Lakeland Civic Orchestra Community Variations Project
May 18, 2026
Welcome to the Community Variations Project, where a group of composers will create a set of orchestral variations on The Soul of Lakeland, the alma mater of Lakeland Community College, to celebrate the College's 60th Anniversary! All the previously provided information is below this post.
By August 15, I will need your written first draft. It should show what your detailed plan is for your variation. Depending on your experience, it might be:
- A lead-sheet (melody + chords)
- A piano sketch (some or most or all the notes that will be there, just not assigned to any particular instrument yet)
- A piano+ sketch (like a piano-vocal score, or a piano+violin score--this allows you to show a main melody and accompaniment more clearly, if that's where you're going.
- An orchestral sketch: somewhere between the piano sketch and a score that I can conduct from, with decisions made about instruments.
- A full orchestral score.
Feel free to submit your draft early! It can be a scan or a PDF of your notation file (to prevent confusion with software, send as PDF for now). A MIDI rendering is helpful, but not necessary.
Timeline:
August 15, 2026: First draft of all variations due: only variations with a first draft submitted by this date will be considered for performance.
October 15, 2026: Second draft of all variations due: only variations with a second draft submitted by this date will be considered for performance.
January 1, 2027: Final draft (in full orchestral score) due. Begin final edits, typesetting and preparation of score and parts.
February 15, 2027: All materials to be ready for duplication and bowing.
March 1, 2027: First rehearsal with Lakeland Civic Orchestra
April 25, 2027: Premiere of Community Variations
What Should I Be Doing this Summer?
It will depend on how experienced you are as a composer, but as we look toward August 15, when your first draft is due, I would suggest the following:
Learn The Soul of Lakeland (download the score below). Sing it, play it on your instrument, and hack through it as well as you can on the piano in all four parts. Listen to the recording (download below). It's hard to write a variation without knowing the theme well.
Think about the kind of variation you might like to write. Think about what elements of the theme you want to keep, and which you want to change. Will you keep the bassline and write a new melody? Will you adapt the melody by making it your own in some way? Will you change the rhythm or meter or the theme? Is there an instrument or section that you want to feature? Will you try to copy some other style?
You may decide to try a couple of different variations: we can only play one per composer, but it might make sense to write a few and decide which one you want to pursue.
If you have gaps in your knowledge of some instruments, or the basic technique of combining instruments, now is the time to think about them. No book or video series is perfect. No one orchestral score will give you everything you need to know as you study it, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't check them out. A good place to start is the Orchestration Online community, perhaps beginning with this page: https://orchestrationonline.com/resources/books/
You will want to understand transposing instruments: for this project, that probably means English horn (if you write for it), clarinets, horns, and trumpets, along with a few octave transposers, but those are easier!). If you need help figuring that out, here's at least a place to start: https://www.teoria.com/en/articles/transposing/index.php
At any point in the process, don't hesitate to reach out for help! I hope to pair up less-experienced composers with more-experienced one, so you may get an email that says "Reach out to X, because they have a ton of experience in this area." I'm available to you as well, but there is a lot of help that will be needed!
Questions? Contact Dr. Matthew C. Saunders, director, Lakeland Civic Orchestra at [email protected]
| the_soul_of_lakeland_satb.pdf |
| Lakeland Alma Mater: Recording |
April 17, 2026
RE: Lakeland Civic Orchestra 2026-2027, Community Variations Project
You’re invited!
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of Lakeland Community College, the Lakeland Civic Orchestra is going to attempt a project unlike any we’ve tried before: Community Variations, a collaborative set of variations for orchestra. We will program this piece on our April 25, 2027, concert, and will include variations that can be completed by January 1, 2027, and are playable by our musicians. Variations may be composed by an orchestra member, past or present, or by any composer living in Northeast Ohio who feels a connection to Lakeland, to orchestral music, or to community music-making.
There are likely composers or aspiring composers who would like to participate, but would be glad for some assistance in technical matters. We will try to connect those who need help with those willing to help.
We cannot compensate composers for the time spent on this project and hope that you will consider making this “birthday gift” to the college that has been our sponsor and home for the better part of a century.
