GERSHWIN FOR CHORAL SINGERS Featured Literature at 2016 FMEA Presentation

(*indicates pieces highlighted during presentation)

Voicings Available Title Arranger SATB But Not For Me Philip Kern

SATB/3-pt/2-pt Clap Yo’ Hands Greg Gilpin—tune seems to lose

integrity as a gospel swing

SSA/SATB Clap Yo’ Hands Pete King--ok

*SATB Embraceable You Teena Chinn—good H.S. starter, not

rhythmically demanding, good for tuning

*SATB/SAB/SSAA/TTBB Embraceable You Jay Althouse—simple but sweet

*SATB/SAB Embraceable You Carl Strommen—very simple, lots of

unison

*SSAA/SATB/SAB Embraceable You Kirby Shaw—great for tuning

*TTBB/SATB/SAB/SSA Fascinating Rhythm Mark Hayes--excellent

SATB Fascinating Rhythm Mac Huff—overreaches for “cleverness”

*SAB/SATB A Foggy Day Russ Robinson—nice swing, not overly

complex

*SSA George Gershwin Medley Bill Holcombe--excellent

SATB Gershwin! John Higgins—almost too much

crammed in (every transition)—I suppose it illustrates the wealth of material available

SSA Gershwin for Girls Teena Chinn—ok, simple, all ballads

SATB Gershwin Jazz Trio, A Jay Althouse—fine, not too demanding

*SATB/SAB/2-pt Gershwin Portrait, A Mac Huff—lots of material and lots of

ideas

SATB/TTB/3-pt/2-pt Gershwin Showcase Carl Strommen—too patchwork

SAB/SATB/TTB I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’ Douglas E. Wagner

SSAB/SATB I Got Rhythm Mark Hayes

SATB I Got Rhythm Clay Warnick—too many liberties

SSA/SATB/SAB I Got Rhythm Kirby Shaw--Latin

SATB I Got Rhythm Pete Schmutte

SATB I Got Rhythm Mark Hayes—why additional lyrics?

*SSAA/SATB/SAB I’ve Got a Crush on You Jay Althouse—good, short and sweet

SATB I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise Robert Page—catchy! Too short?

*SATB Jolly Tar and the Milkmaid, The Gregg Smith—cute story

SAB Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off Russell Robinson

SATB/2-pt Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off Russell Robinson

*TTBB Love Is Here to Stay Paul Langford—new, extremely

creative, thick texture

*SSA/SATB/SAB Love Is Here to Stay Mark Hayes

*SATB Love Is Here to Stay Darmon Meader—nice harmonies,

not impossible

*SATB SATB

Love Is Here to Stay Love Walked In

Kirby Shaw—do-able, always classy

Steve Zegree—good study in vertical

harmonies

*SSAA Man I Love, The Mark Hayes—always tasteful

*SAB/SATB/SSA Nice Work If You Can Get It Jay Althouse—fine, utilizes a traditional

homorhythmic approach—tunes like this are easy to sound good since melodies are

simply (and fairly static) with great harmonic changes underneath

SATB Nice Work If You Can Get It Mark Brymer

SATB Nice Work If You Can Get It Greg Gilpin

SATB Nobody But You Robert Page—well. . . .

SATB Porgy and Bess Ed Lojeski

SAB/SATB Porgy and Bess Douglas Wagner—this SAB seems a

bit thin harmonically

SATB Porgy and Bess Clay Warnick--some tacky transitions;

interesting choices, ending with “Boat”

*SATB Sing of Spring Gregg Smith--unusual

SATB/SAB Slap That Bass Larry Shackley—glad to see this one,

feels long, ending?

SSA/SATB/SAB Someone to Watch Over Me Jay Althouse

SATB/SAB Someone to Watch Over Me Jay Althouse

SSATB Someone to Watch Over Me Jamey Ray--complicated, too dissonant,

too thinck

SATB Someone to Watch Over Me Teena Chinn

*SSA Someone to Watch Over Me Kirby Shaw—always good, great kybd

part

SATB/SAB/TTBB Strike Up the Band! Mark Hayes--straight

SAB/SATB/SSA Summertime Russell Robinson—straight

SATB/SSAB/SSA/TTBB Summertime Mark Hayes

*SATB Summertime Derek Fawcett—very interesting and

creative; funk swing

*SATB/SSAA/TTBB Summertime Mac Huff--nice

SA Swingin’ with the Gershwins Mac Huff—nice arrangement, but when

tempo picks up on 2nd

tune, it never slacks—drives all the way to the end with driving

instrumental bass lines

*SATB ‘S Wonderful Phil Mattson—obviously, GREAT!

SAB ‘S Wonderful Russ Robinson—uses verse, pretty

good

SATB They Can’t Take That Away From Me

Carl Strommen--straight

SATB/SAB They Can’t Take That Away From Me

Mark Hayes--ok

*SATB Who Could Ask for Anything More?

Jay Althouse—I’ve only seen it this

year--new