A pop tune without the pop, for orchestra.
Composed 2022.

Munn.Off the Charts (midi)

The title is a line from Wordsworth's Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent's Narrow Room and references the limited use and re-use of a six-note 'resource', treated differently in each successive phrase.
Performed by Charlotte Munn-Wood, violin; Emily Munn-Wood, cello; Geena Kam, piano, 12/28/2022.

From This Scanty Plot Of Ground, for piano trio

piccolo, flutes 1-4, alto flute, bass flute, contrabass flute

Arc, for flute ensemble

This is an early work by Zae Munn, composed in 1983 for her doctoral dissertation. Nina Nash-Robertson premiered as part of her doctoral dissertation recital. Nina's choir and instrumentalists at Central Michigan were the performers. This is a digitized version of an old cassette tape so sound quality is low, but it does serve as a good representation of the composer's intentions and interests at the time.

And Dawn Tangled in Darkness

This is a digitized version of an old cassette recording of the premiere, probably 1985. Gary Anderson conducted the Transylvania University choir.

Care-Charmer Sleep

This was written for Saint May's College's sesquicentennial celebrations in 1994. Audio is a digitized version of a cassette recording. The Saint Mary's College Women's Choir (now Belles Voix), conducted by Nancy Menk, performed it. Ted Billy and Therese Johnson co-wrote the lyrics.

Spirits Taking Flight, Sesquicentennial Song, treble arrangement

Levels, for Clarinet and Twelve Readers

Reach Beyond Grasp (3 groups with spatial separation)

Lift (2019)
Clarinet and Piano
6:05
The term 'lift' has a nice referential flexibiltiy without losing its essential meaning in changing contexts: we lift up our voice in song, we lift up revenue, we lift an object down, and we even lift (or steal) something. Lift is built on three gestures that, once established, are developed quite continously. One gesture is simply a continuous upward pitch contour, another is a continuous downward flow of pitches, and the third is a faster, nervous, embellished gesture that expresses the building of energy towards one of the other gestures. Lift is a companion piece to Rift and both were commissioned by Claricello.

Lift, for clarinet and cello

Munn.Merry-Go-Round, from Five Animal Songs

Access to score:MusicaNeo SM-000224271
http://zaemunn.musicaneo.com/sheetmusic/sm-224271_the_canvas_for_treble_choir_and_orchestra.html

Text and music suitable for both children's and women's choirs with mostly unison and two-part writing; pitch material well-supported in the instrumental parts; orchestral writing appropriate for college and community orchestras, with an emphasis on relatively simple parts for strings and more challenging parts for winds; pairs of winds plus piccolo, 3 tps, 3 hns, 2 tbns, 1 tuba, timpani, 1 percussion, strings. Text quote: "I loosen the canvas when the wind has dried it and the sun passed through it to become the unbelievable light that touches each living thing."
    
Commissioned by Cynthia Bradford, conductor of the Southlake Children's Choir and Dennis Friesen-Carper, conductor of the Valparaiso University Symphony Orchestra. 



The Canvas, treble choir and orchestra

Access to score: MusicaNeo SM-000224056
http://zaemunn.musicaneo.com/sheetmusic/sm-224056_lyrical_limericks_for_treble_choir.html

Premiere, Robert Geary Conducting Ancora
Lyrical Limericks is a musical setting of eight limericks written especially for this project, each intended to capture an aspect of the lives of the young women who would be singing it. Some are whimsical (piercing, vampires, Harry Potter) while others address weightier topics (dating and marriage, athletics, and feminism). A recurring section ("Once upon a time...") begins and ends the piece and also groups the limericks into three sections. The lyricists are Peg Lauber, Marilyn L. Taylor, Paul Munn, and Zae Munn. Lyrical Limericks is the result of a consortium commission headed by conductor Robert Geary. 


Lyrical Limericks, treble choir

Access to score: MusicaNeo SM-000224054
http://zaemunn.musicaneo.com/sheetmusic/sm-224054_like_any_pilgrim_for_treble_choir.html
Access to CD:
http://www.jomarpress.com/munn/munn.html

The text for Like Any Pilgrim was written by Peg Lauber, a Wisconsin poet. A series of text similes "("Like a hawk...Like an old shell...The moon is like smoke") presents images of openness, sensitivity, expectation, and celebration. The refrain "Like any pilgrim I travel light, shining my own lantern" is presented at first as a solo statement. By the end of the piece it has transformed into a joyous chorale, many pilgrims joined together on a journey to new lands. Amasong, directed by Margot Rejskind, commissioned Like Any Pilgrim in celebration of their 10th anniversary in 2000. Premiered by them in May 2000. Recorded by Amasong. 


