The
Children’s March: Over the Hills And Far Away
Percy Aldridge GRAINGER
(1882-1961)
The
Children’s March: Over the Hills And Far Away is the only original work from
Grainger’s military period, the other pieces are revisions of earlier works.
It’s one of the earliest pieces with the piano integrated in the orchestra’s
instrumentation. As in more of his pieces, Grainger lets the piano player hit
the strings with a percussion mallet. Because the Army band’s instrumentation
didn’t allow the piece to be played originally, Grainger cued bits of the
piano part into several wind parts.
For
the first time the low reeds were used to successfully balance the woodwinds
against the brass. This technique can also be found in Grainger’s later works
for wind orchestra. As mentioned, this is an original piece, and it’s not
based on a children’s song titled ‘Over The Hills and Far Away’, as one
may assume. The piece has an enigmatic subtitle: ‘for my playmate beyond the
hills’, but Grainger never said who this playmate was. Also worth mentioning
are the optional singing bits, to be performed by the band members.