Caitlin's Composition #1

Somewhere on the Range

Caitlin Walton

“Somewhere on the Range” is based off of the classic western song, “Home on the Range.” This song is sometimes called the unofficial anthem of the journey west of the Mississippi River. The original lyrics to the first verse and chorus are:

Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam,

Where the deer and the antelope play,

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,

And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Home, home on the range,

Where the deer and the antelope play,

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,

And the skies are not cloudy all day.

This piece describes the essence and beauty that Western America had back in the days when it was first being settled. When listening to the original tune, one could almost picture the rolling plains of Kansas or Nebraska. In my take on the melody, I tried to keep the rolling feel alive, but with the influence of Bela Bartok, a Hungarian composer and pianist (1881-1945). Bartok used folk music as the inspiration for many of his compositions and studied these simple melodies to expand upon the limits of composition.

            

In “Somewhere on the Range,” the referential pitch collections stem from the whole-tone scale 0 (WT₀) and the octatonic scale 01 (OCT₀₁). The opening is built upon WT₀ and seems to lean towards the pitch center of F-sharp. This can be seen in the beginning measures because some people might view the C-natural to A-sharp as some sort of sol to mi figure eventually leading to the supposed do of F-sharp. The only note that does not adhere to WT₀ in the A section is the D-sharp (see measure 3 in the piano line). I used this note as a chromatic transition into part B. As a whole, the first four measures including the anacrusis resemble the melodic line that coincides with the lyrics “and the skies are not cloudy all day.” I chose to set this line of text because I thought it symbolized the idea of what the song is about. As a Midwestern, I have seen and have been engulfed in massive fields where the sky seems to touch from one end to the other. To me, this text represents those massive fields perfectly. WT₀ creates the atmosphere of not knowing exactly where you are in the field or on the range, hence the name “Somewhere on the range.”

            

After this opening figure, part B of the ternary form ABA begins in the meter 5/4 and switches back and forth between 4/4 up until the return of A back in 3/4. I chose to set this section like this because the abrupt changes can almost make the listener feel as if the two instruments, flute and piano, are in two different meters (particularly in measure 7 and measure 8).

            

“Somewhere on the Range” is arranged for flute and piano. The opening of the piece is set to have the melody in the flute, while the piano plays an accompaniment. During the B section, roles reverse. The flute then plays a more percussive part allowing the piano to play an obscure version on the text “home, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play.” I included this subtle hint to this set of text because it is the part of the original melody that most people know: the chorus to the original folk song. As the song returns back to the final A section, the piano assumes the accompaniment role once more. Throughout the piece, I tried to make sure that both lines worked together in the sense of contour and dynamics.

            

The first A section starts at a mezzo-forte, comes down to a piano in the B section before utilizing a crescendo to end the final A section at a forte. Throughout this, both sections use contouring lines that are opposite of each other. If one line is ascending, I tried my best to have the other move in the opposite direction. This creates the illusion of a wider range, expanding upon the idea of the piece being “Somewhere on the Range.”