Sheena Phillips
Sheena is a choral director and composer, currently based in her native London after living and working for 15 years in the USA, where she directed college, church and community choirs.
Much of her composing is inspired by traditional music, poetry and the natural world. Among the pieces published by Canasg are settings of Emily Dickinson, Kathleen Raine and William Soutar, and numerous arrangements of folk songs and carols from Britain, North America, New Zealand, France and elsewhere in Europe.
Sheena has been commissioned and/or performed by numerous groups on both sides of the Atlantic, including the National Youth Choir of Scotland, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, Columbus Public Art (Ohio), the St Magnus International Festival (Orkney), the Choral Project (San Jose, California), Voices of Ascension (NYC), the Peninsula Women’s Chorus (California), Seattle Pro Musica, Amasong (Illinois), Anima Children's Chorus (Chicago), Cappella Nova (Scotland), Echo (London), and Icosa (London). She has also been broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
For more information, please visit Sheena's website at www.sheenaphillips.com
| Title, voicing, timing, complexity |
Description | Links | Number, Price Band |
|---|---|---|---|
|
SATB
1m 40s
*
|
This is included in the set Mouth music set 1. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
'I was born and brought up on the beautiful Isle of Islay'. Traditional port-a-beul (mouth music).
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
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see it • hear a performance • download a synthesized realisation • |
1506
A
|
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SAA
1m 40s
*
|
'I was born and brought up on the beautiful Isle of Islay'. Traditional port-a-beul (mouth music).
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
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see it • hear a performance • download a synthesized realisation • |
1519
A
|
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SATB, piano
4m 45s
***
|
An ecstatic paean to light — “heart-sweetening, eye-kissing light” — by the major Bengali poet, composer, playwright, artist and author Rabindranath Tagore.
Music: Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Rabindranath Tagore.
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3054
D
|
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TBB, piano
2m 45s
**
|
This is included in the set Six sea shanties. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
All for me grog (also known as Across the Western ocean) is a delightfully rambling grumble about worn boots, torn clothes, lack of sleep, lack of money and other privations of life on board ship.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad..
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2044
B
|
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SATB
3m 00s
***
|
A new jazz setting that builds up from quiet 5-part harmony in verse 1 to a rollicking finale of tune, descant, and two decorative jazz lines above a ground of tenor and bass. Guaranteed crowd pleaser.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: John Newton.
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5003
C
|
|
solo voice or choir, equal or mixed voices
3m 00s
**
|
Free-flowing setting of Kathleen Raine's ecstatic paean to the natural world. For solo voice or choir, equal or mixed voices.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Kathleen Raine.
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3047
C
|
|
SA, organ
2m 30s
**
|
Traditional Irish blessings in a lovely arrangement for treble voices that would grace any wedding.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: anon..
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3037
B
|
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SATB
2m 20s
**
|
A new take on traditional Irish blessings, with mixed meter (3/4, 4/4) and a calm, expansive feel. Perfect for weddings or partings.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: anon..
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3059
C
|
|
SATB
0m 50s (sung twice through)
*
|
This is included in the set Mouth music set 2. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
He'd love to go off with the tall tailoress, but unfortunately he has an extremely unpleasant wife to dispose of first! Trad.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
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1509
A
|
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SSA
1m 40s
***
|
This is included in the set Sea Pieces. It is not sold as an individual piece.
A portrayal of the ever-shifting and apparently infinite sea.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Emily Dickinson.
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3045b
|
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SATB
4m 00s
**
|
Yes, it has verses, good ones too! There is more to Burns' famous song of enduring friendship than its well-known first twenty-odd words. It's traditional for Hogmanay (New Year), but it can (and should) be sung at any time of year.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Robert Burns (1759-1796).
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1024
B
|
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SATB divisi
3m 20s
***
|
'Aurora rutilat lucis prenuncia...' ('Dawn glows red, heralding daylight'). Atmospheric and soaring setting of a text honouring the 6th century Scottish St Columba, based on a Medieval plainchant.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: From the Inchcolm Antiphoner.
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5001
C
|
|
TTB
3m 00s
**
|
This is included in the set Two Welsh carols. It is not sold as an individual piece.
A strong carol for a cappella male voices, in the harmonious Welsh plygain tradition.
Music: Trad. Welsh melody, arranged by Sheena Phillips. Words: English by K.E.Roberts (1877-1962), based on the original Welsh.
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4057
|
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SATB
2m 40s
*
|
'Sleep I can get nane, for thinkin on my dearie...' A simple setting of Burns' plaintive song of sorrow and night wakefulness.
Music: 17th c. anon. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Robert Burns (1759-1796).
