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Finally a symphonic work that celebrates and commemorates the story of the Oregon Trail. Sketches from the Oregon Trail portrays
in music the westward emigrants' journey over 2,000 miles of endless prairie, highland deserts and rugged mountain ranges in order to reach their
promised land, OREGON!
This musical journey delights listeners with breathtaking prairie sunrises, a rambunctious hoedown, buffalo waltzes,
mountain blizzards, and a heart-warming and reverent final celebration at the end of the Trail.
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"I like 'Sketches from the Oregon Trail' very much. Mr. Misner has created a wondrous piece of music that is in the same class as works by Aaron Copland, Gershwin, and Leonard Bernstein" |
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Listen to Sketches from the Oregon Trail |
| 1.Sunrise on an Open Prairie: Somewhere out there, amongst the jackrabbits and buffalo grass, dawn quietly arrives on the Great Plains of North America. It is the early years of the western migration and a lone covered wagon bumps along in the distance. |
| 2. Free Land Out West!: Strike up the band! There's free land out west in Oregon. Newspapers wrote of "Manifest Destiny" and the need and duty as a nation to spread out across the continent. Oregon fever was rampant in the "jumping off" towns of Council Bluffs, St. Joseph, and Independence. |
| 3. Buckskins and Bonnets: It was the men and women, and their roles that defined the Oregon Trail experience. Busy from sun up to sun down, men tended the animals, drove the wagons, and hunted game, while women took care of the cooking, mending and children. |
| 4. Hoedown at Independence Rock: Reaching the lonely granite-domed landmark "Independence Rock" by July 4th meant the emigrants were on schedule to arrive in Oregon before the winter snows began to fall in the Cascades. And that was cause to celebrate their nation's independence with music and dance. |
| 5. A Campfire Lullaby: Two fiddles and two guitars serenade the night, within the flicker and glow of the warm firelight. |
| 6. Waltz of the Buffalo - A Child's Dream: The lullaby has made the little ones drowsy and off they go to their bedrolls. One young girl, all snuggled up in her blankets, quickly drifts off to sleep and is soon delighted by a dream of a small herd of buffalo performing a comical dance just for her. |
| 7. A Visit to the Fort: There were several forts along the Oregon Trail and some of them offered blacksmith services and various supplies, sometimes at what the emigrants thought were extremely high prices. Arriving at a fort, travelers must have felt some relief and enjoyed the bit of civilization out there in the wilderness. |
| 8. Early Snowfall in the Blue Mountains: Eastern Oregon's Blue Mountains offered the emigrants their first look at the great coniferous forests of the Northwest, with amazingly tall trees and steep mountain terrain. Unfortunately, crossing these mountains in the late season sometimes meant risking an early snowstorm. Most pioneer parties made it through just fine. However, some weren't so lucky. |
| 9. The Endless Barlow Road: The last overland segment of the Oregon Trail around Oregon's famed Mt. Hood was fraught with difficulties and danger. Hardly a road at all, in fact, considering its never ending miles of rocky, deeply forested mountainous terrain and its discouragingly steep downhill grades on which many a wagon was destroyed. The Barlow Road thoroughly tested the emigrants' will and determination to make it to their new home. |
| 10. OREGON! The Promised Land: Finally! Oregon! Pioneer families recount their hardships and losses along the way, and rejoice in their triumph over the Trail and their accomplishment of making it to Oregon and the start of their new lives. |
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E-mail: tim.misner@comcast.net |