Choral Works
Short SATB Pieces
Tumbalalayka
SATB a cappella ・2’30”・Yiddish
“Tumbalalayka” has been performed numerous times around the world. Here is a March 2025 performance by the San Francisco Choral Artists, Magen Solomon, Artistic Director
This arrangement of the beloved Yiddish folksong features playful, unaccompanied vocal effects that imitate the balalayka, a guitar-like Russian folk instrument. It has been performed around the world by choruses of all sizes and types.
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Neapolitan Carol
SATB and piano・2’30”・Neapolitan or English
View the score and acquire download or print copies.…This arrangement of the Neapolitan Christmas carol, sometimes known as “Canzone d’i Zampognari,” or “Carol of the Bagpipers”, was written for the San Francisco Bach Choir in 2021. It tells the story of the starry night when Bethlehem was visited by three strangers from far away. Sung here in the original Neapolitan language, there is also an optional English text written by the composer.
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The Noble Art of Music
SATB a cappella ・2’
“The Noble Art of Music” is a short, fanfare-like choral setting of two well known quotations by Martin Luther about music:
After the word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.
As long as we live there is never enough singing.
It will work well as a concert opener and is suitable for many high school, college and community choirs.
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Fare Ye Well, My Darlin’
SATB a cappella ・4’40”
Based on an American folksong, perhaps dating from the Civil War, collected in South Carolina. A soldier bids farewell to his beloved, informing her that he has enlisted to fight in the war.
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Ducks in the Garden
SATB a cappella ・2’25”
A lilting, lyrical – but challenging – setting of a very silly poem. A fun choice for an advanced college chamber choir or professional singers.
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The Ballad of the Lost Lamb
SATB a cappella ・6’・Yiddish
A rather theatrical setting of “Di Balade Funem Farloyrenem Shefel,” a colorful allegory by Yiddish poet Itzik Manger telling the story of a shepherd boy searching high and low for his lost lamb, only to discover that he has found something more important that he didn’t know he was looking for.
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Are Friends Delight or Pain?
SATB a cappella ・2’15”
A double choir setting of the Emily Dickinson poem excerpted from Cycle of Friends for soprano solo, chorus and chamber orchestra, premiered by The Music Group of Philadelphia with Seán Deibler, Artistic Director.
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Roll the Tide
SATB a cappella ・3’50”
“Roll the Tide” is a short, a cappella quasi-spiritual excerpted from the larger work Waiting…, based on poems by Elisabeth T. Eliassen, that was premiered by the Sanford Dole Ensemble in San Francisco in 2012. The video a performance is heard by the Kodály Summer Institute Chorus at Holy Names University, conducted by László Matos.
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Treble Voices
Redbirds
2-part equal voices and piano・4’45”
Commissioned by the Organization of American Kodály Educators (OAKE), Redbirds was composed in 2020 and premiered by the national children’s honor choir and conductor Ruth Dwyer at the OAKE national conference in Pittsburgh in 2022. Poem by Sara Teasdale (1884 – 1933)
Program Note
With the mission of OAKE and children’s choirs in general in mind, I wanted to choose a text for this piece that children might connect with easily. I was initially drawn to the Sara Teasdale poem for its lilting, song-like rhythm, but I quickly grew to find its lucid nostalgia to be rich in opportunities for musical storytelling.
In the poem, Teasdale vividly portrays a fond memory – cardinals singing and images of trees and hills overlooking the Mississippi River – only to end on a questioning, slightly melancholy note. The piece opens with the piano simulating the chirping of cardinals in the past, and the poem is set to a folk-like melody in the Mixolydian mode – neither happy nor sad.
I hope that children who perform Redbirds will find it thought-provoking and enjoyable.
Extended Works
Most This Amazing
SATB choir, two pianos, and percussion ・11’ 45”
This uplifting setting of e.e. cummings’ “i thank You God for most this amazing”is an excellent choice for pairing with the Killmayer reduction of Orff’s Carmina Burana. There is unfortunately no live recording of the work. The computer-generated recording with score in the video attempts to give a general sense of what the piece is like.
Perusal score inquiries: michael.kaulkin@gmail.com