Sheet Music and CDs for Voice by Howard J. Buss

Music for Voice (including narrator)

(Click on an instrumentation link, works are listed in alphabetical order within each category.)

Voice with one other instrument

Voice in chamber music

Voice and one other instrument (in alphabetical order, durations in parenthesis):

THE ASPHALT BLANKET (1995) for narrator & alto flute (or C flute) is the 5th movement of the composition Modern Times. This work is reflective and laments what is lost in the name of “progress” in the modern world. Recorded on the Capstone Records CD Howard J. Buss: Modern Times, available from the composer, (3’10) Grade V. Sound Sample.mp3

Video on YouTube

Music available from Cimarron Music Press

A MIDDLE-AGED MAN AND HIS TWO MISTRESSES for baritone voice and alto sax is based on a fable by Aesop, adapted by the composer for this musical setting. As with many of Aesop's fables, human foibles are addressed in an entertaining and humorous manner. While performing "A Middle-aged Man and His Two Mistresses" the performers create a lighthearted, playful atmosphere.
(6'50") Grade V. Score sample: Excerpt.pdf - Video on YouTube

Music available from Cimarron Music Press

WHERE NOW RUSTS THE IRON? (1994) for high voice (soprano or tenor) and piano is a dramatic tribute to the composer’s grandfather who, like many ironworkers in his day, worked under brutal conditions with the dream of making life better for future generations. “A moving work touching our communal soul.” (8’) Grade IV- V.
Score sample: Excerpt.pdf

Text: “Where Now Rusts the Iron?”
Homes now stand where once the foundry coughed.
Countless tons of iron -
wheels and pans,
boilers and pipes,
latches and plates.
Countless train loads of hardware
shrieked from the pounding, grimy world within.

Iron converted from life itself,
energy given form.
Precious moments, days, and years
poured into molds and sealed
amid the ashes and dust,
always ashes and dust,
suspended in life-stealing air.

The graves of the workers overlook this place,
their fam’lies spread afar.
Season come and go, yet frozen in mem’ry
are the days of youth spent in toil, hope, and purpose.
Where now rusts the iron once cast by pounding hearts,
releasing the dreams, the souls,
invested in tough, cold metal?

The foundry still stands among the houses,
coughing on smoke-laden air.
Invisible as the iron once made,
its souls as mist remains. - Howard J. Buss
Copyright © 1994 by Brixton Publications 

Music available from Cimarron Music Press

Voice in chamber music (in alphabetical order)

MODERN TIMES (1995) for narrator, flute, and 4 percussion (words & music by Howard J. Buss) is a powerful depiction of life in our time. Provocative, at times mystical, and occasionally humorous, this work addresses an eclectic range of subjects such as taxes, neglected children, team mascots, and the information glut. “The tenor of Buss’ social commentary is somewhere between the witty jeering of Mark Twain and the pithy insights of Sinclair Lewis. In his free verse one finds provocation without violence and intense anger without profanity.” - The Tampa Tribune. The music transports the poetry into the dramatic and colorful sound world of the flute and percussion ensemble. The result is a unique and fresh view of the culture(s) in which we live. “The writing is mature and fresh, yet is within reach of a solid college ensemble.” - George Frock, Percussive Notes Magazine  “This work is well-paced, colorful and accessible to audiences not familiar with complex percussion literature.This is truly one of the finest works in our idiom.” Robert McCormick, Florida Percussive News. The 8 movements may be performed individually or in smaller groupings.  (30’)  Grade V.
Recorded on the CD Howard J. Buss: Modern Times, available from the composer.
Sound samples:
I. Info Glut Sample.mp3; II. Night Tide Sample.mp3;

III. The Hunt ) Sound Sample.mp3; IV. Five Question Interlude Sample.mp3;

V. The Asphalt Blanket Sample.mp3; VI. To a Neglected Child Sample.mp3

VII. Giggles!?! Sample.mp3; VIII. Modern Times Sample#1.mp3; Sample#2.mp3

Video on YouTube

Percussion: Percussion 1: Xylophone, lion roar, tam-tam, vibraslap, suspended cymbals, Chinese bell tree, and bongos; Percussion 2: Marimba, snare drum, bass drum, anvils (metal pipes may be substituted), glass jug or jars (to be broken for the sonic effect), conga drum, wind chimes, and triangle; Percussion 3: Vibes, roto toms, tambourine, tam-tam, police whistle, shaker, duck call; Percussion 4: Orchestra bells, timpani, agogo bells, suspended cymbals, hi-hat, wind chimes, wood block, frog croak (may be imitated vocally), boing box effect (a flexitone may be substituted), triangle and guiro.

Music available from Cimarron Music Press

NIGHT WATCH for two SATB choirs. This antiphonal work addresses the watchfulness necessary in the modern age of international tensions. Written during the Cold War, Night Watch juxtaposes images of nighttime serenity with the awareness of threats from afar with reference to the vigilance of radar searching for incoming missiles and warplanes. (6') Grade IV-V.

Order from  Subito Music.

WHERE NOW RUSTS THE IRON? (1994) for high voice (soprano or tenor), flute, cello and 6 percussion is a dramatic tribute to the composer’s grandfather who, like many ironworkers in his day, worked under brutal conditions with the dream of making life better for future generations. “A moving work touching our communal soul." (8’) Grade IV-V. 
Score sample: Excerpt.pdf

Music available from Cimarron Music Press

Howard J. Buss, Composer       

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Vocal Music: graded catalog. Product description: Vocal: Solos, Duos, Chamber Music.