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1003
B
|
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SATB, optional soprano recorder & violin
2m 00s
**
|
“I've been a-rambling all the night ...” A foot-stomping folk-style arrangement, with optional soprano recorder and violin parts to spice things up further.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. English.
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2032
C
|
|
SSATBB
2m 10s
**
|
An English language version of Senfl's lively depiction of bell-ringing in a Rhineland town, including onomatopeoic bell sounds and conversation between the bell-ringers. Great fun to learn and perform.
Music: Ludwig Senfl (c.1486 — 1543). Words: Sheena Phillips.
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3046
C
|
|
TBarB, piano
2m 30s
**
|
This is included in the set Three cowboy songs. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
A retelling of the famous ballad, collected by Alan Lomax, of gunfighter and outlaw Billy the Kid.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad..
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2056
C
|
|
equal or mixed voices
9m 20s
***
|
This is a set consisting of 4 pieces.
Four varied rounds about birds - from the humble sparrow to the majestic eagle, chattering linnet to soaring skylark. Texts by four different poets and music by Beethoven, Caldara and Sheena Phillips.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: .
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3048-51
E
| |
|
TBB, piano
2m 30s
**
|
This is included in the set Six sea shanties. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Second in the set is Blood red roses, a long haul shanty with pairs of rising and falling phrases and a colourful refrain.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad..
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2041
B
|
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SATB
1m 00s
*
|
This is included in the set Mouth music set 3. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
The old shepherd enjoys a drink and has to be put to bed. Traditional port-a-beul (mouth music).
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
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1511
A
|
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TBB, piano
2m 00s
**
|
This is included in the set Six sea shanties. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Boney is a cheerful and scathing narrative of Napoleon's adventures in Europe and his eventual defeat at the hands of the British.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad..
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2042
B
|
|
SATB
1m 00s (sung twice through)
**
|
This is included in the set Mouth music set 1. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Skinny Donald wears a long coat and short trousers, and it's about time his hair saw a comb. Traditional port-a-beul (mouth music).
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
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1505
A
|
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SSAA
1m 45s
**
|
This is included in the set Knitting patterns. It is not sold as an individual piece.
Music: Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 — 1767) arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Sheena Phillips.
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hear a performance • |
3042b
|
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treble voices (unison) and piano
2m 20s
*
|
This is included in the set Two carols for treble voices. It is not sold as an individual piece.
“Will the tree be dressed and lit?” “Will the star be in the sky?” Images of candles and quietly sung Alleluias form the backdrop for a series of hushed but excited questions about Christmas. Revised edition (2012).
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Jean Kenward (1920–).
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4006
|
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SATB
1m 40s
*
|
'Up in the morning early's no for me' - especially when it's a cold, cold wind that blows. A brisk wintry song with a folk feel. This little tune won a prize at a composition contest for settings of Robert Burns!
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Robert Burns (1759-1796).
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see it • hear a performance • |
1005
B
|
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SATB, optional flute & violin
3m 45s (4m 30s with intro.)
**
|
Rural China from the perspective of the crane bird in flight, taking in all the life below. Spare harmonies and octave doublings by the accompanying instruments give the piece a distinctive timbre, evocative of Chinese music without being authentically so. Also available for SSA chorus and piano with optional flute and violin.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Edwina Towson.
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3019
C
|
|
SSA, piano, optional flute & violin
4m 30s
**
|
Rural China from the perspective of the crane bird in flight, taking in all the life below. Spare harmonies and octave doublings by the accompanying instruments give the piece a distinctive timbre, evocative of Chinese music without being authentically so. Also available for SATB with optional flute and violin.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Edwina Towson.
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see it • hear a synthesized realisation • |
6007
C
|
|
SATB
0m 40s (sung three times through)
*
|
This is included in the set Mouth music set 1. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
'I heard it from three people'. Traditional port-a-beul (mouth music).
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
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1504
A
|
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3 or 4 part equal or mixed voices
2m 30s
**
|
This is included in the set Rounds from Jane Chattock's book. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Each line of this cheerful and raucous round forms a competing set of street market cries: “fine parsnips”, “fruit in abundance”, etc. Dramatic interpretations encouraged!
Music: Dr. Stevenson, ed. Sheena Phillips. Words: Anon.
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2015
A
|
|
3 or 4 part equal or mixed voices
1m 00s
**
|
This is included in the set Rounds from Jane Chattock's book. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
This mischievous round is a lesson for apprentices in business: often borrow, seldom lend, and never, never, never pay.
Music: Sheena Phillips (ed.). Words: Anon.
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2016
A
|
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SATB
2m 30s
**
|
(Words in Croatian). 'If I had wings like a bird, I would fly to you every night my dove'...An intense, heartfelt song about being separated from loved ones.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Croatian.
