White Ghost Dancing
Arranged for Wind Orchestra (1999-2007)
(revised 2018)
Wise Music G. Schirmer Australia Pty Ltd
Sydney, NSW
Instrumentation:
Piccolo
Flute 1 & 2
Oboe 1 & 2
Clarinet 1 & 2 (Bb)
Bass Clarinet (Bb)
Bassoon 1 & 2
Contrabassoon
Soprano Saxophone
Alto Saxophone
Tenor Saxophone
Baritone Saxophone
Horn 1, 2, 3 & 4 (F)
Trumpet 1 & 2 (Bb)
Tenor Trombone 1 & 2
Bass Trombone
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion (3 players):
1. Glockenspiel (sounds 15va), Tambourine
2. Xylophone (sounding 8va)
3. Tam-tam (very deep), Bass drum (very deep)
Piano
String Bass
The Full Score is notated in Concert Pitch
Duration: circa 10 minutes
Commissioned by Symphony Australia, with assistance from the Australia Council
If this work is to be performed publicly as a live concert, permission must be secured from the local Performing Right Association. In Australia and New Zealand, contact Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Locked Bag 5000 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012 Tel: +61 2 9935 7900
Email: apra@apra.com.au
If this work is to be streamed, synchronised or performed publicly as an opera, ballet or theatrical dramatico-musical performance, a grand rights and/or synchronisation licence must be secured from Wise Music G. Schirmer Australia Pty Ltd. Tel: +61 2 8252 6200
Email: classical@wisemusic.com
Enquiries about hire of orchestral materials should be directed to Kim Ransley, Managing Director, Origin Theatrical Tel: +61 2 8514 5201
Email: enquiries@originmusic.com.au
Copyright © Wise Music G. Schirmer Australia Pty Ltd 2024 International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorised reproduction of any part of this publication by any means including photocopying and scanning is an infringement of copyright.
Performance notes:
There are recorded instances of Aboriginal People mistaking early Europeans in Australia for the ghosts of their ancestors, since ghosts were believed to be lightcoloured.
As I composed White Ghost Dancing, the concept of a white ghost came to symbolise non-indigenous Australia’s innate Aboriginality – its capacity to transform and heal itself through spiritual connectedness with the earth.
I believe that music, which has enormous therapeutic properties and, for me, a close relationship with ritual – and especially dance – is destined to make an important contribution to this transformation and healing, hence the title.
Typical of my maninya (dance/chant pieces), White Ghost Dancing is a compact mosaic of unconsciously processed shapes and patterns from the natural world: fragments of birdsong, insect and frog rhythms, as well as fleeting references to other works of mine and hinted fusions of Aboriginal and Gregorian chant.
White Ghost Dancing was commissioned by Symphony Australia, with assistance from the Australia Council, especially for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and its conductor, David Porcelijn, to whom it is dedicated. The arrangement for wind orchestra was made especially for the Sydney Conservatorium Wind Orchestra and its conductor, John P. Lynch.
Ross Edwards
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