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Welcome vocalists! We publish a wide selection of concert music for professional, student, and amateur players. These works have been chosen because of their extraordinary artistic significance and audience appeal. Our graded online catalog
includes both original compositions and arrangements. Please use our secure shopping cart (shipping options available at checkout.) Thank you for shopping with us.
Music for Voice (including narrator)
(Click on an instrumentation link, works are listed in alphabetical order within each category.)
Voice with one other instrument
Voice in chamber music
Vocal CDs
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Voice and one other instrument (in alphabetical order, durations in parenthesis):
THE ASPHALT BLANKET (1995) for narrator
& alto flute (or C flute) by
Howard J. Buss is the fifth movement of the composition
Modern Times. This work is reflective and laments what is lost in the name
of progress in the modern world. Recorded on the Capstone Records
CD Howard J. Buss: Modern Times, available
from Brixton Publications, (310) Grade V. Sound
Sample.mp3
THE BEAUTY OF NATURE for voice and piano, words and music by Marc Douyon, speaks of happiness when we look at Nature as art, teacher, healer, and provider. It evokes the importance of the laws of Nature, and how we depend on them. It also recognizes Nature as a force. The intimacy between the singer and the pianist highlights the emotions expressed in the text and the music. Since the range of the vocal solo is from B3 to G5 , it is especially suitable for medium voice, but most sopranos, altos, and tenors will find it comfortable to sing. (3') Grade III-IV.
Sound sample: Excerpt.mp3 - YouTube video
FRAGMENTS OF YOUR ANCIENT NAME “Five Meditations on the Divine” for high voice and flute by Roger C. Vogel.The 5 songs may be sung individually or in small groups. Alternate notes are indicated for a medium voice. Throughout different cultures the divine is experienced in many ways, and it is known by many names. This work contains 5 inspirational responses to different aspects of the divine: Morning Star, Krishna, Door, Ocean of Joy, and Lord of the Dance. (12’30”) Grade IV-V. YouTube Videos: Mvt.1, Mvt.2, Mvt.3, Mvt.4, Mvt. 5
  THE FROG, HE FLY...ALMOST (2000) by Roger C.
Vogel is an entertaining and humorous look at the amazing
amphibian. The vocal range is c# (below the treble staff) to Bb above the staff. A great addition to any recital. (5) Grade V. Sound
Sample.mp3
Text: The Frog, He Fly...Almost (Anonymous)
What a wonderful bird the frog are--
When he stand he sit almost;
When he hop, he fly almost.
He aint got no sense hardly;
He aint got no tail hardly either.
When he sit, he sit on what he aint got almost. - Clarinet version Score Sample.pdf
REMEMBERING RIVERS (1995) for narrator
& flute by Randall Snyder is a setting of Esther McClouds
poignant tribute to Douglas Dyer, who died of AIDS , and is intended as
a memorial to all of the victims of the disease. The poems principle
riverine metaphor is mirrored by the flutes serpentine
line that ebbs & flows with the intensity of the words. (5) Grade
V.
Sound Sample: Excerpt.mp3
LAND OF THE FARTHER SUNS (1992) for narrator &
piano by David Alpher. The text is
from the poetry of Stephen Crane. The work is constructed in the manner
of a song cycle, only with narration rather than singing. The music is
modern, yet accessible, and contains sections in a jazzy vein. Finalist
in the 1996 Newly-Published Music Competition of the National Flute Association.
( 20) Grade V.
 LOVE
LETTERS (2002) by Roger C. Vogel is an entertaining song cycle based on texts that represent the many different aspects
of the universal emotion of love: from longing, exuberance, excitement,
and playfulness to sorrow and despair. The songs may be performed
individually. The work is published in two versions, each with a different
instrumentation and number of songs..
Version for high voice (soprano or tenor), violin
& piano includes:
1. Your Letter Moved Me 2:29
2. I Lie Awake 3:52
3. Dear Miss West Forty-seventh Street 1:49
4. My Dearest Nell (voice and piano) 7:45
5. The French Ladies 3:39
6. My Darling Dear, Delightful Ringo 2:57
7. Have You Heard That I Love You (voice and violin) 3:07
8. Alas! I have Suffered Your Scorn! 11:36
9. Everything Measurable Passes 1:45
10. Interlude (violin and piano) 2:59
11. Adieu, I Seal My Letter 4:36
Videos of the songs in the version for voice &
piano:
1.Your Letter Moved Me; - 2. I Lie Awake; - 3. Dear Miss West 47th Street;
4. My Dearest Nell (voice and piano); - 5. My Darling Dear, Delightful Ringo; - 6.Adieu, I Seal My Letter
Note: The version for high voice, violin, & piano is recorded on the CD Love Letters, available from Brixton Publications CD-109.
