Malcolm Dalglish Published Choir Songs

Abbreviations: S = Soprano, A = Alto, T = Tenor, B = Baritone/Bass, HD = Hammer Dulcimer, Hym = "Hymnody of Earth", Pl = "Pleasure"

** Indicates songs that are well suited for a holiday concert

B

The Ballad of Taliesin - 2 solo voices, harp - A setting of a poem by a fourth grade student from Bloomington, Indiana that retells the story of the ancient Welsh myth of Taliesin. Features a vivid, shape-changing chase scene. Two soloists trade off narrating the story and sing together in harmony during the refrain.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Bayou Sara (3:10) - Pl #14 - SAB, HD, piano - Based on a roustabout song about a riverboat disaster in the late 19th century on the Mississippi River.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

The Brink (5:20) - SATB, piano, opt. string quartet - A true life story ballad depicting a night vigil of some climbers stuck on a cliff, waiting for daylight to show them the way down.

Score		$10.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

The Broken Ground - SATB, a cappella - Text by Wendell Berry; explores the spirituality of farming and the mystery of a seed.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Bushy Tail (4:20) - Pl #5 - STB, HD, percussion - A "critter" song full of verses popularized by fiddlers and dance callers. The gentle dulcimer accompaniment as well as new verses gives a lyrical feel to the setting. Features hound dog barking in parallel thirds!

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Bye Oh Baby (2:30) - Pl #12 - Boosey OCTB 6633 - SA, HD - This animated variant of a folk song has a catchy melody and an easy alto line for beginning singers. See Boosey and Hawkes Scores.

Octavo

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$1.75

C

** Christmas Lullaby (4:15) - SA with solos, HD - A simple yet haunting old Scottish melody set with winter imagery of Mother, Child, and Angels.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

D

Danville Klude (3:35) - A nonsense animal word-jazz rap-along body percussion piece with plenty of audience participation that plays with the kind of inventive language found in folk song.

Score		$3.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Danville Klude (7:15) - SSA, body percussion - A sung harmonic version of nonsense animal word-jazz mouth and body percussion. Has plenty of audience participation, hambone, funny bone chin music that plays with the kind of inventive language found in American folk song.

Score		$10.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Dappled Things (4:10) - unison treble, HD - Text adapted from Pied Beauty, a poem by Gerard Manly Hopkins. A song in praise of the diversity found in nature.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

The Dark Around Us (1:40) - Hym #2 - SSAB, HD, percussion - Text by Wendell Berry. A rousing call to a place of spiritual fellowship where "all the earth shall sing."

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Doo Pah (2:00) - SSA, SSAA, SAT, SATB, SAATB (all arrangements a cappella) - A 12/8 walking tune or "slide" (a kind of Irish jig). This jaunty mouth music piece has many versions, from two- to five-part arrangements. Great for movement on stage, coming or going. Can have a section for Irish step dancing as well.

Score	VOICING SSA SSAA SAT SATB SAATB	$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

E

** Epitaph (5:00) - Pl #3 - SSAA, SAAT (all arrangements with HD) - A funeral song that sets Wendell Berry's poem for his father to the haunting Scottish/Irish bagpipe lament, "Lochaber No More". The words depict the humanistic process of carrying the memory of a deceased elder.

Score	VOICING SSAA SAAT	$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

F

Field of Wings (5:00) - SSAA, HD, piano - A mouth music depiction of snow geese and cranes taking off from a Midwestern farm field. Features wild and fun vocal colors.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

** The Finches (:50) - Hym #6 - SSAA - Text by Wendell Berry. Very short a cappella tone painting of finches in the "cold sun and frost of dawn".

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

** For the Future (2:30) - Hym #8 - SSAAB, HD, percussion - A five-part round connecting trees, birds, singing, and the future. Easily taught by ear.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Fount (3:00) - Pl #16 - SSATB a cappella - New words and harmony are set to the melody of the old hymn, "We Will Rise", to create a very broad yet traditional sounding secular hymn in praise of the earth.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Froggie (4:35) - SSA, SAB (all arrangements with HD, body percussion) - Based on the traditional American folk song "Froggie went a-courting", this is a tragic wedding drama for mouth and body percussion, kazoos and hammer dulcimer.

Score	VOICINGS SSA SAB	$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

G

** Great Trees (2:30) - Hym #13 - SSAB, SATB (all arrangements a cappella) - Wendell Berry's poem innately evokes the traditional style of a hymn. This song of praise is a glorious meditation on trees. "Stout beams upholding weightless grace of song, a blessing on this place."

