Shannon Falls (Movement 2 from Sea to Sky): Score
By Ralph Ford
Grade: 4 (Medium)
Item: 00-PR-0001209
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Description
In contrast to the opening movement of Ralph Ford's impressive Sea to Sky, Shannon Falls is a lovely ballad portraying the beautiful waterfall of the same name. With a transparent and fluid beginning, the work builds to demonstrate the majestic image, then fades transparently into the distance. A haunting melody explored in depth and detail. The movement can be programmed alone or in conjunction with the other three movements of the work. This title is available in MakeMusic Cloud.
Don't just read it, hear it, play along with it, and watch your students grow with it. In MakeMusic Cloud, Shannon Falls (Movement 2 from Sea to Sky): Score 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:
Belwin Symphonic Band
Publisher:
Alfred Music
Page Count:
82
SKU:
00-PR-0001209
More about this title
About the Composer: Ralph Ford
Ralph Ford has spent nearly three decades teaching at the university level while maintaining an prolific career as a composer and arranger. His professional trajectory spans music, media, and broadcast work; he has composed and arranged over 250 titles for orchestras, concert bands, jazz ensembles, and marching bands, earning international recognition for both his concert works and his commercial compositions.
Why we love this
Ford captures something genuinely cinematic here. The movement builds from transparency to majesty and recedes again with the kind of architectural clarity that makes a ballad feel inevitable rather than sentimental. It works beautifully as a standalone work, giving bands a sophisticated ballad option at a grade level where options are surprisingly thin.
What to expect
Crystalline water moving over stone, building into spray and mist. The opening breathes with space and light; as the piece deepens, you feel the volume and power of the falls themselves. By the end, you're watching the mist dissolve into air.
Who it's for
Bands at the grade 4 level looking for a ballad with substance and clarity. Directors programming festivals or contests will appreciate a movement that stands alone or integrates seamlessly into the full four-movement work.
How to get the most out of it
- Shape the opening with restraint. The transparency depends on letting silence and space do as much work as the notes themselves; resist the urge to fill in the texture early.
- Balance the haunting melody against its harmonic support so the line emerges clearly even as the band swells around it.
- Plan your peak carefully. The phrase that reaches the majestic image should feel inevitable, not sudden; use rehearsal time to find the arc rather than the moment.
- Return to transparency at the fade as deliberately as you left it. The ending is not about dying away; it's about dissolving into the distance.
How to use it
Program this as the closing ballad on a concert built around water imagery or landscapes. It pairs naturally with more energetic works and gives audiences a moment of reflection. It also serves well as a festival submission on its own, or as movement 2 in a programming of the complete Sea to Sky.
Skills your students will build
- Sustaining transparent textures without losing focus or ensemble cohesion
- Shaping longer melodic lines through harmonic support rather than obvious rubato
- Controlling dynamic gradation and phrase arcs across 82 pages
- Balancing exposed solo writing with ensemble texture