Four Eccentric Songs of Charles Ives

Four of Ives' most distinctive songs — arranged for concert band, and every bit as strange and wonderful as the originals.

Charles Ives spent decades writing songs that didn't fit anywhere — too experimental for the concert hall, too personal for popular taste. Steven Paxton's arrangement for Grade 4 concert band brings four of them together into a cohesive set that introduces wind players to one of America's most original compositional voices:

• The Cage — a leopard pacing, tonality dissolving, time suspended
• Walking — deceptively simple, quietly philosophical
• The Side Show — a carousel of borrowed tunes and wry humor
• Thoreau — meditative and expansive, drawn from the Concord Sonata movement

Together they form a portrait of Ives at his most eccentric and most human. The set gives advanced ensembles something genuinely unusual to program — music that challenges players and audiences alike to listen differently.

Composer: Charles Ives
Arranger: Steven Paxton
Instrumentation: Concert Band
Grade: 4
Movements: The Cage, Walking, The Side Show, Thoreau
Format: Digital download — score and parts included