Score	VOICINGS SSAB SATB	$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

H

Handlebar of Wings (4:45) - SATB, audience participation - Written to commemorate the centennial of flight. This song brings together the poetry of bicycling and the quest for flight experienced by those famous inventors and bike mechanics, the Wright brothers.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Hashem Shekhinah (4:30) - SATB, accordion or keyboard - Inspired and adapted from the Sheva Brachot, the seven blessings recited at a traditional Jewish wedding.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Have Your Lamps Gone Out? (4:05) - Pl #15 - SAB, HD, piano - Based on an African American song of the Underground Railroad sung by the roustabouts who worked the Ohio River steamboats.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Here I Carry You - SATB a cappella - Inspired by the prayer, "We Remember Them" from "The Gates of Prayer", a Reform Jewish prayer book.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Hm Bidi Deje (4:10) - SSAA, SSAT (all arrangements a cappella) - A rhythmic and percussive mouth music piece with invented syllables, inspired by French and Spanish sounds and rhythms. Written in a very accessible 5-beat meter.

Score	VOICINGS SSAA SSAT	$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Hosanna (2:00) - Hym #19 - SSAB, HD, percussion - The rousing amen to the "Hymnody of Earth" cycle.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

How Long Watchman (3:30) - Hym #16 - SAAB, percussion - Based on two hymns that draw from the book of Revelations, exploring the destructive forces in the human psyche. The new text refers to the fear and chaos of a nuclear holocaust.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Hunger and Thirst (2:30) - Hym #14 - SSAB, HD - A waltz-like Shaker song rejecting materialism while affirming a vast appetite for true righteousness and peace.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

"Hymnody of Earth" (57:15) - Hym #1-19 - SSAATB, HD, percussion - This 19 song cycle, featuring the primal lyrics of Kentucky author and farmer Wendell Berry, is a transcendent celebration of nature.

Songbook		$25.00
Copy license		$7.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

I

Into and Among You (3:40) - SATB; can feature a unison children's choir - A lively setting of an Omaha tribal incantation in which a newborn is introduced to the cosmos.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Into the Sky (4:50) - SSAA, SSAAT (all arrangements with HD, percussion) A meditation on place and our own vanishing into that place. Begins with the setting of a poem by ancient Chinese poet Li Po.

Score	Voicings SSAA SSAAT	$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

J

** Judah's Land (3:20) - SATB a cappella - An a cappella arrangement of a traditional Appalachian song with a very intimate and beautiful description of the Nativity scene.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

K

** The Kalanta of the New Year (2:00) - SSA, HD, piano, percussion - A popular Greek folk song with alternating English and Greek verses that come together in a canon that ends in a cacophony of shouted blessings.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

** Kitty Alone (3:30) - Pl #11 - SA, HD, piano - A very lyrical and catchy American folk children's song.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

L

Lay Me Low (2:50) - Hym #17 - unison treble, HD, percussion - A spoken reference to the Japanese ritual of remembrance, the river of lanterns that commemorate Hiroshima Day begins this setting of a mysterious yet simple Shaker "gift" song of humility, influenced by Native American chant.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Little Birdy (5:00) - SA, SAB (all arrangements with solos, HD) - An old Appalachian love song. "Little Birdy, come sing to me your song. I've a short time to be here with you, and a long time to be gone." Has new verses that open a window on the secret life of birds.

Score	VOICINGS SA SAB	$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Little Potato (Carol Barnett, arr.) (5:30) - SATB a cappella - An a cappella arrangement of Malcolm's song about being a new father, "My Little Potato".

Score		$10.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Lullaby of Muffe (3:00) - SSA, SAT (all arrangements with HD) - A breezy modal Belgian Waltz that has a recognizable medieval Celtic quality in the tradition of Wallonia, where this tune originates. Sung with syllables.

Score	VOICINGS SSA SAT	$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

M

My Little Potato (5:30) - SAATBB, HD - Latin beat goes to barber shop in this new version of a Dalglish original extolling the wonders of new fatherhood.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

N

Not It! (4:00) - SSAA, SSAT (all arrangements a cappella) - A boisterous fabric of children's game calls that occur on summer nights, this song, commissioned for an international children's choir festival, moves into a rousing street dance that envelops the audience.

