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Hymn of St. Francis

Title:	Hymn of St. Francis
Movements:	Invocation A Murmuration of Starlings A Scuttle of Crabs A Squabble of Seagulls A Smack of Jellyfish A Drumming of Grouse and a Gatling of Woodpeckers A Buzzing of Bees A Rhumba of Rattlesnakes A Flight of Swallows
Date of Composition:	Copyright © 1993
Level of Difficulty:	Jr. High/High School
Instrumentation:	Wind Band (includes 7 parts for multiple percussion)
Performance Time:	All movements - 14:13 minutes
Publisher:	Phoebus Publications 1303 Faust Avenue Oshkosh, WI 54901 (920)231-9231
Animations:	"Hymn of St. Francis" is currently being animated by Susan Weaver. Two movements are complete and may be viewed at Susan's web site.
Program Notes:	"Hymn of St. Francis" was written by Dan Bukvich for a junior high band. It uses extended techniques to create sounds reminiscent of various animals. "I'm always hoping that a student will say, 'Hey, I know a better sound than this.' That would be the ultimate goal of the piece," Bukvich says. Program Notes extracted from “The Careers and Works of Emerging Composers of Music for the Wind-Band: Discussions with Jack Stamp, Thomas Duffy, Andrew Boysen, Jr. and Daniel Bukvich” by James P. McCrann; edited for content by Susan G. Weaver.
Sketches/Composition Notes:	See sample page from score
FAQ:	Can other sounds be used for the animal sounds? Yes - in fact, Dan would encourage directors and students to come up with better ways of making the sound effects in "Hymn of St. Francis". The piece is supposed to be experimental and fun in that respect.
Recordings:	Performed by Atsugi Nishi High School Wind Symphony Conducted by Tetsuya Nakayama Location: Atsugishi Bunka Kaikan Date recorded: May 8, 1999 Recording engineer(s): Producer, Recording Director, Kenji Fukuda; Balance Engineer, Kenji Fukuda; Asst. Engineer, Shigeru Abe; Executive Producer, Hiroshi Kasai Download each movement separately below: Invocation [1:42] Real Audio File of Invocation - 412 K MP3 of Invocation - 1,587 K A Murmuration of Starlings [1:51] Real Audio File of A Murmuration of Starlings - 444 K MP3 of A Murmuration of Starlings - 1,700 K A Scuttle of Crabs [0:55] Real Audio File of A Scuttle of Crabs - 220 K MP3 of A Scuttle of Crabs - 820 K A Squabble of Seagulls [1:28] Real Audio File of A Squabble of Seagulls - 360 K MP3 of A Squabble of Seagulls - 1,372 K A Smack of Jellyfish [1:32] Real Audio File of A Smack of Jellyfish - 376 K MP3 of A Smack of Jellyfish - 1,449 K A Drumming of Grouse and a Gatling of Woodpeckers [0:50] Real Audio File of A Drumming of Grouse and a Gatling of Woodpeckers - 212 K MP3 of A Drumming of Grouse and a Gatling of Woodpeckers - 785 K A Buzzing of Bees [1:10] MP3 of A Buzzing of Bees - 1,097 K A Rhumba of Rattlesnakes [1:48] Real Audio File of A Rhumba of Rattlesnakes - 444 K MP3 of A Rhumba of Rattlesnakes - 1,688 K A Flight of Swallows [2:57] Real Audio File of A Flight of Swallows - 720 K MP3 of A Flight of Swallows - 2,762 K Recordings posted: 3/8/2002 All recordings on this site are made available for use by students and music educators. Please be kind to our server and download in moderation.