Welcome to Music for Life, enhancing the Armstrong concert experience. I'm your host, Ryan Malone. In today's episode, we are going to explore a brand new album from a dance production staged here at Armstrong Auditorium, Celtic Throne. This show featured an original score composed by Golden Globe-nominated film score composer Brian Byrne. The show and the album also features beloved folk tunes arranged and performed by our music faculty and some of our students here at Armstrong.
We will highlight and discuss the music of this recently released album, so stick around for this Celtic Throne album spotlight today on Music for Life. With this episode, we begin our sixth season of Music for Life. For the past three seasons, our show has been almost exclusively dedicated to providing... program notes, so to speak, for the various concerts being held here at Armstrong Auditorium. And at the time of this episode's production, the world is still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, so the concert series at Armstrong Auditorium has undergone several postponements. It looks like we may be able to salvage the majority of the 2020-2021 season, but time will tell. And when those events approach, we plan to have Music for Life episodes promoting and explaining the programming of those concerts. These programs really should help any concertgoer prepare for what to expect at these events, being able to appreciate the Armstrong experience, as we say, even more, making it so much more of an
experience because of what you've learned from this program. Now, even in the midst of these unusual times, we were able to have three performances of a singular show produced in-house here on the Armstrong campus. As many of our listeners know, and as we've discussed numerous times on this program, our campus is home to an Irish dance school. Many of its dancers have been recognized at the national level, and a couple have even placed at the international level. These dancers have been the highlight of our campus' musical theater productions, when we staged original musicals on the lives of famous biblical characters. But the dancers have also, for some time, wanted to produce a show of their own along the lines of a river dance.
Lord of the Dance or Heartbeat of Home type production. And so this summer, Armstrong Dance debuted Celtic Throne at Armstrong Auditorium. One of the great selling points of this production was the fact that they were able to commission Brian Byrne, the composer of Heartbeat of Home and an acclaimed film score composer, to write the entire original dance score for this production. The show has enjoyed three performances at Armstrong, two at the Dutton Theater in Branson, Missouri. It's selling tickets for the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City, South Dakota for a couple October performances, as well as additional performances back here in Edmond afterward. Though the lifespan of this live production isn't completely known, it definitely has been immortalized through a new album that we just finished producing. The Celtic Throne album is now available in all major digital stores. And so, much like I do for the music to be performed on the concert series here, I thought it would be good to discuss the new Celtic Throne album, giving you an aural tour and some program notes for this new recording.
Again, the original dance score was written by Brian Byrne. Golden Globe-nominated composer Brian Byrne is a multi-award-winning film and television songwriter and producer. Born and raised in Ireland, he was educated at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He graduated in 1997 with first-class honors in music and was awarded the Peter Knox Memorial Award for overall performance. Later that year, he received the Outstanding Musicianship Award from Berkeley College's touring faculty in Scotland, as well as winning the PRS Sir Arthur Bliss Prize Scholarship for Composition that enabled him to study film composition at London's Royal College of Music.
Since 2003, after moving from Ireland to Los Angeles, Byrne has consistently worked as a composer, conductor, songwriter, arranger, and pianist in both the United States and in Europe. Byrne recently won two World Soundtrack Awards and a Satellite Award for his music to the song and score for the Oscar-nominated movie Albert Nobbs, and has recently been nominated for his third World Soundtrack Award in 2016 from huge... From huge orchestral scores to minimal ensemble compositions, Byrne has written music for films in many genres. He has composed music for internationally acclaimed Irish dance shows and has collaborated with some of Hollywood's biggest stars, including Katy Perry, Bono, Barbra Streisand, Josh Groban, Sinead O'Connor, Kelly Clarkson, and Sarah McLachlan. Byrne is married to a native Oklahoman and splits his residence between Oklahoma, Los Angeles, and Ireland.
