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Dry Bones: TTBB Choral Octavo

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Dry Bones: TTBB Choral Octavo

Dry Bones: TTBB Choral Octavo

Traditional Spiritual / arr. Mark Hayes

Item: 00-19223
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Description
This Alfred Music best seller is now available for women's choirs! A fine, fun, and innovative arrangement of a popular spiritual about the prophet Ezekiel. Each verse is freshly approached, adding more and more excitement, building through a chromatically ascending "this bone connected to that bone" section, and ending with a big finish that will bring the house down! Great for festival use with or without the percussive SoundTrax or SoundPax. SoundPax includes parts for 2 a. sax., 2 t. sax., b. sax., 2 tpt., 2 tbn., rhy., perc.

Don't just read it, hear it, play along with it, and watch your students grow with it. In MakeMusic Cloud, Dry Bones: TTBB Choral Octavo comes alive with professional accompaniment, adjustable tempo, and built-in practice tools that turn solo practice into real progress.

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Additional Details
Series: Alfred Archive Edition: Alfred Choral Designs
Publisher: Alfred Music
Page Count: 16
UPC: 038081178684
SKU: 00-19223

More about this title

About the Arranger: Mark Hayes

Mark Hayes

Mark Hayes is an accomplished pianist, composer, and arranger whose published output exceeds 1,750 works across sacred, secular, and instrumental genres. A summa cum laude graduate in Piano Performance from Baylor University, Hayes has guest conducted at Lincoln Center, the National Cathedral, and Carnegie Hall, and received the Award for Exemplary Leadership in Christian Music from Baylor's Center for Christian Music Studies in 2010.

Beyond the choral realm, Hayes is a prolific orchestrator and record producer who has shaped theatrical works and maintained an active concert schedule worldwide. His particular strength lies in writing for piano, with over 100 published books spanning gospel, classical, jazz, and Broadway idioms. Whether premiering major works like his Requiem at Lincoln Center or crafting accessible arrangements for student ensembles, Hayes brings both technical sophistication and genuine musicality to everything he creates.

Why we love this

Hayes transforms this spiritual into a narrative arc that builds naturally from verse to verse, keeping singers and audiences engaged through fresh harmonic and textural choices rather than repetition. The chromatic ascent during "this bone connected to that bone" provides a showstopping moment that feels inevitable rather than gimmicky, and the final tutti payoff rewards all the careful voicing work that precedes it.

What to expect

Playful energy that respects the spiritual's origins while embracing contemporary harmonic color. The arrangement bounces between moments of gentle humor and genuine majesty, building from curiosity about those connected bones to exultant confidence by the final cadence.

Who it's for

Men's choirs and mixed ensembles seeking material that entertains without sacrificing musical substance. This works equally well in festival settings, concert programs, or occasions where you want to leave the audience smiling.

How to get the most out of it

  • Balance the harmony shifts in each verse. Hayes layers new colors onto familiar material, so your singers need to hear their own lines while tracking the transformation happening around them.
  • The SoundPax instrumentation (saxes, trumpets, trombones, plus rhythm section and percussion) adds considerable drive; rehearse the percussion parts separately first to establish the groove before combining with voices.
  • Build the chromatic section with precision. Small dynamic and articulation adjustments across the four parts create the illusion of momentum without requiring the choir to actually sing louder.
  • Consider the closing big finish a conversation between sections. The men's voices anchor the foundation while the highest parts soar; make sure both layers project equally.

How to use it

Position this toward the end of a set to capitalize on its momentum and crowd appeal, or pair it with other spirituals to create a thematic cluster. The 16-page format and varied voicing options make it accessible for festival rounds while remaining interesting enough for concert performance.

Skills your students will build

  • Reading varied harmonic contexts within a single piece
  • Maintaining rhythmic independence during chromatic voice movement
  • Dynamic control across multiple textural layers
  • Balancing rhythmic precision with expressive musicality in spiritual style
  • Ensemble awareness across shifting harmonic densities

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