Score	VOICING SSAA SSAT	$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

O

Oh My Friends (3:45) - SAB a cappella - Based on a traditional American camp meeting song, this is a wonderful song of farewell and parting.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Over the River (1:50) - Hym #3 - SSAAB a cappella - A solo opens and closes this setting of a Wendell Berry poem that evokes the delicacy and power of bird flight, water, and air as the flight of a few swallows over a flooded river becomes a hymn.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

P

** Paradise (4:05) - Hym #18 - SSAATBB a cappella - Takes its melody by R.R. Osborne and bass by J. Smith from the old shape-note hymn entitled "Northport". A solitary prayer grows to a broad declaration of thanks and devotion to peace.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

** The Peace of Wild Things (2:40) - SAB a cappella - Quotes the melody of a thousand-year-old hymn from the Republic of Georgia with text by Wendell Berry about finding peace in the tranquility of nature. Here "in the grace of the world" we find a place in the present which allows us vision and faith for the future.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Pegasus (7:00) - Pl #10 - SATB, HD, percussion - This song, which draws from the Greek myth of Pegasus and melodic material from a 14th Century Italian Laude, is about rising from the weight of despair and emptiness while exploring images and dreams of flying.

Score		$10.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Pie R Pie (7:00) - SAAT, TTBB (all arrangements with apple peeler!) - An a cappella extravaganza that chronicles the making of an awesome improvisational apple pie. Exploits the use of an apple peeler-corer to create apple Frisbee-like pieces that fly out and completely over-the-top. Here we have songish foolery that teaches everyone how to share their food.

Score	VOICINGS SAAT TTBB	$10.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Pleasure (2:45) - Pl #4 - SATB a cappella - This a cappella song, in the tradition of Reel a Bouche, has mouth music text and contemporary harmonies. Perhaps best described as a Celtic "scat singing" vocal jazz piece.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

** A Psalm of Life (3:55) - Pl #9 - SSA, SAT (all arrangements with HD) - Based on a traditional setting of the Longfellow's popular 1838 poem, this song has an anthem-like quality well befitting the spiritual and optimistic depiction of life's purpose. The song opens with an alto solo.

Score	VOICINGS SSA SAT	$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

** Psalm of Solstice (3:50) - Hym #1 - SAB, HD, percussion - Melody from a traditional Belgian fiddle tune. Dulcimer solo is followed by a Latin, then English verse. Has open medieval-sounding harmonies.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Q

Quil O' Quay (3:00) - Pl #6 - SA, HD, percussion - A story ballad that is based on an old American folk song collected by Francis Child in the 19th century. A variant of the David and Goliath theme, this haunting Appalachian folk song depicts the struggle between a hunter and a monstrous wild boar that has killed thousands of people and has leveled entire forests.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

R

** Reel a' Bouche (3:10) - Pl #8 - SSA, SAT; HD, percussion or a cappella - A French Canadian lilting or mouth music piece for choirs who like to move. Syllables easily learned; call and response structure; solo opportunities.

Score	VOICINGS SSA SAT	$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

** Rise Up Shepherd (4:30) - SSA, HD, percussion - One of three Appalachian carols found in Dalglish's "Star in the East".

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

The Road to Canterbury (5:00) - SSAA a cappella - A panoramic setting of the Chaucer's Prologue to the Canterbury Tales that lingers in the beauty of Middle English and then heads on down the road with a jaunty Celtic mouth music slide.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

S

Sail Away (5:20) - Pl #17 - SA, SSAA, SSAATB (all arrangements with HD, piano, percussion) - Based on the old banjo/fiddle tune "Sail Away Ladies", this exuberant piece celebrates liberation.

Score	VOICINGS SA SSAA SSAATB	$10.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

The Selchie and the Fisherman (8:15) - Pl #7 - SSA, SAT (all arrangements with HD) - A story ballad based on the "seal-folk" legends of the Orkney and Shetland Islands. This original story concerns a rescued seal who assumes the form of a woman, falls in love, eventually rescues her husband, and in so doing returns to the sea and her former shape.

Score	VOICINGS SSA SAT	$10.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Shady Grove (4:05) - unison Treble, HD - An old Appalachian love song set in waltz time.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Shady Grove Waltz (4:00) - SSAA, HD - Setting of an old Appalachian love song with new verses and mouth music.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Shake These Bones (3:05) - Hym #15 - SA, SATB (all arrangements with HD, percussion) - A hymn in praise of the senses and life's mortal and sacred joys.

Score	VOICINGS SA SATB	$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

** Sheep In The Meadow (3:45) - Pl #2 - SA, HD or piano - A setting of "Bonnie at Morn", an old pastoral folk song from Northumbria.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Shen Khar Venakhi (3:00) - SAB a cappella - A popular traditional hymn from 12th century Eastern Georgian Orthodox Liturgy.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

** Star In the East (12:30) - SATB, HD - A suite of three Appalachian carols: "Star in the East", "Rise Up Shepherd", "Judah's Land".

Score		$10.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Stop It! - SA, SAB, TB (all arrangements with HD and/or Piano) - Written by, through, and about dogs, this "dog rag desiderata" is about the various lessons we receive from our dog friends about living in the moment and playfully seeking the answers to life's problems.

