CANTAR! Words and Music by Jay Althouse For SATB voices and piano. TRANSLATION AND PRONUNCIATION /kan-tar u-na kan-sjon a-le-gre/ Cantar una canción alegre. Sing a song joyous /sˆ a-le a-le-lu-ja/ sing alle, alleluia /kan-tar kon u-na vos/ Cantar con una voz. Sing with one voice Cantar una canción alegre. Cantar con una voz. Sing a joyous song Sing with one voice.
RECORDINGS National Taiwan University Chorus - https://youtu.be/q4hbmdmc2ug REHEARSAL TRACKS Matthew Curtis has put together rehearsal tracks on YouTube. Here are the links: Piano only: https://youtu.be/lb8xrbrvxmc All parts: https://youtu.be/00qnyq6zbke Soprano: https://youtu.be/64cdm0pzqrw Alto: https://youtu.be/0hxsqfthm7i Tenor: https://youtu.be/uibyiekdue0 Bass: https://youtu.be/9nvjtbfb-14
BACKGROUND AND PROGRAM NOTES About the composer: Jay Althouse received a B.S. degree in Music Education and an M.Ed. degree in Music from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, from which he received the school's Distinguished Alumni award in 2004. For eight years he served as a rights and licenses administrator for a major educational music publisher. During that time he served a term on the Executive Board of the Music Publishers Association of America. For twenty years Jay was a choral editor for Alfred Music Publishing, but now he writes and arranges full time. As a composer of choral music, Mr. Althouse has over 600 works in print for choirs of all levels. He is a writer member of ASCAP and is a regular recipient of the ASCAP Special Award for his compositions in the area of standard music. Jay has also co-written several songbooks, musicals and cantatas with his wife, Sally K. Albrecht, and also compiled and arranged a number of highly regarded vocal solo collections, including Folk Songs for Solo Singers, Volumes 1 and 2. He is the co-writer of two best-selling Alfred books The Complete Choral Warm-up Book and Accent on Composers. Most recently, he completed three reproducible texts for the music classroom: Ready to Read Music, 60 Music Quizzes, and One-Page Composer Bios. All are available from Alfred. Sally and Jay have been happily married since 1985, and currently enjoy living in Raleigh, North Carolina, where Jay serves on the board of the North Carolina Master Chorale. Sally and Jay were thrilled and honored to have their composition I Hear America Singing! performed during the 2009 Presidential Inauguration Ceremonies. In his spare time, Jay enjoys cooking (and eating). 1 About the music: 1 Jay Althouse. Alfred Music, n.d., www.alfred.com/company/authors/jayalthouse.aspx. Accessed 25 May, 2017.
Cantar!, composed by Jay Althouse, is infused with many stylistic elements of Afro-Cuban music repeating rhythmic, melodic and harmonic patterns, syncopated rhythms, and montuno-styled piano. (Montunos are ostinato or vamp patterns found in many styles of Latin and Afro-Cuban music and are normally played by the piano. 2 ANALYSIS Key: D minor; extended chords Meter: 2/2 Texture: Mainly homophonic; break is layered Form: Extended Pop Song with break Intro A B Interlude A B C ms 1-8 Montuno piano part; note chromatic descending line ms 25-28 Four ms interlude based on intro montuno; ms 37-52 identical to 17-24 ms 9-16 Periodic phrases All voices in unison for first half of phrases and four parts in second half ms 17-24 Periodic phrases Altos have countermelody while remaining voices move homorhythmica ms 29-36 similar to 9-16 four part harmony throughout; some revoicing of chords at cadences c c Two identical phrases; 1 st phrase unison; second phrase two part harmony 2 Gallant, Michael. "Laying Down the Montuno -- Syncopate and arpeggiate to sound Latinate." Keyboard, 1 Oct. 2005, p. 46.
lly block chords on last ms of each phrase interlude A B Break B C A ms 53-56 identical to ms 25-28 ms 57-64 similar to other s note that first half of phrases are sung in unison women on first, men on second; second half o phrases in four part harmony harmonized like previous A ms 65-72 Similar to previous B with minor changes in rhythm; ms 73-92 The break lends itself to improvisation particularly with percussion, but acceptable with piano (which in the octavo is relegated to occasional block chords on the downbeat). Voices are brought in in layers ms 93-100 like original B c c c c ms 101-115 100-108 are like original C ; 109-115 are similar, with divisi on the final chord. ms 57-64 similar to other s note that first half of phrases are sung in unison women on first, men on second; second half o phrases in four part harmony harmonized like previous A