My Head Fell Off
13 Comic rounds for partnered voices
by Brian Kogler
The round in Western culture has been associated as closely with wit as it has with praise. Here are thirteen risible rounds of varying difficulty intended for a cappella performance. Admirably suited to treble voices, they may be sung by mixed groups of all ages. The lyrics are light and teasing, the music jaunty and memorable. Any choral performance must benefit from the inclusion of a brace of crowd-pleasing canons!
The composer recommends “partnering” the voices by combining female voices “high-with-low” (SA) and male voices “high-with-low” (TB). Each compound “part” will therefore be comprised of both kinds of voice, ideally in equal numbers.
Over 100 of Brian Kogler’s rounds are now accessible on YouTube. Scores are available for free on request. Please contact: bkogler [at] bigpond [dot] com
SKU: BKR-002
Categories: Children's Choir, Choral Music, Lower Voices, Mixed Voices, Treble Voices
Instrumentation: Choral
| Voicing: | Equal Voices, SSAA, SSAB |
| Instrumentation: | A Cappella |
| Language: | English, Latin |
| Sacred or Secular: | Secular |
| Season or Event: | General |
| Difficulty: | Intermediate, Advanced |
| Descriptive Tags: | Fun, Humorous, Light, Silly |
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Title | View | Voicing | Duration | Language | Composer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2'55" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Carol of the Seekers is a short, sweet, simple Christmas carol for treble voices, either a cappella or with handbells. The refrain’s joyous, cascading “Noël” suggests tintinnabulation, while the five verses offer a metaphysical interpretation of the Christmas story: like the shepherds and the wise men, all who seek the infant Jesus will find him […] More info & view score » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SATB | 4'24" | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Premiered in June 2018 by San Francisco Choral Artists, “Fare Ye Well My Darlin'” is an arrangement of an American folksong, perhaps dating from the Civil War, collected in South Carolina. A soldier bids farewell to his beloved, informing her that he has enlisted to fight in the war. More info & view score » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SAB | 2'30" | Japanese | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SSA | 2'45" | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This setting of a poem by Linda Marcus is entirely pentatonic (i.e. uses only 5 notes – C, D, F, G and A) apart from the very last measure. The pentatonic setting is intended to create a naive effect, recalling childhood. (The very opening is based on a universal 3-note ‘song of childhood’.) The points […] More info & view score » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SSAA | 4'30" | Latin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Commissioned premiere performance at Davies Symphony Hall (San Francisco) by the San Francisco Girls Chorus. The explosive Lang work was appropriately contrasted by the excellent, gentle and more subtle O Magnum Mysterium by Kurt Erickson. This world premiere was commissioned by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Here the “mystery” part of the thematic trinity […] More info & view score » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SSATBB | 6' | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This carol was first published in 1833 in a collection entitled “Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern”. William Sandys, a solicitor by day and music & manuscript collector by night, purportedly came across the tune in Devonshire, England. In this gentle setting from 1991 many colors of choral writing appear with sections for SATB, 3-part men, […] More info & view score » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SATB | 4'30" | Latin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SATB a cappella settings of three ancient Latin texts in a style reminiscent of Renaissance polyphony, but mixing dissonant and tonal harmonies in a challenging but singable texture. Melodies are often disjunct, even passing from section to section, but always lyrical and poignantly expressive. De castitatis thalamo, virgo virginum, and Ave Maria. Ave Maria also […] More info & view score » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SATB | 4' 23" | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A setting for unaccompanied SATB choir (with divisi) of words by Eric Gosney, a poet from England’s Isle of Purbeck. A wistful and nostalgic love song, in which the poet wishes to “thwart old Time’s irrevocable plan and live again those two short hours with you”. These evocative words are set with suitably tender harmonies […] More info & view score » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SATB | 5'40" | Latin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Commissioned by Richard Geiger for the Academy for the Study of St. Ambrose of Milan “Veni, Redemptor (Come, Redeemer)” is a new composition based on a hymn written in the 4th Century by St. Ambrose of Milan. The hymn was originally titled, “Intende qui regis Israel,” and the words invite Christ’s presence into this world […] More info & view score » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||