Percussion 2 (Suspended Cymbal, Crash Cymbals, Drum Set, Toms, Splash Cymbal, Marimba - Can be shared with Perc 1)
Percussion 3 (Triangle, Snare Drum, Vibraphone - Can be shared with Perc 1 & 4)
Percussion 4 (Tambourine, Bass Drum, Bongos, Vibraphone - Can be shared with Perc 1 & 3)
Harp
Piano
SATB Choir
Violin 1
Violin 2
Viola
Cello
Bass (some with low C extensions)
Program Notes:
In December 2022, the La Porte County Symphony Orchestra and LPHS Chorale performed Craig Courtney's A Musicological Journey Through the Twelve Days of Christmas on La Porte's Holiday at the Pops concert. The work was a delight, but trumpet player Mike Scheck and I were both miffed that the most recent composer represented was John Philip Sousa. What might such a work look like, we wondered, if instead it drew from 20th-century composers and styles?
I began work and completed a first draft in late 2023. However, the project took far longer than I anticipated! I completed large-scale revisions in 2024, bringing the piece to its present form.
I tried to imagine how each composer might have treated the standard melody. In order, the composers represented are: