Umonde

Umonde is made up of 12 Circle Songs as follows: 

1. The Way

2. The Secret of Secrets

3. Beginning

3b. Beginning Reprise

4. Clarity

5. Patience

6. Heaven's Net

7. The Softest Thing

8. Cheerful Noise

9. The Kind Gift

10. The Newborn

11. Peace and Quiet

12. The Answer

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Umonde is made up of 12 Circle Songs which are scored for a range of recorders including Descant, Treble, Tenor, Bass and Great Bass as well as various Percussion instruments and Loop Station. 

Composer Soren Sieg says: 'Umonde in Xhosa means patience. To listen to these slowly evolving pieces needs patience, but it is exactly this process of layers building on each other that holds special magic for me. So when I started composing these circle songs I could not stop; these are only the first 12 of 24 I have composed so far. 

Looking for titles I turned to Lao Tzus Taoteking because his deep ancient philosophy is all about following the flow of energy, just like these pieces are. I found twelve fascinating quotes that became the mottos of the 12 pieces. In my view, our hectic interventionist world needs a more Taoistic approach. 

I would like to thank Michelle Holloway who first asked me to write the pieces, Claire Little who was encouraging me all the way, and Jitka Konecna with whom I recorded most of these circle songs-you can see her amazing performances on my Youtube channel. Jitka uses a Loop Station Boss RC 30 with two pedals. She plays with a wonderful Great Bass recorder, but because I know that many of you own no Great Bass recorder I made sure that this part can be played on a Bass Recorder throughout. 

To explain the special symbols: the circle indicates recording on one pedal, the square indicates that you stop that pedal, and the ,,play" sign indicates that the new recorder plays over the already recorded loops without recording. 

These pieces were born of the never-ending lockdowns, when we could not play with each other-we can at least play with ourselves via the ingenious invention of the Loop Station. While these pieces are quite meditative, they also have something playful and improvisational about them. So I would like to encourage you to play around with the material I provide here. 

I wish you a lot of fun with these works and look forward to the return to rehearsals and concerts, the essence of music'. 

Score only: 60 pages.