Student Guide for

Banks of Doon

By Donna Gartman Schultz

 

 

 

About the composer

Donna Gartman Schultz is the composer of many choral works, which are performed on a regular basis throughout the United States and internationally.  She has written for and been commissioned by choral groups at all levels.  She is from Louisiana and earned a degree in piano performance from Louisiana State University.  She later received graduate degrees in theory and composition from Michigan State University.  After moving to the Pacific Northwest, she was a member of the faculty at The Evergreen State College in Olympia for several years. Her professional time is now devoted primarily to choral and instrumental composition.

 

Other works by Donna Garman Schultz:  I Saw Three Ships, Sudden Light, The Moon, Escape at Bedtime, Wassail Song, Welsh Dancing Carol, Windy Nights, etc. 

 

Historical Background

 

The Scottish Romantic poet and composer Robert Burns originally wrote this piece in 1973.  The words were inspired by a river, which flows from Loch Doon to the Firth of Clyde in Ayrshire.  Robert Burns was known for being a nationalist and writing poems and songs about his homeland of Scotland.  His songs were quite popular throughout the United States.  Other well-known works by Robert Burns are Loch Lomond and Auld Lang Syne.  Many different composers have arranged his music for various ensembles.

 

An Ayrshire legend says the heroine of this affecting song was Miss
Kennedy, of Dalgarrock, a young creature, beautiful and accomplished,
who fell a victim to her love for her kinsman, McDoual, of Logan.

 

 

 

Vocabulary

 

Bonnie –means physically attractive or appealing.

Ritardando – Abbreviated rit., is a gradual slowing in tempo; retarding. Used chiefly as a direction.

Caesura – Looks like this // and is a pause marking a rhythmic point of division in a melody.

Plagal Cadence – Is where the subdominant (IV) triad leads to the tonic (I).  Also referred to as the Amen cadence. 

Transition – a musical passage leading from one section of a piece to another

 

 

Activities

 

Please write in solfege and mark the cut offs that we work on in class.  Also highlight the places where your part has a different rhythm from the other 3 parts.

 

After learning your part you will be assessed singing your part with the practice files.  You may pick up a CD from my office if you wish to practice at home.  Your performance will be 9 points of your grade and will be assessed with the following rubric.

 

 

You will be asked to compose 9 measures for your part when only the opposite sex is singing.  The harmonic analysis is provided for you.  Please make your melody go along with the chord progression that is already established.  The rhythm can be the same as one of the existing parts or completely unique.  Please write neatly.  Several compositions will be selected for performance in class. 

 

Here is the template for the men:

 

Here is the template for the women:

 

Your compositions will be graded according to the following rubric:

 

 

Here is the text which we will analyze in class:

 

The Banks O’ Doon

(Robert Burns)

 

Ye flow’ry banks of bonie Doon,

How can ye bloom so fair?

How can ye chant ye little birds,

And I so full of care?

Thou will break my heart,

You bonie bird, that sings up on the bough:

Though minds me of the happy days,

When my false love was true.

Thou’ll break my heart, you bonie bird,

that sings beside thy mate:

For so I sat, and so I sang,

And knew not of my fate.

Oft have I roved by bonie Doon,

to see the wood-bine twine,

And every bird sang of its love, and so did I of mine.

With light-some heart I pulled a rose from off its thorny tree,

And my false lover stole my rose,

But left the thorn with me.