Program NotesLocation (grandparent | parent | this page): RodMer Arts Home Page | Rod's Music | Sun's Day Song Program Notes
If you've already read the program notes immediately below, or want to skip them for now, you can click --> to be taken immediately to the MP3 and MIDI files.
The BasicsThe music was composed in the early fall of 1994. Words were added in the late fall. But I was always slightly unhappy with some of them and so revised them again in early 1997. Then, following some helpful suggestions from Randy Mills (made sometime during the years 1998-1999), I did an extensive revision of both the music and words in February 2002.
Like all the MIDI files here, it is in General MIDI form. The General MIDI patches (on the 0-127 numbering system) are:
| Part | General MIDI patch | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| name | # | ||
| Sopranos | Choir Aahs | 52 | |
| Altos | Choir Aahs | 52 | |
| Tenors | Choir Aahs | 52 | |
| Basses | Choir Aahs | 52 | |
On my own synth I used the following patches:
| Part | Sound Module | Patch | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| name | # | |||
| Sopranos | Roland JV880 | V Boys Choir from Roland Sound Library Card "Rich Sound Collection 3" (RS) | 31 | |
| Altos | Roland JV880 | Choir 1 from Orchestra Expansion Board (OEB) | 227 | |
| Tenors | Roland JV880 | Choir 2 from OEB | 228 | |
| Basses | Roland JV880 | Full Choir from RS | 71 | |
Structure notesOverall the piece is structured:
This is a song sung by the sun (in four-part harmony, of course) as it rises in the morning, passes through its noon meridian, falls to the horizon, and finally fades from the sky at night. Morning is the time to open; early afternoon, the time to hold on; and twilight, the time to let go. Intimations of mortality, I guess. Urban dwellers may not make much of the Theme 2 stanzas; but those who live in the country are likely to know these common types of aves, fauna, and flora intimately.
Introduction (Sunrise) [m.1-18]
The introduction occurs in two halves. From m.1 to m.9 the four voices enter in the order S-T-A-B on an Abdim7 chord resolving to C minor. The second time through [m.10-18] the resolution is instead to the dominant G, preparing for the entry of Theme 1.
Theme 1 (Dawn) [m.19-36]
The first section [m.19-23] presents Theme 1 in C minor, first in the altos and then in the sopranos (with a counter-echo in the bass). In the next section [m.24-27] the altos begin (and continue) with the same theme while the tenors (lagged by the sopranos) sing it backwards (except for a C changing to Bb). A variation (going back to the Abdim7 chord of the intro) begins in m.28 and repeats again in m.32, this time resolving to G major.
Theme 2 (Morning) [m.37-52]
Theme 2 is in the dominant G major and works through four stanzas of birds, mammals, wildflowers, and seasons. Each verse follows the somewhat chromatic progression G-Cm7-C#-Ab-F-Bb-D. The first stanza [m.37-40] is more or less repeated by the second [m.41-44]. The third stanza [m.45-48] is broken into various echoes while the fourth [m.49-52] begins with the theme inverted in the sopranos (though rightside-up in the tenors).
Bridge (Noon) [m.53-57]
The bridge is back in C minor. The sopranos fall slowly (like the sun beginning its afternoon descent) through a series of chromatic discords resolving eventually on G.
Theme 1 (Afternoon) [m.58-69]
Back in C minor, the first stanza [m.58-65] of this section begins like the earlier Theme 1 but modulates to B7 in m.61 and ends with the Abdim7 chord again falling downwards through the four voices. The second stanza [m.66-69] begins in Eb minor and ends again with the Abdim7 chord.
Theme 1 Variation (Late Afternoon) [m.70-80]
The first stanza [m.70-75] begins similarly to the Abdim7 start of m.28, then remembers the inverted sopranos of m.24-25, seems to end in m.74, and then modulates in a different way in m.75. The second stanza [m.76-80] begins with inverted tenors and sopranos (and rightside-up altos) and then wanders off into a falling figure alternating between Ab major and C minor harmonies as the tenors and basses repeat the last two syllables of 'horizon'.
Cadenza (Twilight) [m.81-82]
The sopranos and altos take over from the tenors and basses picking up the first two vowels (o and i) from 'horizon' and building a cadenza more or less on the ABdim7 chord.
Coda (Sunset) [m.83-87]
The coda begins with the four voices entering the Abdim7 chord again in the order S-T-A-B (similar, but not identical, to the introduction) finally resolving via G to end on a C major chord, though the minor is remembered in a closing phrase based on Theme 1 ("my disappearing") by the tenors.
| Year | Title ... Instrumentation ...... Excerpts | Min: Sec |
Complete MP3 files (better sound)** file size |
MP3 file extracts (better sound)** file size |
Complete MIDI file (not as good sound but quick)** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The complete piece: | |||||
| 1994-2002 | Sun's Day-Song ... for unaccompanied SATB choir |
4:52 |  5.5 MB |
||
| How the MIDI file sounds depends, of course, on your playback mechanism. On my computer, MIDI files are played by the QuickTime PlugIn and there is no discrimination between the timbre of the four choral components (SATB). In comparison, the mp3 file (recorded from four different sound-module patches for S, A, T, and B) sounds much better (though far from perfect). Of course, if you have a synthesizer, you can download the MIDI file and set the instruments to your own preferred patches and then balance the volumes -- but that's a lot more work than downloading the complete mp3 file. In any case, all vocal patches are imperfect (unless you have a sampler). | |||||
| |||||
| Short excerpts: | |||||
| ...... Introduction | 0:37 | 0.7 MB |
|||
| This mp3 excerpt of the Introduction is a lot better than the usual embedded MIDI playback. But of course, it's still constrained by the limitations inherent in the original MIDI voice patches from which it was recorded (not to mention the wordless singing). | |||||
| ...... Beginning of Theme 1 | 0:24 | 0.6 MB |
|||
| In this Theme 1 section the mp3 file comes off quite a bit better (particularly through external speakers) than the usual MIDI playback. The improvement is because I used four different voice patches on my original synthesized recording, which permits the basses and tenors to come out richer and stronger. The usual MIDI playback, in contrast, has to use the same patch for all vocal parts, which gives them a certain blandness. And, of course, the mp3 excerpt is still constrained by the limitations inherent in the original (wordless) voice patches from which it was recorded. | |||||
| ...... Beginning of Theme 2 | 0:17 | 0.3 MB |
|||
| Again the mp3 excerpt is better (particularly through external speakers) than the usual MIDI playback. The MIDI plug-in rendition of Theme 2 often tends to be somewhat woodwindy rather than vocal. Of course, the mp3 excerpt is still constrained by the limitations inherent in the original (wordless) voice patches from which it was recorded. | |||||
** If you have a high-speed connection, forget about the MIDI files and just use the MP3 files (better). If you have a dial-up connection, consider the faster (but not as good) MIDI file only if the MP3 files seem to be taking too long to play or download.
| Year | Title ... Instrumentation | Description | No. of score pages |
Score (pdf file) file size |
No. of text pages |
Text (rtf file) file size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994-2002 | Sun's Day-Song ... for unaccompanied SATB choir |
Complete score * | 21 |  0.4 MB |
8 |  8 KB |
| * email me if you would like any part extractions | ||||||