Main Page  About Gail  About my CDs  Music Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho Swing Low Sweet Chariot Turn Your Radio On Bridge Over Troubled Water What a Friend We Have in Jesus Battle Hymn of the Republic  Chronicles  Our Studio  Stone Soup  Editorial Page  Credits  Links  Announcement List

Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho Composer :  American Traditional Spiritual Arranger :  Gail Selkirk Vocals:  Just me! Recording and Mixing Progress Initial mix of Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho! - MP3 5.9 MB On slow (modem) connections this MP3 file may take a long time to load.   However, you'll find it worth the wait!  Problems streaming or downloading?  Click Here. Background About the Song While perusing through a very old children's Bible story book,  I saw a picture of Joshua leading the Israelites in battle against the city of Jericho.   The picture was so vivid that it inspired me to take the traditional American spiritual "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" and write a jazz arrangement of it. Arranging and Performance Notes This arrangement of "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" is an a'cappella work.   It was quite challenging to sing because: I had to sing all the parts myself, one-by-one: sopranos, altos, tenors and basses. In some sections there are 24 of me! There were tricky harmonies, timing and phrasing that had to be synchronized throughout the song. The wonders of technology let me be a bass!   Thanks to Robert Bielik of RBC Audio for his "Voice Tweaker".   See the Studio Recording Notes below for a link to a page that describes how we did that (complete with audio clips). The original song lyrics give very little background to this biblical epic.   So,  I wrote a classical sounding recitative and a preamble to provide more context to the story (and also to make it a more interesting arrangement). Initial roughly mixed version of my recitative for Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho - MP3 1.4 MB Problems streaming or downloading?  Click Here. Initial roughly mixed version of my preamble for Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho - MP3 446 kB Problems streaming or downloading?  Click Here. To add opposing rhythm to the lead vocal, I used the word "talk" repeatedly in the backup vocals. Lots of "talks", stereo placement and effects, give this section an element of activity and confusion underneath the simple lead vocal. Initial roughly mixed version of my Talk-Talk section for Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho - MP3 440 kB Problems streaming or downloading?  Click Here. In my original arrangement,  I had one shout chorus that was repeated.   To develop it further,  I reharmonized the melody for the second shout chorus and added a few "doo-dads" to make it more interesting. Initial rough mix of my Shout Chorus - parts one and two for Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho - MP3 1.8 MB Problems streaming or downloading?  Click Here. At the coda of the arrangement,  you will hear single voices sing "tumblin', tumblin'...".   This section is interesting because it consists of one arpeggiated augmented fifth chord held and followed by another augmented arpeggiated fifth chord.. Initial rough mix of my tumblin', tumblin'... section for Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho - MP3 200 kB Problems streaming or downloading?  Click Here. Studio Recording Notes: "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" was the first song that we recorded in our studio.   The song was recorded section by section,  part by part,  over a number of months.   If you are interested in some of the technical recording details,  check out: How to turn a Soprano into a Bass!

gail@xwing.org
nick@xwing.org