Like Any Pilgrim, treble choir

Access to score: MusicaNeo SM-000224244
http://zaemunn.musicaneo.com/sheetmusic/sm-224244_certainty_of_stone_a_young_person_s_guide_to_the_chorus.html

Commissioned by the South Bend Chamber Singers to open their May 11, 1997 children's concert, this piece functions as the choral equivalent to Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Text was commissioned from Peg Lauber.

    Text excerpt:
    We are called the basses. We sing with certainty of stone.
    We are called the tenors. Our voices soar like brightest kites.
    We are called the altos. We have voices rich as chocolate.
    We are called the sopranos. We sing like birds in tallest trees. 


Certainty of Stone, mixed choir and piano

Score access: MusicaNeo SM-000224871
http://zaemunn.musicaneo.com/sheetmusic/sm-224871_a_fine_garment_a_gentle_weave_woven_with_whispers_and_exclamation_points.html

This composition is more autobiographical than any of my other compositions: a very intense relationship develops between two people. A physical and emotional separation occurs. In the midst of awful loneliness there are flashbacks to the earlier relationship. The relationship is renewed but this time it is much more richly textured, more resilient and more positive. This basic story can be the template for all sorts of relationships--between lovers, between a parent and a child, and between friends. Quite apart from the specific relationship I was thinking of, I hope that you as listeners can find your own experiences resonating in the musical story. A Fine Garment was written for the Camerata Quintet in 1998 and was premiered by them at Western Illinois University on March 7, 1999. 


A Fine Garment, A Gentle Weave, Woven With Whispers And Exclamation Points, woodwind quintet

Access to score: MusicaNeo SM-000224063
http://zaemunn.musicaneo.com/sheetmusic/sm-224063_fascination_at_a_distance_for_solo_piano.html

Two separate entities mutually and continually act upon each other while maintaining their individual integrities. Change and development, brought about by both immediate and long-term responsiveness to each other, are continuous. In the last of four sections, the old tune Fascination grows out of the pitch material and is quoted, with very thick harmonies, several times. This is a demanding, virtuoso piece. Martin Perry plays on the recording. 
Score access: 
Two separate entities mutually and continually act upon each other while maintaining their individual integrities. Change and development, brought about by both immediate and long-term responsiveness to each other, are continuous. In the last of four sections, the old tune Fascination grows out of the pitch material and is quoted, with very thick harmonies, several times. This is a demanding, virtuoso piece. Martin Perry plays on the recording. 

Fascination At A Distance, solo piano

Access to score and parts:
http://www.jomarpress.com/munn/munn.html
Access to CD:
http://www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv5991/

Many books and movies share the title format of Music: A Love Story, for example Capitalism: A Love Story, War: A Love Story, and Drinking: A Love Story. Each one expresses more than a little irony about its primary topic. This musical love story includes a “lamenting” section, made of traditional phrases and clear cadences, that reappears with great determination; a couple of duets, full of longing; sections of intense counterpoint; and even what I consider to be a creepy lullaby. There is love, there is irony, there is music.
Performers: Daniel Vega-Albela, Timothy McAllister, Lucia Unrau

Music: A Love Story, for violin, alto sax, and piano

Access to score as download:  Earthsongs S-325
http://earthsongschoralmusic.com/index.php?main_page=product_sheet_music_info&cPath=1_8_6&products_id=2727

The text, by Peg Lauber, begins this way: "To be as pure as Gregorian chants sung by ten-year old boys in a garden of flowering plum trees:" To Be Like Music was commissioned by the Nova Singers, Laura Lane, conductor, and has also been performed by the South Bend Chamber Singers, Nancy Menk, conductor. It requires a near-professional quality ensemble to perform it successfully.

