Five Rounds

by Peter Billam

© Peter J Billam, 1986

This score is offered under the Creative Commons

Attribution 4.0 International licence; see creativecommons.org
The copyright owner remains the composer, Peter Billam.

This edition 14 February 2014.

www.pjb.com.au
 Five Rounds

These rounds were written in 1985 and 1986. The first two were written for school
singing, and the next two for the local amateur choir. The last was for a more advanced
choir. Where numbers appear above a line, it means that when the first voice reaches this
place, the numbered voice starts.

A.B.C. is a circular canon for two voices, at two bar’s distance. As written, the
words fit the notes well; but it would normally be easier sung at a lower pitch. A
reasonable tempo would be 152 crochets per minute.
By Doze is all Blog Dub is a circular canon for two to eight voices. When sung by
four voices, the first voice sings it through solo once; then the second voice joins in two
crochets behind the first voice; then the third time through the third voice joins in one
crochet behind the first voice, then the fourth time through the fourth voice joins in three
crochets behind the first voice. The fifth to eight voices would join in four, six, five and
seven beats behind the first voice. A reasonable tempo would be 184 crochets per
minute.
The Carbon Cycle is a double round; two voices, soprano and alto, start
simultaneously, and sing once through on their own. On the second time through, after
one bar the second alto starts, then after one further bar the second soprano starts. A
reasonable tempo would be 84 crochets per minute.
The Energy Cycle is a seven-voice round, with voices entering at 12-bar intervals.
So when each voice reaches the rest bars, the next voice starts. A hand-clap halfway
through each rest bar can add to the effect. A reasonable tempo would be 120 crochets
per minute.
In Girum Imus Nocte et Consumimur Igni was for centuries the longest known
palindrome. It means "we wander in circles in the night and are consumed by fire"; this
seemed a good summary of the nuclear arms-race era. This piece was written without
any knowledge of the film of the same title made by Guy Debord in 1978, but which I
discovered only in 2013. A written-out last seven bars is provided to allow all four voices
to finish together. The central seven-bar segment of the round is here written out twice; it
could be gone through more times, by rotating staves, and suitably exchanging the staves
of the last seven bars. A reasonable tempo would be 80 crochets per minute.

www.pjb.com.au
Peter Billam 3
Five Rounds
A.B.C.
1 2
4
4
A B C D E A E A D A D A C A C A B B D

E C E C G D E F G C G C F C F C

E C E C D D F G E G E G E D C B

By Doze Is All Blog Dub

By doze is all blog dub , By doze is all blog dub , It hurts my back to lie in bed, when

I get up it hurts my head , when I cough it hurts me too, and when I sneeze I give it all to you !

The Carbon Cycle

1 2
3
4
A thousand leaves to one lung , one lung to a thousand leaves
1 2
3
4
And leaves breathe out what lungs breathe in ; what lungs breathe out leaves breathe in .

The Energy Cycle

1 7

Sun − shine , Sun − shine , Sun − shine , Sun − shine , The

6 5

e − ner − gy that drives all living things comes from the sun, is fixed by plants, held briefly in life, then
4

ra − di − ates away into deep space, like a waterwheel like a waterwheel

3 2

like a waterwheel like a waterwheel

(c) 1986 Peter J Billam www.pjb.com.au

4 Five Rounds, Peter Billam
In Girum Imus Nocte

4 5 4
4 4 4
in gi − − − − rum i − mus i −

4 5 4
4 4 4
in

5 4
4 4
− mus i − mus i − mus i − mus noc −

5 4
4 4
gi − − − − rum i − mus

5 4
4 4
in

5
4
− cte noc − te noc − − te et

5
4
i − mus i − mus i − mus i − mus

5
4
gi − − − − rum i −

4
4
consumimur consumimur consumimur consumimur consumimur consumi − mur consu −

4
4
noc − cte noc − te noc −

4
4
− mus i − mus i − mus i − mus i

4
4
in gi − − − −

(c) 1986 Peter J Billam www.pjb.com.au

Five Rounds, Peter Billam 5

5 4
4 4
mi − mur igni in gi − −

5 4
4 4
− te et consumimur consumimur consumimur consumimur consumimur consu −

5 4
4 4
− mus noc − cte noc − te

5 4
4 4
rum i − mus i − mus i −

5 4
4 4
− rum i − mus noc −

5 4
4 4
− mi − mur consu − mi − mur igni in

5 4
4 4
noc − − te et consumimur consumimur consumimur

5 4
4 4
− mus i − mus i − mus noc − te et

5
4
− te noc − te et consumimur consumimur consumi − mur igni.

5
4
gi − − rum imus noc − te et consumimur igni.

5
4
consumimur consumimur consu mi
− − mur consu − mi − mur igni.

5
4
consumimur consumimur consumimur consumimur consumimur consumi − mur igni.

(c) 1986 Peter J Billam www.pjb.com.au

Peter Billam was born in London in 1948, studied piano, and lived in Switzerland from 1973 to
1983, where he studied composition, classical guitar, flute and voice, worked as Musical Director
of the Théâtre Populaire Romand, and as recording engineer, record producer and computer
programmer. He moved to Tasmania in 1983, and lectured in composition at the Conservatorium.
He founded www.pjb.com.au, becoming the first composer to sell scores on-line, taking scores
from Composer to Performer in one immediate step. Www.pjb.com.au offers a new approach to
music publishing. These pieces are written to be read, made to be played !

Compositions at www.pjb.com.au include: Five Short Pieces, guitar, 1979; Divisions on an Italian
Ground, flute and guitar, 1980; De Profundis and Nacht, on poems by Lama Anagarika Govinda, voice and
piano, 1980; Fünf Bagatellen, piano, 1980; Five Rounds, choir, 1986; Go Forth and Multiply, choir, 1986;
Three Violin Duets, 1987; Fable, for piano, 1987; To Erich Jantsch, SAATTB recorders, 1988; A Suite of
Curves, trombone (or horn) and piano, 1990; Two Recorder Duets, alto recorders, or other melody
instruments, 1991; Trombone Quintet, trombone, flute, piano, bass, and percussion, 1994; Three Songs, on
poems by Jack Kerouac, Vikram Seth and Dylan Thomas, voice and piano (only the first and third of these are
available), 1994; Piano Study, piano, 1994; Four Dances, various ensembles including recorder quartet,
string quartet, 1995; The Poet in the Clouds, on a poem by S. T. Coleridge, SATB choir, 1995; Tres Casidas
del Diván del Tamarit, on poems by Federico García Lorca, voice and piano, 1997; Three Suites, for the
solo line, piano, and piano and a solo line, 2000; Die Zeiten, on poems by Kästner, Bachman and Jünger,
choir (only the second and third of these are available), 2000; Three Duets for flutes, 2001; For Four Hands for
piano four hands, 2002; Three Preludes for piano, 2003; Second Solo Suite for flute, violin, viola or cello,
2003; Guitar Duet for two guitars, 2006; We Who Mourn for choir, 2007; Trio With Guitar for guitar and
two clarinets or two recorders or two violas, 2008; Canons for two- and four-hand piano, 2009; