Cherise D. Leiter, Composer

Friends from My Childhood (2023)

Medium: soprano, clarinet or violin, and piano

Length: ~8 min

​

Friends from my Childhood is a trio for voice, clarinet or violin, and piano, commissioned by the Parlando School of Musical Arts. It is a set of four short songs with texts drawn from books that were favorites of the composer when a young person. The fanfare-like music sets off “Something Splendid” which quotes the irrepressible Jo March from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. “Mistress Mary” comes from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and moves between the asymmetrical meter of 5/8, and the more lyrical 6/8. “Pray” pulls its text from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery and uses a series of major triads to express Anne Shirley’s deeply sincere approach to praying. And Frank L. Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz provides the text for “A Diploma” which, with the aid of a bouncy, upbeat accompaniment, discusses the incontrovertible fact that one doesn’t need a brain to prove intelligence, but only a diploma!

​

Price: $15