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2019
B
|
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SATB
2m 00s
**
|
“The darg is owre and the day is düne”. The day's work is done, and all the nodding heads are weary. Gentle rhythms and an overarching melodic line make a lovely setting of this charmingly alliterative poem in the Scots tongue.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: William Soutar (1898-1943).
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see it • hear a performance • |
1006
B
|
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TBarB
2m 00s
**
|
A catchy patter song from the Van district (once in Armenia, now part of Turkey). Easy ranges for changing voices.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. (vocables).
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2038
C
|
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SATB divisi
2m 30s
***
|
'Hush ye my baby and sleep without fear, Dream Angus has brought you a dream, my dear.' A rich and atmospheric setting of a gorgeous traditional lullaby.
Music: trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
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1007
C
|
|
SAB
1m 30s
*
|
A rhythmic and alliterative Gaelic carol with a rousing chorus about the bannock (oatcakes traditionally baked on Christmas Eve to give to children going from door to door) and verses that endearingly describe the Christ child.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Gaelic.
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1514
B
|
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equal or mixed, 3 parts
3m 20s
***
|
This is included in the set Bird rounds. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892).
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see it • hear a synthesized realisation • |
3051
C
|
|
SA or treble voices & piano
3m 10s
**
|
Gentle arrangement of the traditional French carol, with dreamy interludes.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. French.
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4079
C
|
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SATB divisi
5m 20s
***
|
A glorious concert setting of Thomas Ken's poem An Evening Hymn with allusions to bell-ringing and hymn-singing - and a quotation from Thomas Tallis' famous canon.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Thomas Ken (1637–1711).
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see it • hear a performance • |
5042
E
|
|
SSA
1m 20s
***
|
This is included in the set Sea Pieces. It is not sold as an individual piece.
The headlong excitement of an ‘inland soul’ on first going to sea.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Emily Dickinson.
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see it • hear a synthesized realisation • |
3045c
|
|
SATB
1m 30s
**
|
A spell-binding fairy charm and lullaby from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616).
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see it • download a synthesized realisation • |
3022
B
|
|
SATB with SSA divisi verses
4m 00s
**
|
The song of a broken-hearted girl, waiting for the boatman who will probably never return. A beautiful lilting traditional tune.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
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see it • hear a performance • download a synthesized realisation • |
1502
C
|
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SATB, solo T/Bar
2m 00s
**
|
'My heart's love; fair-haired Mary.' The original Gaelic version of the delightful Lewis Bridal Song, also known as Mairi's Wedding. This setting is also available with a new English translation.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: John Bannerman.
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1510
B
|
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SSAA
1m 10s
**
|
This is included in the set Knitting patterns. It is not sold as an individual piece.
Music: Antonio Caldara (1670 — 1736) arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Sheena Phillips.
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download a synthesized realisation • |
3042a
|
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SATB
2m 00s
**
|
This is included in the set Three Christmas choral stocking fillers. It is not sold as an individual piece.
Mix and match joyful harmonisations of this old African American plantation tune.
Music: trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Traditional.
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4089
|
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SATB
2m 00s
**
|
A swinging arrangement of the well known carol, for SATB voices a cappella. An ideal opener or encore for your carol concert.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: J M Neale (1818 – 1866), based on the original German and Latin.
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4025
C
|
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SATB
2m 30s
*
|
A lovely slow and heartfelt song, widely known as the Eriskay Love Lilt, or by its anglicised refrain - ' ver mi o, ro van o'.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
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see it • hear a performance • download a synthesized realisation • |
1501
B
|
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SATB
2m 30s
***
|
A contemporary take on the 16th century English song of unrequited love, using three of the original verses.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Anon., adapted.
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2050
B
|
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SSAA
2m 50s
**
|
Lively arrangement of a traditional wassail song from Yorkshire in the North of England — with a barrage of trumpets in the last chorus!
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. English.
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4071
C
|
|
TTBB
2m 50s
**
|
Lively arrangement of a traditional wassail song from Yorkshire in the North of England — with a barrage of trumpets in the last chorus!
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. English.
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4078
C
|
|
SATB
1m 30s
*
|
A well known Jewish song about how good it is to live in harmony, based on words from Psalm 133, in a simple but effective arrangement. Words in Hebrew and in English translation.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: from Psalm 133.
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5026
A
|
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SATB
0m 45s (sung once through)
*
|
'My angels are sounding their trumpets to waken the sleepers around. There's no time for doubting...'A stirring Maine Shaker song of conviction.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Anon.
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5007
B
|
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SATB
2m 30s
**
|
A poem of human injustice by William Blake (1757-1827), still relevant today. A very moving setting by Sheena Phillips.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: William Blake.
