Shop for Music
Compose Like a Girl
A Quilt of Snow (SATB)
Norwegian Folk Tune, arr. Patti Arntz
A delightful piece appropriate for a winter or holiday concert.
-
A Quilt of Snow
-
A Quilt of Snow
for SATB div. a cappella choir and C instrument
“A Quilt of Snow” fills out the repertoire for a delightful piece appropriate for a winter or holiday concert. A delightful sense of lyricism and joy permeate the song.
Patti Arntz has been a music educator and church musician in the Twin Cities area for over 40 years. She has degrees in music from Hamline University, St. Paul, MN and Drake University, Des Moines, IA and a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN.
She recently retired from teaching elementary music with the Robbinsdale Area Schools in the Twin Cities area. During her 30 years of instructing young children to sing and make music, she also directed the Robbinsdale All-District Elementary Honors Choir for 15 years. Throughout her teaching career, she served as an organist and director of youth/adult choirs in local churches.
In 2003, Patti was contacted by St. Olaf College to see if she would take a student teacher. The answer was yes, of course. That student teacher was Jocelyn Hagen. The favor was returned when Jocelyn served as a mentor for Patti’s compositions and arrangements.
In 2010, Patti commissioned Jocelyn to compose a children’s choir piece in memory of Teresa Benjamin, Assistant Director of the Robbinsdale Elementary Honor Choir. Teresa passed away in the spring of 2003. This composition, “I Started Out Singing,” has become very popular in recent years.
Keeping in touch with her elementary music roots, she serves as an adjunct professor at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota, instructing elementary education majors on teaching and integrating music into their future classrooms.
Patti lives in the Twin Cities area with her husband, Rolland, where she enjoys outdoor activities, traveling and cooking. She sings with Singers in Accord and is a charter member of the choir. Her adult children, Kyle and Melani are both very involved in music in the Twin Cities area.
Composer’s Notes
I have always been interested in folksongs from other coun- tries. In 2014, I traveled to Norway and while there went
in search of Norwegian songbooks. I found “Snoen er her” (which translates as Snow is Here) in one of those books and was immediately attracted to the unusual melody and harmonic structure. It is a simple eight-measure melody with several verses. I have added an introduction, vocal and instrumental countermelodies and interludes between the original verses. Adding a C instrument obligato en- hances the two vocal parts. I contacted the composer of “Snoen er her,” Odd Nordstoga, who is a well-known folk- singer in Norway. He is thrilled that his music will be heard in the United States.
As the lyrics were written in Norwegian, I engaged the help of a Norwegian relative to provide a translation. It’s a story about the first snow of the season where snow covers the warm earth with a blanket of white. The children are excited to go out and play. This eventually leads to a snow- ball fight. When darkness appears, the children go home, wet from their play and sit by the warm fire.
With that story in mind, I created the lyrics to “A Quilt of Snow.” It reminds me of my youth and how I looked forward to the first snow of the season. There is a sense of peace when all is quiet. I believe it speaks to all generations as we recall those days of wonderment.
I hope “A Quilt of Snow” brings you the sense of peace and wonder that happens with the first snowfall of the season. And maybe every time it snows.
– Patti Arntz
Text
White is the air,
white everywhere,
All the world is silent amid glist’ning snow.
Autumn is past,
trees white at last,
All the earth is warm ‘neath a quilt of snow.
Outside we go,
hearts with a glow
As we gently tread over new fallen snow.
One by one,
friends join the fun,
All the earth is warm ‘neath a quilt of snow.
Watch snowballs fly, through the sky,
grab your sled, cascade down the long sloping hill.
Darkness is near and our shadows appear.
Home by the fire melts away snowy chill.
– Patti Arntz
$1.95 per licensed PDF
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.