canasg choral music publishing - Chinese crane song SATB

NW3019

Chinese crane song

poem by Edwina Towson

set to music by Sheena Phillips
for SAA children's chorus, violin and flute
with piano accompaniment

performance time approx 3m 45s

Composer's note

This is a wonderfully evocative poem, conjuring for me aerial views of China's dramatic landscape and the life that goes on there. The lines of the first chorus are repeated in two different orders after each of the verses, combining repetition with variation - and this is mirrored in the music, which is never quite the same from one verse to the next.

A version of this song for SATB chorus with violin and flute is also published by Canasg.

Music

See a sample of the music

You need Acrobat Reader on your computer to see music pages. If you don't have Acrobat Reader, go to our 'links' page to find out how to get it free of charge. (You'll have to go back to the catalogue page first).

Hear a MIDI file of the song

Words

Chinese crane song

White feather, grey feather, cranes fly far.
High water, low water, where you ever are
There are wings in the wind, there are wings in the sky.
White feather, grey feather, fly, crane, fly.

Over the red pagoda,
Above the green fields of rice,
Along the banks of the blue Su Xian
To the mountain tops of ice:
There are wings in the wind, there are wings in the sky.
White feather, grey feather, fly, crane, fly.

Wide bird glides over empty hill-sides,
Across the sleeping yellow town.
Below is the pine and the hermit's shrine
If the eye of the crane look down:
High water, low water, where you ever are
White feather, grey feather, cranes fly far.

Plum flower and tall bamboo,
Flat-bottomed boats with a fisherman crew,
Pottery kilns, watch-tower's height
Under the spread of the China bird's flight:
There are wings in the wind, there are wings in the sky.
White feather, grey feather, fly, crane, fly.

White feather, grey feather, cranes fly far.
High water, low water, where you ever are
There are wings in the wind, there are wings in the sky.
White feather, grey feather, fly, crane, fly.

Edwina Towson

Price

The price of this piece depends on the number of singers in your group. This is a single payment for a licence to make as many copies as you need for your group to rehearse and perform the song as often as you wish. Copies of the song must not be given, lent or sold to any other group.

Number of singers in your group
up to 12 singers	13 to 24 singers	25 singers or more
Ł7 (approx US$10)	Ł14 (approx US$20)	Ł21 (approx US$30)
Please note that your Paypal transaction will be in sterling but it should automatically be converted if your credit card draws on a different currency.

Companion pieces

Browse the 'contemporary music' or 'World folk and traditional' sections of the Canasg catalogue for more songs like this one. To go there now, click on the 'catalogue' box to the right.

Canasg Music

publishing refreshingly original choral music