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3003
B
|
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SATB
4m 00s
***
|
A classic American hymn and anthem to singing.
Music: Robert Lowry arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Pauline T..
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5040
D
|
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SATB
2m 30s
**
|
A New World lullaby arranged for soloist and echoing chorus.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Traditional.
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2037
C
|
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SATB
3m 00s
***
|
A lilting (in 7/8 time) and loosely woven blend of a Bengali song about “the way of life” with a text from 2 Esdras 14. “I shall light a candle of understanding in thine heart, which shall not be put out”. Words in Bengali and English.
Music: Trad. Bengali arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Bengali and 2 Esdras 14.
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see it • hear a performance • hear a synthesized realisation • |
3005
D
|
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SSAA
3m 00s
***
|
A lilting (in 7/8 time) and loosely woven blend of a Bengali song about “the way of life” with a text from 2 Esdras 14. “I shall light a candle of understanding in thine heart, which shall not be put out”. Words in Bengali and English.
Music: Trad. Bengali arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Bengali and 2 Esdras 14.
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see it • hear a performance • hear a synthesized realisation • |
3040
D
|
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SATB
1m 10s
***
|
This is included in the set Songs of love and longing. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Emily Dickinson.
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see it • download a synthesized realisation • |
3010
A
|
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SATB
3m 30s
**
|
You can hear the swirling snow and moaning wind in this atmospheric setting of the first two stanzas of Rossetti's famous Christmas poem.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Christina Rossetti (1830-94).
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see it • hear a performance • |
4002
B
|
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SATB
0m 50s
***
|
This is included in the set Songs of love and longing. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Emily Dickinson.
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see it • download a synthesized realisation • |
3008
A
|
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SATB
2m 45s
**
|
A dreamy Hungarian wedding song supplied both in English and in Hungarian.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Hungarian, English paraphrase by Sheena Phillips.
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2051
C
|
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SSAA
4m 30s
**
|
This is a set consisting of 3 pieces.
Three 18th c. rounds by Caldara and Telemann arranged and given new lyrics about … knitting!
Music: Antonio Caldara and Georg Philip Telemann arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Sheena Phillips.
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3042
C
|
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SATB
0m 45s (sung once through)
*
|
A Shaker 'gift song', received by Addah Z Potter in 1838.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Anon.
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5004
A
|
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SATB, optional guitar, percussion
1m 50s
*
|
A quickly learnable traditional Chanukah song to add to your holiday collection.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Jewish.
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2039
A
|
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equal or mixed, 4 parts
2m 00s
**
|
This is included in the set Bird rounds. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Music: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: William Wordsworth (1770–1850).
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3048
B
|
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SATB, optional guitar
2m 30s
**
|
An intimate setting of Rossetti's famous words, and a favourite with audiences and singers. We will also send the a cappella version catalogue no. 4091 free when you order this setting.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Christina Rossetti (1830 — 1894).
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4077
C
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SATB
2m 10s
**
|
Beautiful arrangement of Christina Rossetti’s famous words. Compatible with the guitar part written for catalogue no. 4077 which comes free when you order this setting.
Music: trad. (Gartan) arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Christina Rossetti (1830–94).
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4091
C
|
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SATB, solo T/Bar
2m 00s
**
|
A delightful new English language version of the well-known Mairi's wedding, more faithful to the meaning of John Bannerman's original Gaelic lyric.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Peter Hill & Sheena Phillips.
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see it • hear a performance • download a synthesized realisation • |
1040
B
|
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SATB
1m 00s (sung twice through)
**
|
This is included in the set Mouth music set 2. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Neil plans to wear out some shoe-leather when his eagle-eyed mum goes away on her travels. Trad., from the Campbell family of Greepe on the Isle of Skye.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
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1508
A
|
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SAB
1m 30s (sung once through)
*
|
Shaker song with a driving energy, dating from the New Lebanon community of 1844.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: .
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see it • hear a performance • download a synthesized realisation • |
5005
A
|
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SATB
4m 20s
**
|
This is a set consisting of 4 pieces.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
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hear a performance • |
1503-6
D
|
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SATB
3m 00s
**
|
This is a set consisting of 3 pieces.
Music: Sheena Phillips & Peter Hill. Words: Trad. Anon.
|
1507-9
C
| |
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SATB
3m 30s
**
|
This is a set consisting of 3 pieces.
Music: Sheena Phillips & Peter Hill. Words: Trad. Anon.
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hear a performance • |
1511-3
C
|
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SATB
2m 15s
**
|
A quiet song of remembrance, written in memoriam Jill Sumner (1941 - 2001)
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Norman MacCaig.
