Patti Drennan built her career on a foundation of serious choral training at Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma. She spent nearly three decades directing choirs in Norman Public Schools, earning Teacher of the Year honors and building programs that consistently achieved superior ratings at contests. Her work as a clinician has taken her across 19 states, Canada multiple times, and major conferences including the Texas Music Educators Convention.
As a prolific composer and arranger, Drennan has published over 425 choral octavos with major publishers, with sales exceeding two million copies. She has served as an adjudicator for choral competitions and continues leading music reading sessions for publishers while directing composer weekends for churches nationwide. Her compositions have been performed at Carnegie Hall, and she remains active as a clinician and collaborative performer.
Why we love this
Drennan's arrangement captures the narrative strength of this folk tune while building a sophisticated harmonic landscape that keeps your singers engaged. The flexible voicing options mean you can program this whether you have a full TTBB section or need to adapt on the fly, making it genuinely useful across seasons and ensemble sizes.
What to expect
There's a quiet melancholy woven through this arrangement. The tune itself carries the ache of longing, and Drennan's harmonies honor that feeling without sentimentalizing it. You'll hear voices layering together to create something intimate, even when sung by a full section.
Who it's for
This arrangement works for emerging TTBB ensembles learning to balance four parts, as well as established men's choirs looking for substantive folk material. It suits directors seeking accessible repertoire with genuine musical depth and a narrative hook that singers care about.
How to get the most out of it
Balance the melody line with the supporting harmonies; this folk tune needs room to breathe, so resist the urge to let lower voices overwhelm the top line.
Explore the text's emotional arc. This song carries real weight as a farewell, so shape the phrase endings with intention rather than letting them fall flat.
Check intonation carefully in the chord transitions. Folk arrangements sometimes rely on unexpected harmonic movement, and singers need security in those shifts.
Use the men's voices to anchor the rhythm section, especially if you have weaker singers in the middle parts. A solid foundation gives everyone confidence.
How to use it
Nest this among other folk selections for a program exploring American roots music, or pair it with contemporary arrangements to show how a single melody can be treated across different styles. Its 10 pages mean it sits comfortably in a concert without dominating it, making it ideal filler between larger works or as part of a thematic set.
Skills your students will build
Balancing multiple melodic lines within a single harmonic texture
Phrasing folk melodies expressively while maintaining ensemble cohesion
Reading flexible voicing options and adapting parts on sight
Sustaining emotional narrative across longer phrase structures
Blending four distinct voice parts in mid and lower registers
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