Branding Iron!

Description

Violin 1, Violin 2, Violin 3, Viola, Cello, Contrabass, Piano — Good music performed well inspires the imagination. A branding iron is a tool used by cowboys to mark the cattle that they own by burning their ranch logo into the cow’s hide. The process is still in use today. Branding Iron! is a hoedown descriptive of scenes surrounding cattle- roping and branding, but seen from the cow’s point of view. At m. 65 orchestra members provide the “hiss” sound of the iron as it touches the hide. The rest of the sounds are up to your own imagination. Here's a programmatic work from James Meredith, a new composer to the Carl Fischer String Orchestra catalog. Depicting sounds from the life of an American cowboy, you can hear the rustling up of cattle, the hiss of the branding iron, and the sounds that have become synonymous with the great American West. Your audiences may even yell a few "Yee-haws" at the end of this one!

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