The Art of Disappearing
Vocal
2014
6 minutes

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A musical setting of the poem, The Art of Disappearing, by Naomi Shihab Nye. The music attempts to express the poet's shunning of company for more pleasant solitary pursuits and is humorous in parts. I provide some lower alternative notes so that the tenor part can also be sung by a baritone. Also provided is an option for the singers to be an octave apart if singing a major 7th apart is too challenging in a short passage depicting "greasy sausage balls on a paper plate". In addition to the piano/score used by the singers and piano, there is also a separate part for each wind instrument, which provides essential information about what some others are doing to help with coordinated playing. The audio clip is of a performance by Sandra Kruse, Barry Kruse, Frank Lahorgue, Gary Friedman, Mimi Braverman, and Brian Thompson, listed in order of the instruments and vocal parts to the right.



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