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repertoire

PART I

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The Fiery Fiends

arr. C. Leonard Raybon

Walker offers LIVERPOOL and NEW TOPIA as vehicles for this hymn, and both tunes are present here. The text is a big finger-wag to young people to steer clear of lascivious urges unless they want to spend eternity with “fiery fiends.” Conceptually, this arrangement depicts a teacher offering a really twisted spelling lesson by having the students recite some pretty dark tongue-twisters. The phrases in the recitations are constructed by rearranging the words already in the hymn. The introduction drones on in the disturbingly dispassionate tone of a class of brainwashed pupils.

Singing from The Sacred Harp, 1991 Edition, at the Rotunda in West Philadelphia, Jan 24-25, 2015. For more information about Sacred Harp and shape-note singing in Philadelphia: http://phillysacredharp.org. Videos by Amy Myers.

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Gay As Sixteen

arr. C. Leonard Raybon

MORALITY is unusual in our project because it is one of the few tunes that belong to the studied, European style. A Gilbert and Sullivan rip-off seems most appropriate for the eloquently ridiculous text.


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Say, Will You, or No?

arr. C. Leonard Raybon

One of our hymns of judgment, the text badgers, indeed, bullies the listener into accepting Christ. Toward the end, the speaker turns from minor to major, from bitter to saccharine in order to lure the loathsome sinner. However, as the arrangement concludes, we may learn the no means no!


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The Social Band

arr. C. Leonard Raybon

There is a great deal of stomping in this arrangement, painting a picture of a company advancing. The "siren song" lures with its treble, aleatoric texture.

Christian Harmony 216b Social Band