Though Brian Byrne's music is the main feature of the show, one of the aspects of Celtic Throne was the traditional folk music that created the handful of music breaks between some of the dances. These were all arranged by two of our music faculty here, Mark Jenkins and yours truly, and performed by us, including our voice faculty member Paula Malone, as well as a couple other students and Armstrong staff. And those recordings are also on this new album, so we'll discuss those as we go through the album too. The album begins with a track titled Origins. In the production, this depicts the origin of a dance style and art form. Now, my purpose here is to analyze the music rather than tell the story of the production, though the story will be relevant to this musical discussion as we continue. The opening words shown on a screen behind the lead male dancer as he stands at the beginning of this work states this. Three thousand years ago, a great king arose in Jerusalem. He loved music and dance and he inspired his people to love it, too. The king's love of music and dance followed his royal descendants as they moved through many nations, particularly Ireland, Scotland, England and the United States. This epic journey unfolded over millennia and was not without trial and tribulation. Through it all, they carried their...
As that opening paragraph would indicate, you'll expect to hear music that represents Ireland, Scotland, England, and the United States, which Brian Byrne does in his dance score, and what we do in the selection of music breaks peppered throughout the experience. Toward the beginning of Origins, a quintessential Irish instrument, the illinpipes, or literally the elbow pipes, presents this main musical theme. That theme you heard on the pipes is going to come back later in other dance movements throughout the show. Brian Byrne weaves that tune into various other dances, as we'll hear. You'll also hear it come back at the end of this movement. So let's listen to the rest of this first track on the album Celtic Throne, The Royal Journey of Irish Dance. Origins, the first track of a brand new album produced here at Herbert W. Armstrong College, the soundtrack to a new dance production with music by Brian Byrne. The next track on the album is called Farewell and begins with an Illin Pipe solo with harp accompaniment. Let's hear the opening of this movement.
After this slow air on the pipes, the dance meter of a slip jig begins. Now, for sake of time, we'll skip through that, but I do want to play the end of this movement where Brian Byrne layers the slip jig theme and the original lyrical theme played by the pipes. Notice this. Next on the Celtic Throne album is a music break depicting the nation of Ireland. This is My Gentle Harp, a poem by the famous Irish poet Thomas More, set to the famous Irish tune known as Londonderry Air, often heard to the words of Danny Boy. But these words are more appropriate for a musical break representing Ireland, since the harp is the national symbol of that country. I created this arrangement for a vocal duet and harp accompaniment. My wife and daughter are vocalist and harpist, respectively, and the second vocalist is Vienna Fleury, a gifted voice student here at Herbert W. Armstrong College and one of the dancers and choreographers in Celtic Throne.
I might point out one interesting aspect of this arrangement before we hear it. The vocal melody opens like this. These four notes show up several times in the main melody. And so I slowed those four notes down and created full chords on top of them to create the introduction to the arrangement. These four chords are based on these four notes. So notice that as we listen to this piece.
For sake of time, we'll have to stop that there, and you can listen to more on the actual album. That was Soprano and Herbert W. Armstrong College voice faculty member Paula Malone, joined with voice student Vienna Fleury and harpist Sky Malone in that arrangement of My Gentle Harp, featured on the new album we're discussing today, Celtic Throne, The Royal Journey of Irish Dance. The next track on the album is another dance movement, so back to another original creation by Brian Byrne.
A key feature of this piece is the fiddle duel recorded into the track. Brian used his own fiddlers in creating these tracks for the album, though those two tracks were removed from the audio in the version we did live on stage. There we had two of our own fiddlers, my son Ezekiel Malone and one of the dancers, Zoe Hilliker, playing this Vivaldi-esque fiddle section Brian had written. The fiddlers play with a particular theme back and forth. This theme is in a minor key. Later, when the duel is finished and results in an Irish-like hoedown, you'll hear that same melody in a major key. Here is all that from the album version.