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see it • download a synthesized realisation • |
3044
C
|
|
SSA
1m 20s
***
|
This is included in the set Sea Pieces. It is not sold as an individual piece.
Babbling brook, cascading river, impassive sea and the poet’'s desire for union are all portrayed here.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Emily Dickinson.
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see it • hear a synthesized realisation • |
3045a
|
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SATB
1m 45s
**
|
A wonderful renaissance text about love given a lilting and harmonious setting. Great wedding piece.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Philip Sidney.
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3036
C
|
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SAA
1m 45s
**
|
A wonderful renaissance text about love given a lilting and harmonious setting. Great wedding piece.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Philip Sidney.
|
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3038
C
|
|
TBB
1m 45s
**
|
A wonderful renaissance text about love given a lilting and harmonious setting. Great wedding piece.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Philip Sidney.
|
see it • download a synthesized realisation • |
3039
C
|
|
SATB
0m 40s (sung three times)
*
|
This is included in the set Mouth music set 3. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
'If I had threepence I'd spend it on drink, if I had sixpence I'd try getting married'. Traditional port-a-beul (mouth music).
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
|
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1512
A
|
|
SSAB
1m 15s
***
|
A glorious a cappella fanfare — or a peal of vocal bells — to open a Christmas concert.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad..
|
see it • hear a performance • |
4005
C
|
|
TTBB
1m 30s
***
|
A glorious a cappella fanfare — or a peal of vocal bells — to open a Christmas concert.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad..
|
see it • hear a performance • |
4072
C
|
|
SATB recorder & drum
1m 30s
***
|
A lively pipe and drum carol, as sung traditionally in France on Christmas Eve, arranged with panache in a fresh English translation.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. French.
|
see it • hear a performance • |
4021
C
|
|
SATB
2m 00s (in 3/4), 2m 30s (in 4/4)
**
|
Beautiful Maori love song (words in Maori) originating in army camps in Auckland in World War 1. “The waves at Waiapu are agitated. Cross over, girl, and they will be calm.” Supplied in both 3/4 and 4/4 versions.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: 20th C. Maori love song.
|
see it • hear a performance • download a synthesized realisation • |
2006
C
|
|
SAA
2m 00s (in 3/4), 2m 30s (in 4/4)
**
|
Beautiful Maori love song (words in Maori) originating in army camps in Auckland in World War 1. “The waves at Waiapu are agitated. Cross over, girl, and they will be calm.”
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: 20th C. Maori love song.
|
see it • download a synthesized realisation • |
2034
C
|
|
TBB
2m 00s (in 3/4), 2m 30s (in 4/4)
**
|
Beautiful Maori love song (words in Maori) originating in army camps in Auckland in World War 1. “The waves at Waiapu are agitated. Cross over, girl, and they will be calm.”
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: 20th C. Maori love song.
|
see it • download a synthesized realisation • |
2035
B
|
|
SATB & guitar
2m 30s
*
|
A charming traditional carol about the visit of the shepherds, arranged in folk style with simple harmonies. Words in French.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. French.
|
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4024
C
|
|
3 or 4 part equal or mixed voices
5 — 6m
**
|
This is a set consisting of 3 pieces.
In November 1832, Jane Chattock opened a small music manuscript book and wrote her name on the flyleaf. She then copied a collection of favourite rounds into it, and got her friends to add more in their own hand. We know nothing more of Jane, but her book came to light in an Edinburgh second-hand book shop in 1982 and now lets us see what amused a little group of social singers in the years around the accession of Queen Victoria.
Music: Sheena Phillips (ed.). Words: Anon.
|
2015-7
C
| |
|
SATB
1m 30s
*
|
“Harvest the light of the moon to make yourself a gown”. Create a spellbound interlude with this gem of a Scots poem, given beautiful musical lines and harmonies.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: William Soutar (1898-1943).
|
see it • hear a performance • |
1035
B
|
|
SATB, optional guitar and/or treble instrument
2m 40s
*
|
“Now the holly bears a berry ...”: a sturdy folk carol from Cornwall (S W England) listing the different colours of the holly berry as it ripens, and relating them to the story of Jesus.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Cornish.
|
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4023
C
|
|
TBB, piano
2m 30s
**
|
This is included in the set Six sea shanties. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
First in the set is the rousing Santiana, popular both as a pumping shanty and as a capstan shanty, loosely based on events in the Mexican-American war of the mid-19th century.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad..
|
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2040
B
|
|
SSA
4m 30s
***
|
This is a set consisting of 3 pieces.
