SATB and piano (with optional percussion)
Duration: 3.5 minutes | Difficulty: Very Easy – Easy
This highly imaginative, creative arrangement of the popular Christmas carol for SATB, piano and percussion by Michael Higgins, brings the traditional story alive as the Three Kings (and their camels) follow the Star to Bethlehem.
SABar and piano (with optional percussion)
Duration: 3.5 minutes | Difficulty: Very Easy – Easy
This highly imaginative, creative arrangement of the popular Christmas carol for SABar, piano and percussion by Michael Higgins, brings the traditional story alive as the Three Kings (and their camels) follow the Star to Bethlehem.
Piano (6 hands)
Arranged for 1 piano, 6 hands by Michael Higgins. The Carnival of the Animals (Le Carnaval des animaux) is a humorous musical suite of fourteen movements by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The work, about 25 minutes in duration, was written for private performance and Saint-Saëns prohibited public performance of the work during his lifetime, feeling that its frivolity would damage his standing as a serious composer.
SATB (with divisions) and piano or organ
Duration: 4 minutes | Difficulty: Moderately Difficult – Difficult
Inspired by Brahms’ classic ‘Geistliches Lied’, ‘See, I am God’ by Michael Higgins with a text by Julian of Norwich was commissioned by Sonoro for their ‘Choral Inspirations’ project. Higgins has taken and enhanced the rich harmonic language used by Brahms, as well as playing with fragments of his melodies and has included a double-canon in the structure. The overall feeling is one of calm, comfort and serenity. This accessible new work is scored for SATB and piano or organ.
SABar and piano
Duration: 2.5 minutes | Difficulty: Very Easy – Easy
A gentle arrangement by Michael Higgins of the 17th-century lullaby for SABar, with a flowing idiomatic piano accompaniment.
SABar and piano
Duration: 3 minutes | Difficulty: Very Easy – Easy
Michael Higgins’ arrangement of How can I keep from singing? is a calm and flowing reimagination of Robert Lowry’s well-known melody. The harmonically rich piano accompaniment supports the choir as it explores different textures in each verse. Flexibly arranged, with options for an unaccompanied section and descant, this piece will appeal to community, school, and church choirs alike.
TBarB and piano
Duration: 2.5 minutes | Difficulty: Very Easy – Easy
Higgins’ setting of this popular folk song is simple and wistful, particularly well-suited for children’s and youth choirs. With delicate quaver flourishes, the piano accompaniment flows gently alongside the vocal lines, creating suspensions that reflect the mysterious demands of the narrator. Originally published in The Oxford Book of Flexible Choral Songs ed. Bullard for three-part choir.
Also available in versions for SSA or SABar and piano.
SATB (with divisions) and piano
Duration: 8 minutes | Difficulty: Moderately Difficult
Higgins’s arrangements of three North-American traditional songs are sophisticated and beautiful, supported by well-crafted piano accompaniments. The first, ‘Bright morning stars’, is illuminated by a shimmering piano part with opportunities for a soloist or small group. Energy and bounce is abundant throughout the second, ‘Little wheel a-turnin’’, where the melody is passed around the voices and coloured with interesting harmonies. The last piece, ‘He’s gone away’, is a parting song between two lovers with flowing melodies and accompaniment, and ends on a note of anticipation.
SABar and piano
Duration: 3 minutes | Difficulty: Very Easy – Easy
Higgins’s arrangement of the popular German carol is given a modern twist with fresh harmonies, but still captures the gentleness and tranquillity found in more traditional settings. Supported by sustained ‘oo’s and ‘ah’s throughout, the well-known melody is underpinned by a delicate piano accompaniment, with an optional unaccompanied middle section.
“Still, still, still is an arrangement by Michael Higgins of the well-loved Austrian traditional carol. Its most obvious attraction for smaller choirs with fewer men is that the voices are divided three ways – S, A, Bar – but this is by no means its only merit. The textures and harmonies all contribute to a sense of space and light, and the piano accompaniment gently illustrates the stillness that the text demands.”
Jeremy Jackman, Choir & Organ, August 2021
SS or unison upper voices and piano
Duration: 1.5 minutes | Difficulty: Very Easy – Easy
With a text by Eugene Field, Higgins’ charming melodies gently rock in compound time and start off in unison before growing into a simple two-part texture. The voices are supported by a busy piano part that mimic the glimmer of the star. This accessible, lively setting is also suitable for SA.
“Michael Higgins evokes the star with a busy, glittering piano part. Voices sing an easily learnt melody in unison and optionally two-part harmony and as a canon. The text, by the 19th-century American ‘poet of childhood’ Eugene Field, may seem a bit twee nowadays, but the piece could work well in a school Christmas concert.”
James L. Montgomery, Sunday by Sunday (RSCM), September 2022
