VOYAGE OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

for

Concert Band

Isabella P. Morrill

Grade 3+ | Duration: 4'15"

Voyage of the Northern Lights, was unanimously selected as the 2022 National Band Association's Merrill Jones Memorial Young Band Composition Contest winner. This prestigious competition is open to all composers from around the world, under the age of 40, who have composed a work for young bands.

Voyage of the Northern Lights was commissioned in 2022 by the Chief Umtuch Middle School Band in Battle Ground, Washington, Danielle Armstrong, director. The work is based on a Scandinavian folk tale, which explains that the beautiful, awe-inspiring northern lights are actually carrying fallen soldiers and Vikings to heaven. Another version of this folklore explains that the lights represent their final exhales and farewells before entering the afterlife. Having deep familial roots in Finland, the composer utilized modes, six-note scales, and progressions that have the feel of a Scandinavian folk tune. The first section represents a burial hymn to those who have passed as family members say their last goodbyes with somber hearts. The piece quickly progresses into a flurrying, colorful dance of the northern lights as they appear to sweep away the fallen into a new life. The themes are mixed as the fallen understand that they too must let go of their loved ones still on earth. Musical motion continues throughout as a signal of the ever-shifting shapes and contours of the northern lights. At one point the composer utilizes a waltz that carries over themes from the hymn, representing a picture of the fallen reuniting with those they love in heaven. The piece ends with a restatement of the beginning theme as a new day begins to override the voyage of the lights, and as those remaining on earth must continue to live life, carrying the memory of the night of the northern lights.

University of Kansas Wind Ensemble, Paul Popiel, conductor

COMPOSER
FORCES

Isabella Morrill, born & raised on the coast of Oregon, is a composer and arranger specializing in music for wind ensemble, concert band, film, and orchestra. Her music is most often dramatic & energizing, and her goal is to bring rich tangibility to those who listen to her compositions. She is a dual citizen of the USA and Finland, and one of her great joys is to tie her Scandinavian heritage closely into her music.

In the fall of 2019, Isabella was titled co-champion of the Oregon Music Education Association’s Composition Contest with her orchestral piece Hymn to the Rain. After this, she gained a commission through the Newport Youth Composer Symposium. This symposium led her to work with Dr. Dana Reason and Michael Dalton in her composition training. She is a recipient of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame Scholarship as well as the Finlandia Foundation Scholarship as a composer.

Isabella attends Western Oregon University on scholarship as a composition major in her senior year, studying under Dr. Kevin Walczyk. She has worked there as the Resident Composer, writing and arranging for the Western Oregon Wind Ensemble. During her first year, she was commissioned by the Portland Youth Philharmonic through the Youth Orchestra Commissioning Initiative in 2021. Her commissioned piece, Bartokian Brass, was performed in June of the same year by the brass ensemble of the PYP.

Her sophomore year led to a commissioned band work from Washington High School in Tacoma (WA), as well as a commissioned work from Chief Umtuch Middle School in Battleground, WA. Since then, Isabella has been focusing on writing for band and wind ensemble.

She was named the 2022 winner of the National Band Association’s Merrill Jones Memorial Young Band Composition Contest for her piece Voyage of the Northern Lights, leading to performances with The University of Kansas, Washington State University, Eastern New Mexico University, Notre Dame College, the Washington-Idaho Symphony (WIS) and more. She has been a composer in residence for WSU and the Washington-Idaho Symphony. She has many projects ahead of her, including a multi-institutional consortium commission for wind-ensemble through The University of Kansas and a film-score project with a silent film festival in Idaho.

Alongside these accomplishments, Isabella has arranged and composed smaller works for a various number of clients. Isabella also is an accomplished horn player and has played in several professional groups across the Northwest.

CONCERT BAND INSTRUMENTATION

Voyage of the Northern Lights is a grade 3+ work. It is suitable for most advanced middle school bands, high school concert bands, and small college bands. The work is easy and suitable for college-level bands.

flutes 1-2
oboe
clarinets 1-3
bass clarinet
alto saxophones 1-2
tenor saxophone
baritone saxophone
bassoon
horns 1-2
trumpets 1-3
trombones 1-3
euphonium – B.C. & T.C.
tuba
timpani – 3 drums
percussion 1 – chimes, glockenspiel and tam-tam (shared with player 4)
percussion 2 – suspended cymbal & snare drum
percussion 3 – bass drum
percussion 4 – vibraphone & tam-tam (shared with player 2)