Right after Festival, on the Celtic Throne album, is a beautiful low whistle solo performed by one of our staffers here at the college, Steve Herkes. He's playing the gorgeous Gaelic air called Neil Gao's Lament upon the death of his second wife, which we just call Neil Gao's Lament. Mr. Herkes is joined in this short movement by our harpist, Sky Malone. As stated earlier, the music for the Celtic Throne production was meant to depict various Celtic cultures and even into the Americas, and the next segment on the album will represent Scotland. You'll hear the famous Highland bagpipes in this score by Brian Byrne before he gets into the jig tempo for the piece. Later, that pipe melody will come back in just before the end. Let's hear the rest of this movement.
After Highlanders on the Celtic Throne album, we have another musical break, this one to represent the culture of Scotland, where the story flow of the dance production is currently lodged. This is a famous folk tune that's traditional to both the Irish and Scottish cultures. The words are likely by the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns, and I arranged it for male trio. This is The Parting Glass, sung by Mark Jenkins, Joel Hilliker, and yours truly.
Alas, it was to none but me And all I've done for want of wit To memory now I So fill me the party Good night and joy be Oh, if I had money enough to spend And leisure time to sit a while A fair maid in this town that sorely has my heart begun. Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips I own, she has my heart enthralled. Soft filth, good night and joy be. Unto my lot that I should rise and you rise and softly.
You are listening to Music for Life. I'm your host, Ryan Malone. This is KPCG. In today's episode, we are exploring a brand new album from a dance production staged here at Armstrong Auditorium. The album is called Celtic Throne, The Royal Journey of Irish Dance. This production and album features an original score composed by Golden Globe-nominated film score composer Brian Byrne, as well as traditional folk tunes arranged and performed by our music faculty and some of our staff and students here. We just heard one of those music breaks, a famous folk song I arranged for male trio called The Parting Glass. You heard vocalists Mark Jenkins, Joel Hilliker, and yours truly. As we're discussing today, Celtic Throne features music that spans several different cultures, the Irish, Scottish, and British.
American cultures particularly, that folk song represented the Scottish influence, and next on the program is a quintessentially British number. The music was written by Brian Byrne, but in order to represent England, Byrne uses the distinct chord progression from G.F. Handel's coronation anthem, Zadok the Priest, and then he also layers the English folk melody of Greensleeves on top of the dance music section of this piece that he writes. To illustrate this, I'm going to play the original Zadok the Priest part that the violin section would play on top of the recording Brian made of this dance movement. You'll hear the swung rhythm of the hornpipe contrasted by the more square arpeggios Handel wrote.
One is superimposed on top of the other. I won't need to play anything extra for Greensleeves, as that melody is quite recognizable in its current form. I'll also mention that a quotation of Zadok the Priest comes in at the climax of the work toward the end of this track as well. This track is called Empire. That was Empire, an homage to British culture by Brian Byrne as part of the Celtic Throne album that we're exploring here today. The next track on the album is called Gale, and it represents stormy and turbulent times, which is depicted quite literally by the use of storm sound effects in this track. But I'd like to draw attention to a musical motive that Brian uses in this one. It harkens back to the very first theme he introduced back in the first number of the production. Remember, it went like this. And when you hear it in Gale, you'll hear this slightly modified version of that theme in the keyboard. Let's jump into this one right around that spot.
We just heard Gale from the new album Celtic Throne, The Royal Journey of Irish Dance, produced here on the Armstrong campus. This show premiered in the summer of 2020 at Armstrong Auditorium, and Gale concluded the first half of the program. On the album, the next track is called Pioneers, which opened the second half of the live performance. This song represents the American migration of the Irish dance culture. As we've discussed on this program before, there are plenty of similarities between Celtic music and American bluegrass that it isn't too much of a stretch for a composer to write an Irish dance number based on these American folk styles. We'll hear a little of this one in a moment, but after that track is a track called American Medley.
minute celebration of America as performed by the music faculty at Herbert W. Armstrong College. The medley was arranged by our assistant music director here, Mark Jenkins, and he and I are jamming out on our two Steinway pianos for this one. We play Stars and Stripes Forever, then my wife comes out to join us in a few vocal numbers, You're a Grand Old Flag, then America the Beautiful, then the medley ends with an exquisite arrangement Mr. Jenkins did of My Country Tis of Thee for the trio of us to sing Unaccompanied. To save a little for the album, I'll only play the My Country Tis of Thee ending of this medley, and that will follow after what we'll hear first, the ending of Brian Burns' track, Pioneers.