To Be Like Music, for SATB mixed choir

Access to score and parts:
http://www.honeyrock.net/solo-ps.htm

The artist, played by the viola, undertakes to capture and intone a discernible version of the archetype, played by the marimba. As they come closer and closer together in their expressions, they join in a flash of insight and inspiration; they are linked in an uneasy dance. Their dance falters: the marimba begins a slow fall down its scale; the artist struggles to retain the inspiration. The archetype recedes more and more, the artist falls silent. Published by Honeyrock. 



Interface, duo for viola and marimba

Access to score and parts:
http://www.jomarpress.com/munn/munn.html
    No Longer Suitable for Framing, Seven Snapshots for Clarinet and Trombone, was written in 1999 for Sandra Potkay Jackson, clarinet, and David Jackson, trombone.  It was premiered by Sandy and David the next summer on an Interlochen Arts Camp faculty recital.  
    I re-used the same pitch material in each of the seven snapshots, but with the instruments in different relationships each time. Those musical relationships drew to a certain extent on relationships in marriage--I was aware that Sandy and David had recently married, and my own marriage was near its end, so I had many positive and negative images to work with.  The snapshots are each very short and intense and the relationships are not always positive (one person talking, the other not listening, for instance), but some are playful and connected. It's important not to take this programmatic image too seriously though! I consider No Longer Suitable for Framing to be very virtuosic, both in terms of the demands on the individual instrumentalists and in terms of their very intense chamber music relationship.  Published by JOMAR Press.

No Longer Suitable For Framing, duo for clarinet and trombone

Access to score: Yelton Rhodes YR8302
http://www.yrmusic.com/v2/catalog/listing.php?voicing=&title=Animal+Songs&yrID=&composerID=0&authorID=0&arrangerID=0&difficulty=&duration=&topic=
Access to CD: Capstone 8674
http://www.capstonerecords.org/CPS-8674.html

    The five individual songs are titled Mouse, Shrew, Vole; Bird; Merry-go-round; Horses; and Mice.  They are all characterized by powerful text images, mixed meter, and a strong tonal basis.  The third song is for 3-part women only.  Text quote from Horses:   "Our water was almost gone when the captain said the horses must go overboard."
    Commissioned by Constance DeFotis at Harvard University, Nina Nash-Robertson at Central Michigan University, Chet Alwes at University of Illinois, and Craig Johnson at Otterbein College.  Intended for performance by good college choirs.  Published by Yelton Rhodes Music.  Recorded by Capstone.  College and beyond.


Bird, from Five Animal Songs, mixed choir and piano

Access to score and parts: Arsis Press #040092 AP-702 
http://www.instantweb.com/a/arsispress/Inst.html#Mixed%20Ensembles

Performed by Daniel Silver, clarinet, and the Maia String Quartet

    A Fraction of Your Grace was inspired by the wonderful grace shown by a friend whose family was dealt a terrible blow. The phrase comes from a letter in which I said "I hope that I can find even a fraction of your grace should something similar happen to me or my family."
    Sections based on quartal chords and sections based on open fifths stated in a rhythmic ostinato move slowly around the circle of fifths. Motives derived from extensions of the basic quintal and quartal structures provide most of the melodic material. Published by Arsis Press.




A Fraction Of Your Grace, for clarinet and string quartet

Access to score and parts: Arsis Press
http://www.instantweb.com/a/arsispress/Vocal.html

These four songs were written to perform for grade school age children to teach them about and interest them in contemporary art music. They have also been remarkably successful in a traditional recital setting--adults are very appreciative of the music-text relationships and other references to the art music tradition. The second song, What's for Supper?, enlists the pianist and violist as both speakers and singers. The viola part is cued in the piano part so performance without a violist is possible. The texts were commissioned from Peg Lauber. Published by Arsis Press.  Advanced College and beyond.

I'll Go Along, from What's for Supper?

The four songs are titled The Slowly Opening Rose, I Have Washed And Buttoned Up, Geese Along The Flowage, and The Sermon. The texts, by Peg Lauber, are all concerned with the theme of coping with and overcoming the burdens and challenges of life: the rose blooms but to die and renew; the child uses the pattern of daily life to cope with the loss of her mother; the chick struggles to rise from the flowage to go with the flock; and, the feeling, rhythm and power of a sermon newly inspire us. The songs are conceived as a set, but can be performed individually. Commissioned and premiered by Nancy L. Walker. Published by Arsis Press.  College and beyond.

