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The River: Choral Octavo SoundTrax CD

$27.99 USD
$27.99 USD
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The River Cover Image
The River: Choral Octavo SoundTrax CD

The River: Choral Octavo SoundTrax CD

Traditional Spirituals / arr. Sally K. Albrecht

Item: 00-43329
$27.99
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Description
This well-conceived spiritual medley opens gently, builds to its peak "love like an ocean" section, and then sweetly fades to the end. Along the way, tuneful counterlines and unexpected pairings intertwine motives from three favorite traditional spirituals. Light instrumentation on the SoundTrax CD sounds distinctly American.

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Additional Details
Series: Alfred Choral Designs
Publisher: Alfred Music
UPC: 038081488714
SKU: 00-43329

More about this title

About the Arranger: Sally K. Albrecht

Sally K. Albrecht

Sally K. Albrecht has shaped American choral music for decades as a composer, arranger, conductor, and clinician with particular expertise in movement-integrated choral work. Her catalog includes over 600 published choral pieces and 75 larger works for stage and concert, earning her annual ASCAP Special Music Awards since 1987. She spent more than thirty years directing school choral, vocal, and elementary publications at major educational music publishers, including her tenure at Alfred Music, and has conducted honor choirs at prestigious venues such as Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and The Kennedy Center.

Albrecht holds degrees from Rollins College (B.A. in Music and Theater, 1976), the University of Miami (M.A. in Drama, 1977; M.M. in Accompanying, 1979), and has taught in the music departments at Oakland University, Jersey City State College, and Meredith College. She served as Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society and received their Pillar of Leadership award. In 2021, she was honored as a Distinguished Alumna by both the University of Miami Frost School of Music and Rollins College, where she serves on the Board of Trustees. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, composer and arranger Jay Althouse.

Why we love this

Albrecht weaves three traditional spirituals into a cohesive arc that feels inevitable rather than stitched together. The 'love like an ocean' climax gives your singers a moment of genuine emotional weight without requiring advanced technical skill, making it accessible for middle school through adult choirs while still satisfying more experienced ensembles.

What to expect

The River opens with quiet reverence and builds toward a moment of transcendent beauty at its center, where the text 'love like an ocean' captures something boundless. The harmonic interweaving of familiar melodies creates a sense of discovery; singers find themselves singing lines they recognize while hearing them anew against unexpected countermelodies.

Who it's for

This arrangement works for middle school, high school, and adult choirs seeking a spiritual with emotional depth and musical sophistication. Directors programming sacred concerts, multicultural repertoire, or pieces with movement potential will find strong material here.

How to get the most out of it

  • Shape the opening gently to establish intimacy before the arrangement builds. This sets up the dramatic impact of the peak section and makes the fade-out feel earned rather than abrupt.
  • Balance the counterlines carefully so unexpected pairings enhance rather than muddy the harmonic progression. Isolate these moments in rehearsal if needed.
  • Use the SoundTrax accompaniment to lock the harmonic foundation, especially during the medley transitions where voices might lose confidence in the unfamiliar combinations.

How to use it

Position this as the emotional centerpiece of a sacred concert or the closing piece of a program exploring African American musical traditions. Its arc from gentle opening to powerful climax to soft resolution gives shape to a full concert or provides a strong closing number that leaves audiences thoughtful rather than energized.

Skills your students will build

  • Singing independent melodic lines while maintaining awareness of countermelodies
  • Balancing blend across unexpected voice part pairings
  • Phrasing through a formal arch (gentle opening, building intensity, diminuendo finale)
  • Understanding how familiar melodies can be recontextualized through harmonic rearrangement

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