Beneath the Irish Sky

Description

Violin 1, Violin 2, Violin 3, Viola, Cello, Contrabass, Piano — Beneath the Irish Sky is a dramatic piece for string orchestra built around original themes and traditional Irish tunes. It imagines a journey to, and celebration at, an outdoor harvest festival in rural Ireland.The piece is in two large contrasting sections. The first section is comprised of sweeping lyrical music that builds to its close, and is pastoral in nature. The second section is a circle dance in a series of increasingly fast variations on a peasant dance theme, or more accurately, the accompaniment is varied while the melody stays basically the same. It is important that the dynamics of each section, as well as the tempos, are meticulously followed so you don’t peak too soon. The key here is to make sure that you’ve saved enough volume and tempo, with good tone, to have a constant increase in intensify to the end of the piece.Section 1 opens with a pastoral melody reflecting the beauty of the Irish countryside. This theme swells and grows into m. 16. At m. 16 a four-measure transition leads into a gentle variant of the theme in the cellos in m. 20. At m. 33 a repetition of mm. 11–20 gives way to a series of free variations until the conclusion of Section 1 in m. 56. The second section, a rustic peasant dance, begins with an introduction at m. 57. At m. 69 we hear the dance theme that dominates section 2. This sixteen-measure theme is made up of two eight-measure phrases that repeat with variations in the accompaniment across the rest of this section. At m. 85 the theme starts to accelerate as the festive dance intensifies. Two more variations on the accompaniment drives the dance to a rollicking end.I enjoyed writing this piece and hope your students will enjoy playing these contrasting styles and that you will find the piece beneficial in teaching important musical concepts.—Peter TerryBluffton, Ohio 2016 Beneath the Irish Sky is a dramatic piece that uses traditional Irish tunes and original themes. It imagines the journey to and celebration at an outdoor harvest festival in rural Ireland. The piece is in two large contrasting sections. The first section is comprised of sweeping lyrical music that builds to its close, and is pastoral in nature. The second section is a circle dance in a series of increasingly fast variations on a peasant dance theme.

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