OBOE (1996) for oboe & medium voice by Roger C. Vogel was written for oboist Dwight Manning. It is a humorous setting
of Laurence McKinneys poem Oboe. The comical effect of the
music and text is enhanced by theatrical gestures by the performers. These are suggested in the score at the appropriate time. For example, before the music commences, the performers are given the following direction: "Enter with great dignity. The oboist should try several reeds before choosing one while the singer becomes somewhat impatient." From that point on there is an amusing tension created between the performers with directions such as (to the singer), "glare at oboist." Or (to the oboist), "Lip down as much as possible, shrug shoulders and begin next phrase." This entertaining composition is a hit with all types of audiences. It is certainly a piece that should be in the repertoire of every oboist. The vocal range is from D below the treble staff, to Gb above the staff. (The Gb occurs once..) (530) Grade IV-V.
Sound Samples: Excerpt
1.mp3; Excerpt 2.mp3
TAKE TIME "Wisdom Woven into Five Lines" for medium voice and marimba by Roger C. Vogel. Wise thoughts may be expressed in short statements. Sister Maria Virginia Silvano, IHM has written a number of such thoughts in poems of 5 lines called “Cinquains.” Take Time consists of 5 songs: Take Time, Open Your Heart, Toot Not Your Horn Too Much, Cancelled Because of Snow, and Flowers. They may be sung individually or in small groups. A 4.5 octave marimba is perferred for this composition. Optional notes have been provided for performance on a 4.3 instrument. (11'30") Grade IV. B944 $24.00 - YouTube video
WHERE NOW RUSTS THE IRON? (1994) by Howard
J. Buss is a dramatic tribute to the composers grandfather who,
like many ironworkers in his day, worked under brutal conditions with
the dream of making life better for future generations. A moving
work touching our communal soul. (8) Grade IV- V. - Version
for high voice (soprano or tenor) and piano
Score sample: Excerpt.pdf
Text: Where Now Rusts the Iron?
Homes now stand where once the foundry coughed.
Countless tons of iron -
wheels and pans,
boilers and pipes,
latches and plates.
Countless train loads of hardware
shrieked from the pounding, grimy world within.
Iron converted from life itself,
energy given form.
Precious moments, days, and years
poured into molds and sealed
amid the ashes and dust,
always ashes and dust,
suspended in life-stealing air.
The graves of the workers overlook this place,
their famlies spread afar.
Season come and go, yet frozen in memry
are the days of youth spent in toil, hope, and purpose.
Where now rusts the iron once cast by pounding hearts,
releasing the dreams, the souls,
invested in tough, cold metal?
The foundry still stands among the houses,
coughing on smoke-laden air.
Invisible as the iron once made,
its souls as mist remains. - Howard J. Buss
Copyright © 1994 by Brixton Publications
Voice in chamber music (in alphabetical order)
CHRISTMAS LONG AGO for voice and flute choir by Roger Vogel is based on a beautiful, picturesque poem by Jo Geis. It is scored for flute/piccolo, 3 C flutes, alto flute in G, bass flute, and includes a part for optional contrabass flute. The range of the vocal solo is from Eb4 to G5, it is especially suitable for medium voice, but most sopranos, altos, and tenors will find it comfortable to sing. (3’45”) Grade IV. B945
Sound sample: Excerpt.mp3
THE DEVILS SONGBOOK Eight Irreverent
Songs (1993) for medium or high voice,
bassoon (or cello or contrabass) and piano by Roger C. Vogel
is based on humorous texts that explore various aspects of human nature. The songs are Of Politicians (lyrics
by William Shakespeare and Hilaire Belloc), Of Businessmen (lyrics
by Mark Twain), Of Critics and Music (lyrics by Robert F. Murray,
Charles Lamb, and the composer), Of Vanity (lyrics by James Thomson), Of Attorneys (lyrics derived from an anonymous quote on the Headstone
of Mr. Jonathan Gill, Esq. who died February 6, 1751), Of the Media (lyrics by Humbert Wolfe), Of Vanity (anonymous) and Of
Celebration (lyrics by Dorothy Parker). (2015) Grade
V.