Specifications:
- The theme for Community Variations will be Lakeland’s alma mater, “The Soul of Lakeland” (vocal score and recording are included in the folder below). Our existing orchestral arrangement of the alma mater will serve as the presentation of the theme and open the variation set.
- How you incorporate the theme is largely up to you. But there should be some audible musical connection to the source material.
- All orchestral styles are welcome. That said, balance your use of non-standard techniques and innovative notation with the understanding that, despite our commitment to contemporary music, we are still an all-volunteer college-community orchestra rehearsing once a week, with the limitations that implies.
- Individual variations should last between 1 and 3 minutes. There will be a slight pause between variations.
- You will need to submit performance-ready full score and parts (transposed, not concert pitch). Once rehearsal begins, it will be extremely difficult to make major changes.
- Limit of one variation per composer. Give us your best one! The composers of all variations performed will be listed in the concert program.
- Instrumentation must not exceed:
- 3 flutes (one doubling piccolo)
- 3 oboes (one doubling English horn)
- 3 Bb clarinets (one doubling Bb bass clarinet)
- 2 bassoons
- 4 horns in F
- 3 trumpets in Bb (flugelhorn available)
- 3 trombones
- 1 tuba
- timpani (four drums)
- 3 additional percussionists (see list of available instruments below)
- Piano or celesta (but not both in the same variation)
- Strings (2 sections of violins, violas, cellos, and double basses; typical size is 8-8-4-4-2, but may be larger; division within sections into no more than 2 parts)
- Available percussion equipment:
- Timpani (23”, 26”, 29”, 32”)
- Snare Drum
- Bass Drum
- Tom-toms
- Timbales
- Cymbals (Crash and Suspended)
- Tam-tam
- Temple Blocks (5)
- Congas
- Bongos
- Chimes
- Glockenspiel
- Crotales (2 octaves)
- Marimba (5 octaves)
- Xylophone
- Vibraphone
- Assorted small percussion
- Use only the instruments you need but also be aware that it’s no fun to rest for long periods while others play.
- Keep in mind that the Lakeland Civic Orchestra consists of mostly volunteer musicians, aged 14 to 85. All are lifelong musicians, some are professional teachers and performers, and some make music in their spare time. While this project will end with a public performance, you should consider the musicians of the orchestra a key component of your audience.
Representative Civic Orchestra Repertoire (Last Five Years)
- Kieffer: The Talking Beasts
- Jolley: Lichtweg/Lightway
- Bernstein: Overture to Candide
- Gould: American Salute
- Williams: Liberty Fanfare
- Turina: La Procession do Rocio
- Ponchielli: “Dance of the Hours” from La Gioconda
- Beethoven: Choral Fantasy
- Delibes: Sylvia Suite
- Mazolli: Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)
- Verdi: Triumphal March and Ballet Music from Aida
- Grofe: Grand Canyon Suite, mvts. 1 & 3
- Bizet: L’Arlesienne Suites Nos. 1 & 2; Carmen Suite No. 2
- Coleman: Seven O’Clock Shout
- Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite
- Concertos by Mendelssohn, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Saint-Saens, Bruch, Elgar, Popper, Vivaldi
- Additional arrangements
Process and Timeline:
By May 15, 2026: If interested, please complete this survey:
- Levels of involvement (you can do one or all or none):
- Perform on the April concert
- Compose a variation (with help available!)
- Compose the “finale” to the variation set—slightly longer, and involving the full orchestra
- Assist less-experienced composers as needed
- Assist in typesetting and preparation of score and parts (software TBD).
October 15, 2026: Second draft of all variations due: only variations with a second draft submitted by this date will be considered for performance.
January 1, 2027: Final draft (in full orchestral score) due. Begin final edits, typesetting and preparation of score and parts.
February 15, 2027: All materials to be ready for duplication and bowing.
March 1, 2027: First rehearsal with Lakeland Civic Orchestra
April 25, 2027: Premiere of Community Variations
Questions? Contact Dr. Matthew C. Saunders, director, Lakeland Civic Orchestra at [email protected]
