Night Thoughts: Three Songs for Children

Night Thoughts: Three Songs for Children was commissioned by the Sherbourne McCurdy Foundation and Alberta Culture for the 1987 Alberta Music Festival syllabus. They asked me for one song for a boy soprano 10 or under. Since I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, and it seemed like fun, I wrote three and asked that they choose their favourite. Their favourite turned out to be the third, “Young Night Thought.” Several years later, I was contacted by Roberta Stephen of Alberta Keys Music Publishing. She was taking over all of the Sherbourne McCurdy Commissions and wanted to know if I were interested in having these songs published. I said yes, but that I would like to see the three songs together. Roberta’s idea was that they could be used as solo pieces or by children’s choirs. I think they would be very nice performed by an adult soprano as well. They are very accessible, lyrical, and tonal.

Note: The Alberta Keys Music Publishing catalogue is now available through Palliser Music Publishing