Sound Samples: Of Politicians, Excerpt 1.mp3;Of Attorneys, Excerpt
2 .mp3; Of Businessmen, Excerpt
3.mp3;
Of the Media, Excerpt
4.mp3; Of Critics and Music, Excerpt
5.mp3;
Of Virtue, Excerpt 6.mp3; Of Vanity, Excerpt 7.mp3; Of Celebration, Excerpt
8.mp3
THE DISTANCES THEY KEEP (2001) for two
high voices (sopranos or tenors), flute and piano by Roger
Vogel is a beautiful work about mans relationship to nature,
and wild birds specifically. It is based upon an enchanting poem of the
same name by Howard Nemerov. Recorded on the OASIS
CD Love Letters, available
from Brixton Publications CD-109. The vocal ranges required are
d below the staff to A above the staff, and Db below the staff to A above.
(30) Grade V.
Sound Sample: Excerpt.mp3
EINE KLEINE SNAILMUSIK for high
voice (soprano or tenor), trumpet, cello and piano by Roger
C. Vogel is a humorous setting of May Sartons poem of the same name.
Theatrical gestures are used in this playful work.The composer writes, "The humor in this work will be greatly enhanced by setting a lighthearted mood before beginning the work and by appropriate gestures throughout." The vocal range is from d below the treble staff to Ab above the staff. (8)
Grade V.
Sound Sample: Excerpt.mp3
IN DARKNESS (1989) for high voice (soprano or tenor), alto sax & piano by
Roger C. Vogel. In Sophocles tragedy Oidipous Tyrannos the
protagonist was separated from his parents at birth. He unwittingly fulfilled
a prophesy by killing his father in a quarrel and then marrying his mother
when he became king of Thebes. In Darkness is a narrative of the
events that took place after the incestuous marriage became known.The
text for this musical work was translated and adapted by Timothy Gantz.
Although the melodic and harmonic language of this composition is modern,
it incorporates some of the flavor of the ancient Grecian melody by deriving
important motivic material from the ancient Dorian scale as it was sung
in the chromatic genus. Recorded on the CD
Love Letters, available
from Brixton Publications CD-109. (1630) Grade V. Sound Sample: Excerpt.mp3
LAND OF THE FARTHER SUNS (1992) for narrator, four flutes (flute/piccolo, flute,
flute/alto flute, and flute/bass flute), and piano by David Alpher.
The text is from the poetry of Stephen
Crane. The work is constructed in the manner of a song cycle, only with
narration rather than singing. The music is modern, yet accessible, and
contains sections in a jazzy vein. Finalist in the 1996 Newly-Published
Music Competition of the National Flute Association. Recorded by Flute
Force with Garrison Keillor on the Innova CD Eyewitness (20) Grade V.
Sound Samples: Excerpt 1 (the opening).mp3; Excerpt 2.mp3; Excerpt
3.mp3
 LOVE
LETTERS (2002) by Roger C. Vogel is an entertaining and memorable
song cycle based on texts selected to represent the many different aspects
of the universal emotion of love: from longing, exuberance, excitement,
and playfulness to sorrow and despair. The individual songs may be performed
individually. The work is published in 2 versions, each with a different
instrumentation and number of songs..
Version for high voice (soprano or tenor), violin
& piano:
1. Your Letter Moved Me 2:29
2. I Lie Awake 3:52
3. Dear Miss West Forty-seventh Street 1:49
4. My Dearest Nell (voice and piano) 7:45
5. The French Ladies 3:39
6. My Darling Dear, Delightful Ringo 2:57
7. Have You Heard That I Love You (voice and violin) 3:07
8. Alas! I have Suffered Your Scorn! 11:36
9. Everything Measurable Passes 1:45
10. Interlude (violin and piano) 2:59
11. Adieu, I Seal My Letter 4:36
Videos of the songs in the voice & piano version may be viewed on YouTube:
1.Your Letter Moved Me 2:29
2. I Lie Awake 3:52
3. Dear Miss West 47th-seventh Street 1:49
4.My Dearest Nell (voice and piano) 7:45
5. My Darling Dear, Delightful Ringo 2:57
6. Adieu, I Seal My Letter 4:36
Note: The version for high voice, violin & piano is recorded on the CD Love Letters, available from Brixton Publications CD-109.
MODERN TIMES (1995) for narrator,
flute, and 4 percussion (words & music by Howard
J. Buss) is a powerful and dramatic depiction of life in our time.
Provocative, at times mystical, and occasionally humorous, this work addresses
an eclectic range of subjects such as taxes, neglected children, team
mascots, and the information glut. The tenor of Buss
social commentary is somewhere between the witty jeering of Mark Twain
and the pithy insights of Sinclair Lewis. In his free verse one finds
provocation without violence and intense anger without profanity.
