At the break of Christmas Day is currently unavailable

About this arrangement

Choral Choir (SATB) - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.838984 Composed by Kenneth Martin. Christmas,Concert,Contemporary,Spiritual. Octavo. 27 pages. Martin Music Editions #5030343. Published by Martin Music Editions (A0.838984). This piece was commissioned by the San Diego Pro Arte Voices under the direction of Dr. Patrick Walders for the 6th Annual Festival of Readings and Carols.The poem inspired a thread of melodies and bold harmonic colors centering around the unique sound of the Lydian mode, which features a raised fourth scale degree.The novel properties of this interval (often referred as the ‘tritone’) make it characteristically unstable when used in a melody, while alternately providing useful connections to neighboring key relationships as a leading tone. As such, I paired Deland’s first line "At the break of Christmas Day with a raised 4th on a repetition of the word ‘break,’ highlighting the heightened sense of expectation found in the season of Advent.As the melody is repeated, paired with other voices, or used in subsequent verses, the 4th scale degree alternates from ‘raised’ to its original quality, indicating the resolution found in Deland’s words that "Christ is here." This small change opens up vast array of melodic and harmonic developments and transformations in the remaining two verses.Finally, this work is a response to my recent fascination with the marvelous and magical sounds available from the pedal harp. I become ever more interested in the harp as I learn about its history, construction, and virtuosic technique it demands. May the shimmering harmonies and evocative harp effects of this piece inspire in all the joy, peace, and love at Christmastime. This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard’s global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds. About Digital Downloads Digital Downloads are downloadable sheet music files that can be viewed directly on your computer, tablet or mobile device. Once you download your digital sheet music, you can view and print it at home, school, or anywhere you want to make music, and you don’t have to be connected to the internet. Just purchase, download and play! PLEASE NOTE: Your Digital Download will have a watermark at the bottom of each page that will include your name, purchase date and number of copies purchased. You are only authorized to print the number of copies that you have purchased. You may not digitally distribute or print more copies than purchased for use (i.e., you may not print or digitally distribute individual copies to friends or students).