Three contrasting Emily Dickinson settings, by turns impulsive, wishful, wondering and definite. Premiered by Canty, female voices of Cappella Nova of Scotland.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Emily Dickinson.
|
3045
F
| |
|
SAB
0m 30s (sung once through)
*
|
'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free ... One of the most famous Shaker songs, written by Joseph Brackett in 1848 as a dance song.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Anon.
|
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5006
A
|
|
TBB, piano
15m 00s
**
|
This is a set consisting of 6 pieces.
Shanties (or chanteys) were an essential part of the rhythm of life and work on board ship. Here are six of these tuneful, humorous and vigorous songs for male voices.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad..
|
2040-45
G
| |
|
equal or mixed, 4 parts
3m 00s
**
|
This is included in the set Bird rounds. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1832).
|
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3049
B
|
|
SATB
5m 00s
***
|
This is a set consisting of 5 pieces.
Sheena Phillips' settings of five exquisite poems by Emily Dickinson. See individual titles for details.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Emily Dickinson.
|
3007-11
E
| |
|
SATB
5m 00s
**
|
A wordless lament for the people of Aleppo, one of the Syrian cities tragically caught up in the Syrian civil war. Loosely based on aspects of traditional Syrian singing, with some aleatoric sections in which singers sing independently.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Sheena Phillips.
|
see it • hear a performance • |
3053
E
|
|
SSAA
5m 00s
**
|
A wordless lament for the people of Aleppo, one of the Syrian cities tragically caught up in the Syrian civil war. Loosely based on aspects of traditional Syrian singing, with some aleatoric sections in which singers sing independently.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Sheena Phillips.
|
see it • hear a performance • |
3057
E
|
|
SATB with body percussion etc. ad lib
2m 00s
**
|
Our take on the lively nautical folk song that went viral on TikTok in early 2021.
Music: anon. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: anon. (New Zealand).
|
see it • hear a synthesized realisation • |
2063
B
|
|
SATB
2m 00s
**
|
(Words in French dialect). A simple and gently flowing lullaby from the Massif Central region of France. Suitable for small chamber choir or larger ensemble.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
|
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2021
B
|
|
5 mixed/equal voices
2 – 3m (flexible)
**
|
A round about singing from the 19th century American singing school tradition
Music: P P Bliss. Words: P P Bliss.
|
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2046
C
|
|
equal or mixed, 3 parts
2m 00s
**
|
This is included in the set Bird rounds. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Music: Antonio Caldara (1670–1736) arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906).
|
see it • hear a synthesized realisation • |
3050
B
|
|
SATB
1m 50s
**
|
This is included in the set Three Christmas choral stocking fillers. It is not sold as an individual piece.
An aleatoric treatment of the lovely German chorale tune Wie Schön Leuchtet der Morgenstern.
Music: trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Philipp Nicolai, trans. Henry Harbaugh.
|
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4088
|
|
SAB
2m 00s (sung once through)
*
|
“O brighter than the morning star is the heart that's pure and free”. A wonderful soaring Shaker hymn from Ohio.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Anon.
|
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5008
B
|
|
SATB & folk harp
2m 30s
*
|
A charming German carol (in English translation) from the tradition of cradle-rocking Christmas services, simply arranged for SATB chorus and folk harp.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Martin Shaw (1875 – 1958) (based on the original German).
|
see it • hear a performance • |
4022
B
|
|
SSAAA
3m 00s
***
|
'Sweet smiles, in the night, hover over my delight...' A mother tenderly wishes sweet dreams for her happy child. Words by William Blake from 'A Cradle Song', lilting 5/4 arrangement by Sheena Phillips.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: William Blake.
|
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3012
C
|
|
SAB
3m 30s
*
|
A beautiful and simple Hebridean Gaelic carol, which addresses the Christ child with the most gorgeous and endearing words. Supplied with both the original Gaelic words and modern English words.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Gaelic.
|
see it • hear a performance • |
1515
B
|
|
TBarB, piano
3m 30s
**
|
This is included in the set Three cowboy songs. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Nostalgia for a way of life and work long gone but not forgotten.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Omar Barker (1894-1985).
|
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2057
C
|
|
SATB
0m 55s (sung twice through)
*
|
This is included in the set Mouth music set 1. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
'I have a wife, a stream, a lump of white soap and a filthy shirt. How can I get it clean by tomorrow so I can go out?' Traditional port-a-beul (mouth music).
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
|
see it • hear a performance • download a synthesized realisation • |
1503
A
|
|
SAA
1m 20s (sung three times through)
*
|
'I have a wife, a stream, a lump of white soap and a filthy shirt. How can I get it clean by tomorrow so I can go out?' Traditional port-a-beul (mouth music).
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
|
see it • hear a performance • download a synthesized realisation • |
1522
A
|
|
TTB
2m 00s
**
|
This is included in the set Two Welsh carols. It is not sold as an individual piece.
