Composed 2015 for combined Concert Choir and Concert Band
Veni, Veni Emmanuel was premiered on December 17, 2015 by the combined Fillmore Central High School Concert Choir and Concert Band.
My favorite way to spice up an arrangement of a song is to warp the time signature. As I started my arrangement of the well-known Christmas carol O Come, O Come Emmanuel I knew that I had to do something to make my version special so it didn’t become just another arrangement of another Christmas song. I tried a few different modifications to the melody and found that 7/8 fit pretty well, except at the end of phrases. By switching the last measure of each phrase to a 2/4 measure instead of leaving it at 7/8, the song avoids awkward stretching at the end of the phrase.
I love the end result, and without question it is one of the most challenging pieces I have put before my groups. The band picked up on the 7/8 to 2/4 groove pretty quickly, and the choir learned it better than they would like to admit (but none would pretend that it was easy).
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