River, flows east out of the mountains of Northern Colorado, through the cities of Fort Collins and Greeley before connecting with the South Platte River. The headwaters of the Poudre River are in Rocky Mountain National Park. After leaving the park the river takes a majestic tumble through scenic Poudre Canyon before leveling out and calming as it crosses the prairie landscape just before connecting with the South Platte River.
There is a bike path that follows the Poudre River for many miles near the city of Greeley. Following the bike path gives you insight into what the river provides for the natural environment around it. This bike path, and the many times traveled on it, provided the inspiration for Sounds of a Prairie River.