The Sermon, from Lauber Lieder

Geese Along the Flowage, from Lauber Lieder

I Have Washed And Buttoned Up, from Lauber Lieder

The Slowly Op'ning Rose, from Lauber Lieder

In "For a few minutes, lie in the sun," an expression of serenity is followed by more venomous emotions, which are then followed by a return to serenity. This structure puts musical parentheses around anger and bitterness, encapsulated by the text "let bitterness lapse momentarily." This directness and sincerity of expression is contrasted with a wittier, more urbane and self-conscious presentation in "Contemplate cliché angels." The words of the song celebrate themselves--they are about words--but they occasionally bump into seemingly unavoidable clichés. Sections of music with a manic, humorous character, complete with intentionally silly word painting, alternate with clearly derivative jazz. Texts by Peg Lauber. Published by Arsis Press.  Advanced college and beyond.


Contemplate Cliche Angels, from Two for Three

For A Few Minutes, Lie in the Sun, from Two for Three

Access to score: Yelton Rhodes YR8304
http://www.yrmusic.com/v2/catalog/listing.php?voicing=&title=Build+A+World&yrID=&composerID=0&authorID=0&arrangerID=0&difficulty=&duration=&topic=

   Peg Lauber, a Wisconsin poet, wrote the text for Build A World specifically for Zae Munn to set for the Madison Children's Choir. Each of three visions of a better world is followed by a rejection of something negative in our current world. The two musical characters in Build A World closely follow this alternation of text ideas. However, the music dwells on and develops some special words and phrases such as "overflows," like a spring," and "where freedom shines." The piano both supports the singers and provides subtle changes in character for each verse. Commissioned by the Madison Children's Choir (Wisconsin), Heather Thorpe, Director. Premiered by them on May 14, 2000.  Advanced children; High school.
    "We want to build a world where peace comes down like rain and snow, so...don't give us a world of hunger and cold."  Published by Yelton Rhodes Music.


Build A World, SSA and piano

Access to score: Earthsongs S-14
http://earthsongschoralmusic.com/index.php?main_page=product_sheet_music_info&cPath=1_8_6&products_id=2090

Each of the three pieces presents a woman of strong character or action. In The Muse, a poet bemoans the fact that her muse is a bit more eccentric and troublesome than most. Two sections alternate, one slow and flexible with a harmonic emphasis, the other faster and more imitative. In The Stove, a woman rebels against her cantankerous old stove by pounding it to bits. The mixed meters exemplify the pounding of the sledge hammer used to do the dirty deed. And in The Willow Plate, a woman uses the images in a willow plate to sing a love song. The three vocal parts share the melody role, with the altos taking special responsibility. The songs may be performed separately or together. Published by Earthsongs.  The Stove recorded by Amasong.  Advanced high school; College; Adult women.


The Muse, The Stove, And The Willow Plate, SSAA womens' choir a cappella

Access to score and parts: Balquhidder Music BQ-123
http://www.balquhiddermusic.com/trpt-trios-quartets-ensembles/munn-trumpet-calls-for-twenty-c-trumpets

Trumpet Calls is written for twenty C trumpets in five separated groups, each with a unique character and an associated name: Fat n' Sassy, Agitated, Heroic, Bellows, and Echo. The five characters are released, one at a time, into the same space, and then things get interesting. (duration 5:15)

Of special note, the group called Bellows is directed to play with “Clang/Buzz” mutes. These are made by folding the edges of an aluminum pie tin over the edges of the trumpet bell. When played, they rattle and buzz with a sound that is as unforgettable as it is difficult to describe. Needless to say, this is not your grandfather’s trumpet ensemble.

Trumpet Calls, for 20 C trumpets in five separated groups

Score access: JOMAR Music
http://www.jomarpress.com/munn/munn.html

Kali (pronounced like the dog breed, collie) is a complex and multi-faceted Hindu goddess, often depicted as a fearsome, dark, and long-tongued demon.  In some traditions Kali is known for destroying ignorance, and aiding those who seek sublime knowledge. Her name can be understood as a synonym for death, or devourer of time.
    Kali, She who devours time, for violin and piano, was written in 2006 for violinist Charlotte Munn-Wood, who had already named her own beloved instrument Kali.  In spite of the somewhat violent, destructive connotations of the title, Kali is quite gentle and coaxing, perhaps emphasizing the “seeking sublime knowledge” side of the goddess.  I intended it as an invitation to Charlotte, who was then all of sixteen, into the world of new music performance.  She premiered it in 2009, with Faith Loewe at the piano. This performance is from 2013 when Charlotte performed it with pianist Cassandra Kaczor.