- The Tampa Tribune. The music transports the
poetry into the dramatic and colorful sound world of the flute and percussion
ensemble. The result is a unique and fresh view of the culture(s) in which
we live. The writing is mature and
fresh, yet is within reach of a solid college ensemble. -
George Frock, Percussive Notes Magazine This work is well-paced, colorful and accessible
to audiences not familiar with complex percussion literature.This is truly
one of the finest works in our idiom. Robert
McCormick, Florida Percussive News. The 8 movements may be performed individually or in smaller
groupings. (30)
Grade V.
Recorded on the CD HOWARD J. BUSS:MODERN
TIMES available from Brixton.
Sound samples:
I. Info Glut (3:34) Sample.mp3 II. Night Tide (2:49) Sample.mp3
III. The Hunt (4:14) Sample
.mp3 IV. Five Question Interlude (3:01) Sample.mp3
V. The Asphalt Blanket (3:11) Sample.mp3 VI. To a Neglected Child (5:25) Sample.mp3
VII. Giggles!?! (1:57) Sample.mp3 VIII. Modern Times (5:26) Sample#1.mp3, Sample#2.mp3
Percussion: Percussion 1:
Xylophone, lion roar, tam-tam, vibraslap, 2 suspended cymbals, Chinese
bell tree, and bongos; Percussion 2: Marimba, snare drum, bass
drum, 2 anvils (metal pipes may be substituted), glass jug or jars (to
be broken for the sonic effect), conga drum, wind chimes, and triangle; Percussion 3: Vibes, roto toms, tambourine, tam-tam, police
whistle, shaker, duck call; Percussion 4: Orchestra bells, timpani
(4), agogo bells, 2 suspended cymbals, hi-hat, wind chimes, wood block,
frog croak (may be imitated vocally), boing box effect (a flexitone may
be substituted), triangle and guiro.
THOUGHTS FROM A CAT for voice, flute, and oboe (or chromatic harmonica) by Roger C. Vogel. (A clarinet/soprano sax part is included as an alternative to the harmonica.) This work was written in 2019 for Ellen Ritchey and Lisa Hanson Bartholow. The poems for the 7 short songs were selected from “Darling, I Love You” by poet Daniel Ladinsky and Mutts cartoonist Patrick McDonnell. They are a celebration of the sweet and essential places that animals hold in our lives and in our hearts. (10’) Grade IV-V.
Score sample: Excerpts.pdf - Sound sample: Song 7.mp3
THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER (1989) for narrator, flute, viola & piano by David Alpher. Based on Lewis Carrolls well-known poem from Through the Looking Glass (1871) this work
transforms the familiar words from their Victorian and child-like context
to a very different sound world primarily influenced by jazz. Finalist
in the 1996 Newly-Published Music Competition of the National Flute Association. (15)
Grade V.
Sound Samples: Excerpt 1.mp3; Excerpt 2.mp3; Excerpt
3.mp3
 WHERE NOW RUSTS THE IRON? (1994) by Howard J. Buss is a dramatic tribute to the composers grandfather
who, like many ironworkers in his day, worked under brutal conditions
with the dream of making life better for future generations. A
moving work touching our communal soul." (8) Grade IV-V.
-
voice & piano version score sample: Excerpt.pdf
-voice, flute, cello, and 6 percussion version score sample: Excerpt.pdf
Percussion distribution: Perc.
1: Timpani (4), orchestra bells, tubular bells (shared with perc.
2) & finger cymbals; Perc. 2: two anvils (metal pipes may
be substituted), and tubular bells (shared with perc. 1: Perc.
3: Xylophone, and suspended cymbal; Perc. 4: Vibes
& suspended cymbal; Perc. 5: marimba; Perc. 6: two suspended cymbals, tam-tam, wind chimes & bell tree. Percussion Set-up Chart
Text: Where Now Rusts the Iron?
Homes now stand where once the foundry coughed.
Countless tons of iron -
wheels and pans,
boilers and pipes,
latches and plates.
Countless train loads of hardware
shrieked from the pounding, grimy world within.
Iron converted from life itself,
energy given form.
Precious moments, days, and years
poured into molds and sealed
amid the ashes and dust,
always ashes and dust,
suspended in life-stealing air.
The graves of the workers overlook this place,
their famlies spread afar.
Season come and go, yet frozen in memry
are the days of youth spent in toil, hope, and purpose.
Where now rusts the iron once cast by pounding hearts,
releasing the dreams, the souls,
invested in tough, cold metal?
The foundry still stands among the houses,
coughing on smoke-laden air.
Invisible as the iron once made,
its souls as mist remains. - Howard J. Buss
Copyright © 1994 by Brixton Publications
Vocal CDs
Love Letters
This wonderful CD features 3 compositions
by Roger C. Vogel: Love Letters for high
voice, violin and piano; The Distances They Keep
for 2 high voices, flute, and piano; and
In Darkness for high voice, alto sax,
and piano. All are published by Brixton Publications.
