New Christmas Musicals

Foreword Perhaps it's my own Scottish heritage, but to me there's something wonderfully compelling about Celtic music. Whether it's the lively rhythms of the hoop drum, or the stylistic ornamentation used by the whistles and pipes, this music has a unique and joyous sound. What better way to tell the joyful story of Christmas! Even though it originates in a different part of the world, there is something about the earthiness of the Celtic style that seems right at home in the cobblestone streets of Bethlehem. Have You Heard? is a 35-minute work for SATB Choir that revisits the Christmas story using this captivating musical language. Orchestrator Ed Hogan did a fantastic job of bringing these eight arrangements to life while maintaining the distinctive Celtic sounds. You'll find many familiar Christmas carols, but also some familiar Christmas texts set to beloved Irish and Welsh folk songs. These, combined with original music and scripture- based narration, complete a surprisingly refreshing re-telling of the Christmas story. An ethereal, haunting opening sets the stage, underscoring the familiar scripture from John 1:1-5 before breaking into an exuberant rendition of I Saw Three Ships. Come, Thou Long- Expected Jesus, Away in a Manger, Gentle Mary Laid Her Child, and the beloved Angels We Have Heard on High all make appearances as the work progresses, culminating with a rhythmic re-imagining of O Come, All Ye Faithful, set to the traditional Scottish Melody, loch lomond. One of the highlights of this musical is O Holy Night for soloist and choir, set to the timeless tune, londonderry air. There's a vibrant orchestration available for this work, or accompaniment can be provided by piano alone, or the orchestral accompaniment track. The SATB choral parts can be easily mastered by choirs of any size. However you choose to present this work, I pray your congregations and audiences will be blessed and filled with the joy of this wonderful season. Erin go bragh! —Joel Raney From the Publisher Some of the cover-art images and graphics from this work are available as free downloads. We hope that you can use them to assist in the making of your bulletins, posters, flyers, website and email announcements, and in any other way that's within your organization and in conjunction with performances of this work. To access these files, please visit www.lorenz.com/downloads and navigate to the desired folder. PC users should right click and choose "Save Target As…" and Macintosh users should click and hold the link, then choose "Save Target As…" We have provided standard file formats that should be usable in most page layout or word processing software. Due to the vast number of differences in computer system setups, we are unable to provide technical support for downloadable images/graphics by either phone or email. 65/2106&07L-2 2 For Preview Only

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