Kali, She Who Devours Time

Access to score (3 mvmts.): Arsis Press #040131A AP-743A 
Parts: #040131B AP-743B 
http://www.instantweb.com/a/arsispress/Inst.html#Orchestra
(See publication details below)

Symphony of Alcoves has three short movements, making up a 12-minute work.  It was begun in the summer of 2001 and was completed in October 2002.  The title draws on the image of an alcove--a small, recessed extension of a room, often with an arched opening.  Each movement might be seen as a room in a house.  The outer "rooms" have alcoves (three in the first, two in the third), with each alcove having both its own identity and its own intimate relation to the main room.  Each alcove also has its own instrumental character, carved from the full orchestra of the main room. A "secret passageway" of sorts recurs in each of the three rooms and serves to connect them.  The second room is the smallest of the three, too small for its own alcoves, and almost an alcove itself within the whole piece.  It is entirely unified by the continuous alternation of 3/8 and 7/16 meters, but with two distinct sections, rounded out by a short return to the first section.  Published by Arsis Press.

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Symphony of Alcoves, 2nd mvmt., orchestra

Claricello (Jason Gresl, clarinet, and Lara Turner, cello) commissioned Rift. There are several internal sections: Before the rift, Rifting begins, Rifting is nearly complete, Adrift, Mending the rift, Beyond the rift.

Rift, for clarinet and piano

Contact Zae Munn directly for score access: zmunn@saintmarys.edu

This is the premiere of Hushed Haiku, for mixed choir and piano, composed by Zae Munn. Commissioned by the South Bend Chamber Singers, Nancy Menk, conductor, David Eicher, piano. 12/17/17, Church of Loretto, Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN. The lyrics are five unpublished haiku by American novelist and poet Karen Hesse.

Hushed Haiku, written for the South Bend Chamber Singers and completed in 2017, is a musical setting of five unpublished haiku by Karen Hesse, an American author of historically based books for young adults. As with traditional haiku, Hesse’s five evoke images of the natural world, and these five have a particular focus on the season of winter.

Haiku syllabic structure requires five syllables in the first and third lines of each three-line haiku, and the number five figures prominently throughout Hushed Haiku—five sections, five-part chorus, 5/8 and 5/4  meters in alternating sections, and a five-word phrase, built of one significant word from each of the five haiku, provides the text for a unifying musical ostinato. 

In her choral and vocal works, Munn typically sets texts by living writers, including Peg Lauber, Marilyn Taylor, and Karen Hesse. One of Hesse’s young adult novels, Witness, was the basis of the libretto for Zae’s 2006 full-length opera of the same name and her very short opera, Night of Blue Magic, sets 22 haiku by Hesse. 

Everything is hushed
on the first snowy morning,
even the sparrows.

A single candle
lighting the cave of winter,
reflects in your eyes 
Days so short, the light
becomes an honored guest who
never overstays.
Little mouse sleeping
in a nest of grass and weeds.
Tail wrapped close around.
Beautiful new snow,
resting its white cheek against
the quilted rooftops.
	--Karen Hesse

Hushed Haiku

Written for and premiered by faculty in the Center for New Music at the University of Iowa: Courtney Miller, oboe; Christine Rutledge, viola; and David Gompper, piano. Recording date: Dec. 2, 2018.

Accord seeks to reach a grand accord amongst distinct and seemingly opposed musical identities. There are three metric identities (symmetric, asymmetric, and ametric) and two pitch collection identities (a pitch centric collection and a 7-note synthetic scale that avoids a tonal center). The metric identities do not have a one-to-one relationship with the pitch collections, but combine in various ways to create a series of nine continuous sections, each a step along the way towards the ninth section, "The Grand Accord."

Pensive, yearning
Purposeful
Groove
Easement
Pensive with purpose
Re-entering the groove
Purposeful
Detente
The Grand Accord

Zae Munn

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