Love Letters
1. Your Letter Moved Me 2:29
2. I Lie Awake 3:52
3. Dear Miss West Forty-seventh Street 1:49
4. My Dearest Nell (voice and piano) 7:45
5. The French Ladies 3:39
6. My Darling Dear, Delightful Ringo 2:57
7. Have You Heard That I Love You (voice and violin) 3:07
8. Alas! I have Suffered Your Scorn! 11:36
9. Everything Measurable Passes 1:45
10. Interlude (violin and piano) 2:59
11. Adieu, I Seal My Letter 4:36
Ellen Ritchey, soprano; Gregory Broughton, tenor; Levon Ambartsumian,
violin; and Anatoly Sheludyakov, piano.
The Distances They Keep
13:13
Ellen Ritchey, Stephanie Pierce, sopranos, Lisa Bartholow, flute; and
Andre Lash, piano.
In Darkness 17:30
Ellen Ritchey, soprano; Kenneth Fischer, alto sax; Anatoly Sheludyakov,
piano.
Total playing time 77:20. Brixton CD-109 $16.95
Capstone
Records CD
Howard J. Buss: Modern Times
Music for flute, percussion, and narrator
Outstanding, brilliant...These works demonstrate
that Buss is one of our more outstanding composers for percussion. The
performances are of the highest quality. -
George Frock, Percussive Notes Magazine, October 2004.
In its April 2005 issue, The Gramophone, a leading audiophile magazine
based in England, selected the CD Howard J. Buss: Modern Times to be included among The best new recordings
from North America.
Composer Howard J. Buss has won a number of
awards, and this varied survey offers a worthy overview of his music.
- The Gramophone, April 2005.
And specifically about Scenes from the Holy
Land:
The opening section, Masada presents
angular solos against percussion accents, with ascending legato passages
for the flute. The music turns more florid and Middle-Eastern in style
before a peaceful coda. Storm on Mount Sinai offers sharply
rhythmic music accented with tambourine and a more febrile bazaar-like
flute writing. The Flock by the Sea of Galilee contains an
oddly memorable five-note percussion motif under a lovely bucolic flute
theme. The Road to Jerusalem makes a haunting finale with
elaborate passages against pulsating percussion. Scenes from the
Holy Land is an effective and colorful work with deftly varied
music and tackled by the musicians with skill and understated virtuosity
Buss intimate style requires. It makes its effects with point and
economy and would be a boon to flute and percussion duos searching for
program material. -
The Gramophone, April 2005
Overture for Percussion
for 4 percussion (6:00)
Howard J. Buss
Scenes from the Holy Land for
flute and percussion (15:30) Howard
J. Buss
I. Masada (3:50)
II. Storm on Mount Sinai (3:06)
III. The Flock By the Sea of Galilee (2:24)
IV. Jordan Valley Enchantment (2:29)
V. The Road to Jerusalem (4:26)
Currents for
four percussion (14:34)
Howard J. Buss
Modern Times for
narrator, flute and four percussion (29:30) Howard
J. Buss
Modern Times Sound samples: I. Info Glut (3:34) Sample.mp3 II. Night Tide (2:49) Sample.mp3
III. The Hunt (4:14) Sample .mp3 IV. Five Question Interlude (3:01) Sample.mp3
V. The Asphalt Blanket (3:11) Sample.mp3 VI. To a Neglected Child (5:25) Sample.mp3
VII. Giggles!?! (1:57) Sample.mp3 VIII. Modern Times (5:26) Sample#1.mp3, Sample#2.mp3
Total Playing Time: (66:45)
All works published by Brixton Publications (ASCAP) - www.brixtonpublications.com/
Performers: Overture for Percussion: T. Hampton
Dohrman, Emory Blake, Grant M. Beiner, Lee W. Hinkle and Robert McCormick,
conductor. Scenes from the Holy Land: The McCormick Duo - Kim S.
McCormick, flute; Robert McCormick, percussion. Performers for Currents:
T. Hampton Dohrman, Emory Blake, Grant M. Beiner, Robert McCormick. Modern
Times: Jerald Reynolds, narrator; Kim McCormick, flute; percussion:
Greg Graves, Cara Ready, Brad Sharo, Ryan Thomas. Overture, Scenes
and Currents recorded at the Springs Theatre, Tampa FL. Modern
Times recorded at the Music Recital Hall at the University of South
Florida, Tampa. Engineer John Stephan of the Springs Theatre (www.springstheatre.com).
Cover art by Judy E. Buss.
To order Site Map Contact Us What's New Howard J. Buss, Editor/Composer
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