"...and the antelope play" by John Carnahan

"...and the antelope play" is a great piece by John Carnahan, performed by the 2009 All-Southern California Middle School Honor Band (I was first chair alto saxophonist). It is a musical poem that displays the history of Antelope Valley, from when the antelope roamed freely to when the Spaniards came and modernized it, building railroads and such. Notice how the title is called "...and the antelope play". The whole line is "Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play." This, of course, is the beginning of Home on the Range. Little segments of this song can be heard throughout the piece if you listen carefully. In the very beginning, there was wind, played by everybody blowing into our instruments. Then, a Native American prays to the north, south, east, and west by playing his flute (played by a soprano recorder). The next section is called, "...behold the valley," a nice majestic part in which you can imagine soaring over the valley and viewing the beautiful scenery and life below. As you continue, you find the antelope playfully bashing their heads together, recovering, and doing it all over again. This is an interesting part of the song where various instruments create sound effects. As they play, they don't realize that the Spaniards are coming and they take over the land. A railroad being built is represented by the snare drum. When this section is over, the Native American prays again (but this is played by a piccolo this time). Though the antelope don't still graze freely, their spirit remains forever. The majestic theme is played again to remember the antelope, and the piece is finished finally the same way as it started: with wind.




Chris Bryant

P.S. I'll leave you to find out why the space shuttle was there...

Category:

Music

Tags:

• and
• the
• antelope
• play

[IslandBabyycx]

Such an amazing piece, playing it at the moment with Symphonic Band . You guys did outstanding !

Clarinets FTW (:

[CellyR100]

last year we tryed learning this song(:

the director was deborah carnahan,,, the composers wife:D

now my band director is mr.nordquist, high school band is so much different than middle school:p ...

[HolySagar]

@mylvl200wizardpwnsjk you wish :P



[mylvl200wizardpwnsjk]

@HolySagar obviously the bass clarinets lead the band.

[HolySagar]

@IslandBabyycx Hell no its all about Bassoon :)

[katibug9595]

I love this song. I am currently playing it with my High School Sypmphonic Band. Hopefully we sound as good as this at contest. You all sound amazing (:

[tearsfalling4u]

hehehe..... nobody disliked this! ;)

[SaxPlayers13]

I WAS THIRD CHAIR IN THIS!!!!

[trumpetman338]

This song is about America you probably shouldnt put pictures of African Antelope. other than that good video