A strong carol for a cappella male voices, in the harmonious Welsh plygain tradition.
Music: Trad. Welsh, transcribed (with permission) by Sheena Phillips. Words: English by Sheena Phillips, based on the original Welsh.
|
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4058
|
|
treble voices (unison) & handbells or chimes
3m 00s
*
|
An English translation of a beautiful traditional Hebridean lullaby to the Christ Child, set for unison treble voices (or soli) and handbell choir.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Peter Hill & Sheena Phillips, based on the original Gaelic.
|
see it • download a synthesized realisation • |
6011
C
|
|
TBB, piano
2m 30s
**
|
This is included in the set Six sea shanties. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Less well known than some of the others in the set, The dead horse was a ceremonial shanty, traditionally sung after 30 days at sea, when the effigy of a dead horse (representing the first month's labour) would be given a sea burial.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad..
|
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2043
B
|
|
SATB
4m 00s
***
|
A mesmeric depiction of the ceaseless rhythm of the earth's journey through space, based on a chant of unknown origin. Music: Sheena Phillips.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Anon.
|
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3021
B
|
|
treble voices, unison with optional harmony & piano
1m 30s
**
|
This is included in the set Two carols for treble voices. It is not sold as an individual piece.
“Pull the bells until they ring! Let the people dance and sing!” A joyful song with easy (and optional) harmonies and a catchy rhythm. Revised edition (2012).
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Jean Kenward (1920–).
|
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4009
|
|
SATB
1m 10s
**
|
A piece of sheer fun, imagining in music those dense clouds of hungry hovering midgies with whom visitors to North West Scotland will be familiar. Watch out for the soprano supermidge.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: .
|
see it • hear a performance • |
1023
B
|
|
SATB
1m 20s
***
|
This is included in the set Songs of love and longing. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Emily Dickinson.
|
see it • hear a performance • download a synthesized realisation • |
3007
A
|
|
Treble unison chorus & piano
0m 40s
**
|
This is included in the set Three Soutar songs. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
“Muckle” is Scots for big, and the song portrays a giant who cavorts around in a graveyard.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: William Soutar (1898-1943).
|
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6001
A
|
|
SATB
2m 00s
**
|
A bright, uplifting song for all those who know it will all work out right in the end.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Peter Hill.
|
see it • hear a performance • download a synthesized realisation • |
3016
B
|
|
SATB, piano (optional band)
4m 00s
|
A ballad for our times: lyrics about global warming and the strong tune of House of the Rising Sun. Optional parts for flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone and violin.
Music: Trad. arr Sheena Phillips
. Words: Sheena Phillips.
|
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3055
E
|
|
treble (SA) chorus & piano
1m 30s
**
|
This is included in the set Three Soutar songs. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
A vignette of a dreamy and tearful princess stuck in a tower.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: William Soutar (1898-1943).
|
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6002
A
|
|
3 or 4 part equal or mixed voices
1m 25s
**
|
This is included in the set Rounds from Jane Chattock's book. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Lovers take note. This round sets out in praise of love, but foresees a lamentable end: six squalling brats and a scolding jade.
Music: Sheena Phillips (ed.). Words: Anon.
|
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2017
A
|
|
SATB
1m 30s
**
|
A lively and passionate spring song from Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616).
|
see it • hear a performance • hear a synthesized realisation • |
3024
B
|
|
TBarB, piano
2m 30s
**
|
This is included in the set Three cowboy songs. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
A song about the ranching life: long hours and bad food!
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad..
|
see it • hear a synthesized realisation • |
2055
C
|
|
SATB
3m 00s
**
|
“The water is wide, I cannot get o'er”. A song about love as wished for and as experienced. One of the gems of English folklore, in a fine arrangement..
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Anon.
|
see it • download a synthesized realisation • |
2022
B
|
|
treble (SA) chorus & piano
1m 45s
**
|
This is included in the set Three Soutar songs. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
The “auld man” standing on a hill is a windmill, whose labours are accompanied by an infectiously playful jazz piano part. A fun piece for a children's choir that can handle a few jazz accidentals.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: William Soutar (1898-1943).
|
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6003
C
|
|
SATB with sop. solo
2m 30s
**
|
This through-composed arrangement is a delightful setting of a plangent text, with interest in every voice part. Winter has ended, but the poet's mind runs on the constancy of a woman's love and the wanderings of a man's.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Robert Burns (1759-1796).
|
see it • download a synthesized realisation • |
1028
B
|
|
SATB, handbells or other tuned (or untuned) percussion
5m 30s
**
|
This is a set consisting of 3 pieces.
