Digging On Her Grave
2017
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INSTRUMENTATION
Band |
DURATION
3 minutes |
DIFFICULTY
Medium |
woodwinds | piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 3 Bb clarinets, Bb bass clarinet*, 2 bassoon, contrabassoon*
saxophones | 2 altos, tenor, baritone
brass | 4 horns, 3 Bb trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, euphonium (bass or treble clef), tuba
percussion | timpani, 4 percussion, harp
*Bass Clarinet and Contrabassoon parts are interchangeable.
For questions about other instrument substitutions, contact the composer.
saxophones | 2 altos, tenor, baritone
brass | 4 horns, 3 Bb trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, euphonium (bass or treble clef), tuba
percussion | timpani, 4 percussion, harp
*Bass Clarinet and Contrabassoon parts are interchangeable.
For questions about other instrument substitutions, contact the composer.
A jealous husband. An old lover. A rejected suitor.
Slit her throat. Poisoned her drink. Shot her, then turned the gun on himself.
American folk music is filled with these stories, spun in song as murder ballads. Often the victim is a woman, punished by someone who would not allow her to reject him.
Digging On Her Grave is an arrangement of two murder ballads. In most recordings of “On The Banks of the Ohio,” a man named Willie sings of how he killed a girl because she wouldn’t marry him. I contorted the usual major chords used in this tune to show the unsettling nature of the situation.
Slit her throat. Poisoned her drink. Shot her, then turned the gun on himself.
American folk music is filled with these stories, spun in song as murder ballads. Often the victim is a woman, punished by someone who would not allow her to reject him.
Digging On Her Grave is an arrangement of two murder ballads. In most recordings of “On The Banks of the Ohio,” a man named Willie sings of how he killed a girl because she wouldn’t marry him. I contorted the usual major chords used in this tune to show the unsettling nature of the situation.
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Then only say that you’ll be mine
In no other’s arms entwined Down beside where the waters flow Down on the banks of the Ohio |
“Pretty Polly” is a popular bluegrass song with a long history — dating all the way back to 18th century England, when the original poem was published as The Gosport Tragedy or The Perjured Ship-Carpenter. Each performer brings their own variation to the lyrics and style to the song’s testimony. My arrangement tries to translate the rhythmic intensity of bluegrass into the band medium while breaking from the traditional verse at the opportune moment for reflection, as Willie admits to digging poor Polly’s grave.
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Digging on your grave
I've been digging on your grave Digging all through the night Polly, Pretty Polly, you've guessed just right |
Also available as an arrangement* for SSA choir.
*not meant to be performed concurrently, because of key changes. Please do not buy both arrangements for a big joint chorus/band performance!
*not meant to be performed concurrently, because of key changes. Please do not buy both arrangements for a big joint chorus/band performance!