Fanfare For The Grand Canyon

The year 2019 marks the 100th anniversary of our awe-inspiring Grand Canyon as the 15th National Park. 277 miles long and 18 miles wide, it is mainly in the state of Arizona, though it is adjacent to other parts of our western landscape. The area around the canyon has been inhabited for thousands of years by various tribes of Native Americans, though the exact early dates are still vigorously debated. It is thought that ancestral people were there by at least 1200 BCE. Also early were the ancestors of the Pueblo people, which continue to the modern Pueblo people today.

To honor this monumental area of our country, we have created a concert work for your young recorder players. As with many of our recorder features, we arranged this so it has three recorder parts: recorder 1, with the harder part, most precisely tied to the melody of the work; recorder 2, also a soprano part, but much easier, and you can simplify it even more if you like; and alto recorder, appropriate for a player just learning the instrument.

The work has a long, slower theme that represents the size and grandeur of the canyon and the continuity of the Colorado River which runs through it and has created it over the millennia, carving it from the rock. This plays against the brass fanfare lines which rise and fall as the work moves forward.

Among the downloads you will find the condensed piano/recorder score for this work. And since there is so much to see in the Grand Canyon, we are giving you a nice selection of downloadable pictures to share, too.