Sand Castles

Even though this beautiful song is perfect for performances that might focus on warm weather, beaches, oceans, summer, or even imagination, it's also a strong candidate for a contest piece. It is full of musical moments and opportunities for vocal excellence. With a gentle beginning, it builds to a passionate chorus by way of a sweet, harmonic blending of tension and release. Your older singers will appreciate its sophistication, but that doesn't mean younger singers might not also enjoy it. There are three vocal parts, tastefully woven together. But as usual, parts 2 and 3 are optional. We provide a background accompaniment track on the recording that reinforces these parts in case you use the song as a unison piece. To demonstrate how this would sound, we have included a unison version on the recording (track 34). Also, we chose to use two soloists at the beginning (Grace Morgan and Megan Byers), but of course you can use multiple singers if you prefer.

To help teach and learn the song, we have isolated parts 1, 2, and 3 and put them on our web site where you and your students can access them for free. We have also created an a cappella version to inspire your singers or just to listen to and enjoy. You can find details for these downloads on the chart on page 67 of this issue.