A Lunchtime carillon concert. Free. Free Parking in the lot in front of the tower on Euclid Avenue also along Bellflower Rd behind the tower, a great place to hear the concert.

Sheryl Modlin, Guest Carillonneur
Celebrating Black History Month

Program

J. Rosamond Dorsey    arr. John Courter
Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing 

Rev. Dr. Charles Albert Tindley       arr. Tiffany Ng
We Shall Overcome 

Thomas A. Dorsey     arr. John Courter
Precious Lord

Florence Price  arr. Tiffany Ng
Allegretto

Traditional  arr. Peter Paul Olejar
Wade in the Water 

Spiritual  arr. Richard Giszczak
Go Tell It On the Mountain

Harry Dixon Loes    arr. Tiffany Ng
This Little Light of Mine

Scott Joplin  arr. Wesley Arai
The Cascades

R. Nathaniel Dett   arr. Roy Lee
Juba Dance 

Bob Thiele & George David Weiss   arr. Lisa Lonie
What a Wonderful World

Traditional   arr. John Courter
He’s Got the Whole World in  His Hands

NOTES

Lift Every Voice (The Black National Anthem). The lyrics were written as a poem by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) then set to music by his brother Rosamond Johnson in 1899. This song was written when Jim Crow laws went into effect (after slavery) enforcing racial segregation. It recognizes the suffering and sacrifices of ancestors and celebrates new liberties for African Americans. This song was first performed by 500 school children at Stanton school in Jacksonville, Florida where James Weldon Johnson served as school principal.

We Shall Overcome. “I’ll Overcome Someday” was a hymn written by Methodist Minister Charles Albert Tindley, published in 1900. I Will Overcome was sung as a protest song on a picket line in a 5- month labor strike against American Tobacco in Charleston, SC from 1945-1946. Most of the workers were African American women protesting for a wage increase from 40 to 65 cents an hour and medical benefits. The song was changed to We Shall Overcome and was the anthem for the Civil Rights Movement.

Precious Lord was written by Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993) after he lost his wife and infant son during childbirth in 1932. Rev Dorsey wrote 1000 Gospel Songs and is called the “Father of Gospel Music”. Precious Lord was Martin Luther King, Jr’s favorite hymn. He invited Mahalia Jackson to sing this song at the Civil Rights Rallies and told her he wanted her to sing it at his funeral. This song is associated with the Civil Rights Movement.

Florence Price (1868-1953) was the first African American women recognized as a Symphonic Composer, and the first to have a composition performed by a major orchestra. She was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. She performed her first piano concert at age 4; her first composition was published at age 11. Jim Crow laws prevented her from studying in the South, so she studied at the New England Conservatory of Music. She settled in Chicago and composed over 300 works and 4 symphonies.

Wade in the Water was first published in ‘New Jubilee Songs – as sung by Fisk Jubilee Singers” (1901)by  John Wesley Work, Jr. (1871-1925). Negro Spirituals were not written down but were passed down verbally plantation to plantation. John Wesley Work, Jr. grew up in Nashville, TN- the son of a choir director. Mr. Work was the first collector of Negro Spirituals – travelling home to home, writing lyrics and melodies on music scores. He studied Latin and Greek at Fisk and later served as director of the “Fisk Jubilee Singers”. The verses of Wade in the Water reflect the Israelites escape from Egypt in the book of Exodus. Harriet Tubman sang this song directing runaway slaves to get off the trail into the water so dogs could not follow their scent.

Go Tell It on the Mountain. John Wesley Work, Jr. did not write this song, but is often credited with us enjoying this piece.

This Little Light of Mine was originally written as a children’s song. It later became an anthem of the Civil Right’s Movement in the 1960’s.

Scott Joplin (1868-1917) is known as the King of Ragtime. He wrote 40 Ragtime pieces, one Ragtime ballet and two operas, He performed at the Chicago World’s Fair (1893) which had 27 million attendees and was largely responsible for making Ragtime a national craze. The publication of the “Maple Leaf Rag” brought him fame in 1899. The 1973 Academy award-winning film “The Sting” featured several of Joplin’s compositions. In 1976 Joplin was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) was a Black Canadian- American composer who incorporated spirituals in classical music. He studied composition and piano and was the first Black American to complete the Bachelor of Music at Oberlin.

What A Wonderful World was recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1967 and released in 1968 (the year race riots broke out in over 100 cities from Newark to Detroit). This song was written to ease racial and political tensions and to inspire peace, harmony and love.

He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands is an African American Spiritual first published in 1927.

Sheryl Modlin has played the Arter Memorial Carillon at the Church of the Saviour, Cleveland Heights, OH for the past eight years. Other musical interests include the church handbell choir. She is an anesthesiologist with the Cleveland Clinic. Sheryl is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the McGaffin Carillon in University Circle.

The carillon can be heard from the grounds around the tower including the Case Western Reserve Campus behind the tower away from the Euclid Avenue traffic noise. Concerts are rain or shine and your car is also a place to hear the concert. Horn honking is an accepted form of applause at the end of the program.

Send music requests to info@ucbells.org
 
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