Something a bit different: three flexible ‘choral soundscapes’ based respectively on traditional wassailing songs, the lovely chorale tune Wie Schön Leuchtet der Morgenstern, and the African American plantation song Go Tell It on the Mountain.
Music: trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Traditional.
|
4086
C
| |
|
TBarB, piano
10m 00s
**
|
This is a set consisting of 3 pieces.
Three songs from - or about - the days of cattle ranching and long-distance droving in the 19th century American west. Premiered by the changed voices section of the National Boys Choir of Scotland.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. American and Omar Barker.
|
2055-57
F
| |
|
treble chorus & piano
4m 00s
**
|
This is a set consisting of 3 pieces.
William Soutar was dedicated to the Scots language and wrote many delightful poems for children. This suite of three contrasting and colourful songs depicts a graveyard hooligan, a sad princess, and a clunking old windmill. Premiered by the National Boys Choir of Scotland.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: William Soutar (1898-1943).
|
6001-3
D
| |
|
TBB, piano
3m 00s
**
|
This is included in the set Six sea shanties. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Rounding off the set is the shanty traditionally sung while pumping the ship dry at the end of a voyage.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad..
|
see it • download a synthesized realisation • |
2045
B
|
|
SSAA
1m 20s
**
|
This is included in the set Knitting patterns. It is not sold as an individual piece.
Music: Antonio Caldara (1670 — 1736) arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Sheena Phillips.
|
hear a performance • |
3042c
|
|
SAB
2m 00s
*
|
A strong dance tune from the Shaker community in Connecticut, sung to vocables.
Music: Anon. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Sheena Phillips.
|
see it • hear a synthesized realisation • |
5039
B
|
|
treble voices with piano
4m 00s
**
|
This is a set consisting of 2 pieces.
Two contrasting and easy carols for treble voices and piano: the first, quiet and dreamy, the second, joyful and energetic. Jean Kenward (lyrics) is a widely published poet of verse for children. Suitable for beginner choirs. Revised edition (2012).
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Jean Kenward (1920–).
|
4065
C
| |
|
TTB
5m 00s
**
|
This is a set consisting of 2 pieces.
Two strong carols for a cappella male voices, in the harmonious Welsh plygain tradition.
Music: Trad. Welsh, arr./transcribed Sheena Phillips. Words: English, based on the original Welsh.
|
4064
C
| |
|
SATB
1m 20s
**
|
'Let my shadow disappear into yours. Let me lose myself under the tall trees,'...the magical and sensuous moment of twilight, when everything seems to soften and fade into everything else. Words in Swedish.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Pär Lagerkvist (1891-1974).
|
see it • download a synthesized realisation • |
3017
B
|
|
SATB, handbells or other tuned (or untuned) percussion
1m 30s
**
|
This is included in the set Three Christmas choral stocking fillers. It is not sold as an individual piece.
A sound-cloud of wassail song fragments over a background of tuned percussion. Use as an opening processional.
Music: trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Traditional.
|
see it • hear a performance • |
4087
|
|
SATB
2m 10s
**
|
A strong and easily learnt arrangement of one of the less well known Yorkshire wassail songs, with optional audience participation.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad..
|
see it • hear a performance • hear a synthesized realisation • |
4084
C
|
|
SATB
2m 55s
**
|
'Take my hand and we'll walk on together...' A wedding song with a difference, looking to the strength that can come from going through bad times as well as good times. Words: Peter Hill, music: Sheena Phillips.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Peter Hill.
|
see it • hear a performance • download a synthesized realisation • |
3013
B
|
|
SATB
2m 30s
**
|
A quiet and lovely arrangement of the 19th century carol, with mildly dissonant harmonies.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: William Chatterton Dix (1837 – 1898).
|
see it • hear a performance • |
4019
B
|
|
SATB
0m 45s
***
|
This is included in the set Songs of love and longing. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Emily Dickinson.
|
see it • hear a performance • download a synthesized realisation • |
3011
A
|
|
SATB
1m 10s
***
|
This is included in the set Songs of love and longing. You can also buy it as an individual piece.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Emily Dickinson.
|
see it • hear a performance • download a synthesized realisation • |
3009
A
|
|
SATB & descant
1m 30s
*
|
A Palestinian prayer for peace. Words in Arabic and in English translation by Fred Kaan. A possible sequence of verses (English, Arabic, with or without descant, etc) is suggested, but feel free to devise your own.
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Arabic, trans. Fred Kaan.
|
see it • download a synthesized realisation • |
5025
A
|
|
SATB, soprano recorder
3m 00s
**
|
A beautiful Robert Burns song of love betrayed, with a backdrop of bird song.
Music: Sheena Phillips. Words: Trad. Scottish.
|
see it • hear a synthesized realisation • |
1523
D
|
