BandMedium5:00

All My Heart

“…a centuries-old love song… immediately captivating and timeless and simple and easy and familiar…”

Listen to All My Heart

Performed by the Pacific Symphony Youth Concert Band
Conductor Angela Woo
Audio Engineer Paul Sobosky

View Sample Score

All My Heart

Program Note

By Michael Markowski

I was lying in bed one night, scrolling rather lifelessly on my phone, when I came across a video a friend had shared. It was from a taped performance at the Regional Cultural Centre in Donegal, Ireland featuring Séamus McGuire lovingly playing his fiddle and Steve Cooney tenderly accompanying on his guitar. The pair had started playing a centuries-old love song from the Petrie Collection of Irish Music called “With Her Dog and Her Gun.” As I laid there listening for the first time, something inside me stirred. I could feel my heart begin to swell. Something about this song was immediately captivating and timeless and simple and easy and familiar—like I had known it all my life. I went to bed with this recording running wild in my head, with fragments of it endlessly echoing every corner of my tired body. The next day, I listened again—perhaps to see if the magic I felt the night before was still there—and again, my heart swelled. Soon enough, I realized I couldn’t get this tune out of my head! I became obsessed with it—and the striking beauty of this performance in particular—and after a while, I felt as if it was bursting my heart wide open in a way my heart hadn’t been opened before. No other melodies or themes or songs that I had been listening to or composing myself had moved me with the magnitude that this one had. It had ingrained itself deep within me, and I was completely under its spell. Within such a short time, this beautiful Irish melody had entirely consumed me and all my heart.

Notable Performances

BYU-Idaho Symphony Band
Dave Faires, conductor

Youngstown State University Wind Ensemble
Michael S. Butler, conductor

Marion High School Wind Symphony
Logan Vander Wiel, conductor

Commissioned By

Click here for a full list of consortium members.

Publisher

Markowski Creative (ASCAP)

Instrumentation

Piccolo
Flute 1 & 2
Oboe
Bassoon 1 & 2
B-flat Clarinet 1 – 3
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Contra Alto Clarinet (optional)
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone 1 & 2
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone

B-flat Trumpet 1 – 3
Horn 1 & 2
Trombone 1 – 3
Euphonium 1 & 2
Tuba

Timpani
Glockenspiel
Chimes
Vibraphone
Marimba 1 (High Part), Suspended Cymbal
Marimba 2 (Low Part), Crash Cymbals, Triangle, Mark Tree
Percussion 1: Sleigh Bells (shared), Low Tom, Snare Drum
Percussion 2: Bass Drum, Triangle, Sleigh Bells (shared)

Errata

No known errata.

Year Completed

2023

Weight N/A
Dimensions N/A
Difficulty

Duration

Genre

Wind Ensemble