Shenandoah / He's Gone Away: Choral SoundPax

Hayes brings genuine artistic sophistication to these folk standards without obscuring their essential character. The instrumentation (flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, and synthesizer) complements rather than overwhelms the voices, and the SSA voicing makes this accessible to a wider range of choirs while the expressive writing demands real musicianship from singers and players alike.

The music unfolds with operatic lyricism, treating these folk melodies as vehicles for genuine emotional depth. The orchestration creates space for the voices to soar while maintaining the songs' lyrical honesty, resulting in something that feels both traditional and contemporary.

This arrangement suits SSA choirs with access to a small instrumental ensemble or willingness to build one. The expressive demands and artistic approach appeal to choirs comfortable with nuanced interpretation and longer works; this is not a warm-up piece but a centerpiece requiring rehearsal commitment.

• Balance the instrumental parts carefully during rehearsal; the oboe and clarinet lines should support rather than compete with the treble voices, especially in passages where both are singing the melody.
• Shape the phrasing across the full twenty pages as one continuous arc rather than treating each song independently, since they function as a unified artistic statement.
• Rehearse the choir and instruments together early enough to allow singers to internalize how the accompaniment shapes the harmonic and rhythmic foundation.
• Use the recorded accompaniment to establish ensemble security, but encourage singers to listen to their section parts and the instrumental lines rather than relying solely on the track.

Place this as a concert highlight rather than filler, pairing it with contrasting contemporary or classical repertoire to showcase your choir's versatility. The twenty-page length and instrumental requirements make it suitable for a concert dedicated to folk traditions or as the centerpiece of a program exploring American musical roots.

• Singing in SSA voicing with independent part security
• Blending treble voices with sustained instrumental lines
• Interpreting expressive, arco-influenced phrasing in choral music
• Ensemble listening across multiple instrumental timbres (woodwinds, percussion, synthesizer)
• Long-line singing through extended thirty-minute performance works