Native country, the land of the noble free, thy name I love. I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and temple hills, my heart elated thrills like that above.
the breeze and ring from song. Let mortal tongues awake. Let all that breathe partake. Let rocks their silence break. The sound prolongs. Peace and be bright with freedom's hope. Protect us by thy might. Great God, our King.
We just heard Mark Jenkins' arrangement of My Country Tis of Thee, the unaccompanied trio that concluded his American medley as part of the new Celtic Throne album that we're exploring and discussing today. Before that, we heard Pioneers by Brian Byrne as part of this Americana set in the Celtic Throne production. The next piece Brian Byrne composed for this dance production was a piece titled Conflict. This piece also uses a motif that he established earlier in the production, and I'll point it out over top of the recording when we get to it. This is a tension-filled work that is supposed to depict essentially the concept of darkness before the dawn.
Now here's a slow version of that main theme from the show played in the piano and strings. The final dance number of Celtic Throne is called Utopia, and it is preceded by one more music break. But instead of playing the music break before the final dance number, I want to play the dance number itself. See, the musical material in this final dance number was the basis for the song that preceded it. Byrne wrote Utopia first, then I was asked to write an inspirational musical break that preceded it that uses material from Utopia to tie the final music break and the final dance number together. So let's listen to Utopia first so you get those melodies in your ear, and then we'll explore what elements I extracted from it in a number that I titled Tomorrow's Light.
You are listening to Music for Life. I'm your host, Ryan Malone. This is KPCG. In today's episode, we are exploring a brand new album from a dance production staged here at Armstrong Auditorium. The album is called Celtic Throne, The Royal Journey of Irish Dance. This production and album features an original score composed by Golden Globe-nominated film score composer Brian Byrne, as well as traditional folk tunes arranged and performed by our music faculty and some of our other staff and students here. More information about this production can be found at CelticThrone.com. If you're hearing this episode in the original week it goes on the air, you still have time to catch the live show even. There will be performances at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center October 11th and 12th, then performances back in Edmond, Oklahoma at Armstrong Auditorium.
on October 15th and 18th. And of course, there is the album itself, which can be found on iTunes, Spotify, and really all audio streaming services. We'll put a link to that in today's show notes. We just heard the final dance number of the show, Utopia, but I want to end today's program with the song that precedes it. As I said before that dance number, I was asked to write a final musical break of the production based on material in Utopia so that the final music break and final dance number were aurally linked. So I took this introductory material from the opening of Utopia and this motive from the opening piano solo in Utopia.
and turned it into an eight-bar phrase to create the verses of the song. Then I took this melody from the Illin Pipe intro, and I turned that into the refrain of this song. Then I took all that material, I wrote lyrics with that meter, and based it on the subject matter we wanted to describe in the song about the surety of every dawn. Oh, and not all the material was taken from the slow intro of the song. In the dance section of Utopia, you heard the Illin Pipe's play this tune.
And I use that material largely to form what we'd call the bridge of this vocal number. And that's where the dancer chorus enters. So here is Tomorrow's Light, sung by a vocal quintet on this new album. The quintet is our music faculty, plus Joel Hilliker and voice student Vienna Fleury. Later, the Armstrong dancers join us as a youth chorus at the climax of the song. We also recorded this song here in Edmond and used some of our own musicians in the orchestra. Violinist Ezekiel Malone, cellist Seth Malone, and Steve Herkes on the whistle. I hope you enjoy Tomorrow's Light.
You have been listening to Music for Life, a production of KPCG 101.3 on the FM dial in Edmond, Oklahoma. From the Herbert W. Armstrong College campus, I'm Ryan Malone. Thanks for joining me.