Persia, The Catherine McMichael

from 'Great Lakes Voyage'
Band
Number of Players:Standard
Copyright:2006
Piccolo
Flute 1/2
Oboe
Bassoon 1/2
Clarinet in Bb 1
Clarinet in Bb 2/3
Bass Clarinet
Alto Saxophone 1/2
Tenor Saxophone
Baritone Saxophone
Trumpet in Bb 1
Trumpet in Bb 2/3
Horn in F 1/3
Horn in F 2/4
Trombone 1/2
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
(Baritone T.C.)
Tuba
Percussion 1 (chimes)
Percussion 2 (snare drum, bass drum)
Percussion 3 (triangle, suspended cymbal)
Great Lakes Voyage was commissioned to celebrate the memory of Andy Anderson, a charter member of the Bay Concert Band. The charge was to create a piece that would have special meaning for the band, and one that Andy would have enjoyed playing. Great Lakes folk song themes seemed a natural topic. The tunes chosen include:

I. Bigler’s Crew

II. Low Bridge, Everybody Down (commonly known as The Erie Canal, written by Gov. Thomas Allen of NY in 1913)

III. Nearer, My God, To Thee (Sarah F. Adams, 1841), The Persia Crew, also known as Lake Huron’s Rockbound Shore

IV. The Huron Carol (French Canadian Tune), Hoot Owl Song (Chippewa/Objiwa, collected by Gertrude Prokosch Kurath), What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor and Once More A-Lumbering Go (collected by Earl Clifton Beck)

The Persia

Nearer, My God, To Thee
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee! E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me.
Still all my song shall be, ‘Nearer, my God, to Thee’.
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee.

Lake Huron’s Rockbound Shore
Oh, sad and dismal is the tale that I’ll now relate to you,
That of the schooner, ‘Persia,’ her officers and crew;
They sank beneath the deep blue lake in life to rise no more,
Where wind and desolation sweep on Huron’s rockbound shore.

In celebration of Andy Anderson, a charter member of the Bay Concert Band, Bay City, MI