PROGRAM NOTES
Children's Folksong Suite is based on five Hungarian folk melodies with a simple, child-like character that have been culled from sources published between 1813 and 1896. The five melodies are also found in a collection of Hungarian and Slovakian folk songs in Béla Bartók’s piano collection entitled For Children. As with Bartók’s Mikrokosmos and his forty-four Violin Duets, For Children is an expression of Bartók’s interest in composing accessible works for young musicians that introduces them to contemporary harmonic resources rarely encountered at the beginning level. Similarly, the five folk melodies set in Children's Folksong Suite have been completely re-harmonized and, in some instances, expanded. Although not bound by common-practice theoretical expectations, Children's Folksong Suite preserves each piece’s unique, child-like character. Children's Folksong Suite is dedicated to the members of the Leslie Middle School band (Salem, Oregon) and their conductor Mr. Danh Pham, who commissioned the work.

HISTORY
Selected as a finalist for the 2007 CBDNA Young Band Composition Contest, Children's Folksong Suite will receive its official premiere January 25, 2008 at the Oregon Music Educators Association conference in Eugene, Oregon by the commissioning party - the Leslie Middle School band, under the direction of Mr. Danh Pham. The work will also receive multiple performances by the DeSoto High School Band (DeSoto, Texas), including an invitational performance at the Western Michigan University Band Festival in April, 2008. Dr. Paul W. Popiel, Assistant Director of Bands at Indiana University, has selected Children's Folksong Suite as a featured work for honor band performances. Children's Folksong Suite is being considered for two prominent band publications - GIA's Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series, and the Texas UIL list.

DIRECTOR REMARKS
"Wow! The woodwind colors and scoring works so well.  It is a great teaching piece for [brass] control, development of musical lines, etc. I think you have a winner in the piece! Thanks for allowing us the privilege of working on Children’s Folksong Suite."

- Harry Blake, Director of Bands, DeSoto High School (DeSoto, Texas)

"This is easily one of the most colorful works written for young band in many years!  Its beautifully scored melodies and complex harmonies make this piece a worthy addition to any middle school, high school, or university band concert.  A resounding success!"

- Danh Pham, Director of Bands, Leslie Middle School (Salem, Oregon)

DOWNLOAD THE SCORE AND LISTEN TO CHILDREN'S FOLKSONG SUITE
Select the image below to download a PDF of the score (including instrumentation, program notes, and rehearsal notes) to Children's Folksong Suite. Keveli Music gratefully acknowledges Mr. Robert Ponto and the University of Oregon Wind Ensemble for recording Children's Folksong Suite. The following files are in MP3 format. Please note that, since the work was recorded, 2 additional measures have been appended to the end of movement 5. The score accurately reflects this change. Total running time for all 5 movements is approximately 8 minutes and 35 seconds.