Score	VOICINGS SA SAB TB	$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Streams of Living Praise (3:10) - SSA, SAT, SATB, TTB (all arrangements a cappella) - A setting of a famous Isaac Watts hymn stanza with new verses depicting the spiritual and transcendent act of singing.

Score	VOICINGS SSA SAT SATB TTB	$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Summer Dawg Day (2:45) - A spoken round with percussive consonants that creates a hot and muggy sound-scape of insect noises and exhaustion, relieved by the slurping of Popsicles and ice-cold lemonade.

Score		$3.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Swifts (6:21) - Pl #1 - SSATB, HD, percussion - A song that utilizes observations of this amazing bird to celebrate the joys of family life.

Score		$10.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

T

Throw the Window Open (5:15) - Hym #5 - HD, percussion, 5-part vocal canon - The dulcimer figure underlying the closing chant of The Wild Geese becomes a dulcimer and percussion duet that ends in a canonic cascade of voices. The sound is loud and free, as if calling out to a mountainside for an echo.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Thrush Song (5:05) - Hym #10 - SSAAB, HD - Text by Wendell Berry. Harmonious meditations on the wondrous grace that in Berry's words "moves through earthly forms."

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

To The Holy Spirit (1:45) - Hym #9 - SSAB, SATB (all arrangements a cappella) - Text by Wendell Berry. The soloist sings this short prayer for guidance and grace through life's vast array of opposing forces. It is then sung again in four-part harmony.

Score	VOICINGS SSAB SATB	$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Too Rah Lee Day (2:35) - SAB a cappella - Based on the nonsensical American folk song "Fod". Contains traditional mouth music and animal sounds.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Trallning (5:20) - SSA, HD, percussion - Based on a traditional Swedish Waltz.

Score		$10.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Tramp Upon The Land (5:35) - SA Circle the State with Song 2013 Version - This song celebrates the life and vision of pioneering American Environmentalist, John Muir, beginning with an epiphany experienced recovering from an accident he had while working in an Indianapolis carriage factory.

Score		$10.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

U

** Under Heaven Under the Sun (4:30) - SA with organ, SAAT a cappella - A new setting of the Ecclesiastes "To Everything There is a Season," more directly translated from the Hebrew.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

W

Walking at Night (4:20) - Hym #11 - Tenor solo, SSAB chorus, HD - Text adapted from "Country of Marriage", a poem by Wendell Berry. A solo love song with back-up vocals on the chorus. "You are the known way leading always to the unknown, and you are the known place to which the unknown is always leading me back."

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Walking in the Cradle of Our Land (3:50) - SATB, keyboard - Depicts the exhilarating wonder of ascension that we experience on a hike.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Walking on Air (4:30) - SATB, piano - Inspired by gospel music, this piece celebrates those moments when we are pulled out of our day-to-day world into the vast resonance of life.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Watcha Wanna Do (3:20) - A Wild Wild Word showstopper with plenty of audience participation and mouth dancing phrases about "doing" rather than "watching."

Score		$3.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

The Way Snow Fell (5:50) - SATB, HD, hindihoo - A setting of two poems by children from Toledo, Ohio. One depicts the immortal bravura of a snowball fight. The other is reflective: "Angels come down and put glitter so the snow will shimmer".

Score		$10.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

** The Wild Geese (3:15) - Hym #4 - unison treble, HD, percussion - Brings together vast and intimate images of autumn, depicting a poetic connection with the land. The passage of a flock of migrating geese overhead plays out as a high melodic line that resolves into a chant-like prayer.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

** Winter's Lullaby (3:50) - Boosey OCTB 6690 - SA, HD - A shimmering dulcimer solo begins, ends and underscores this poem by Dorothy Wordsworth. The gently rocking melody is later joined by a descant. See Boosey and Hawkes Scores.

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Woods (4:10) - SSA, HD, piano - 3-part treble setting of a Wendell Berry poem depicting the mysterious splendor of the deep woods. This piece segues nicely into "Field of Wings".

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.

Woody Knows Nothin' (3:00) - Pl #13 - Boosey OCTB 6689 - SSA, HD - Beguiling American folk poetry grabs the imagination: "Blue jay pulls a four-horse plow, sparrow why can't you?" See Boosey and Hawkes Scores.

Octavo

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$1.50

Y

You There in the Stars (4:35) - SA, HD or Piano, hindihoo - This playful song that calls out to those who've passed on features a technique from Central Africa called hindihoo, in which a note sung close to the top of a small bamboo shoot or bottle is cut off with a burst of air creating a new note with a windy "pan pipe" sound and pitch.

Score		$5.00
Copy license		$1.00 each. Copies require the purchase of the original score.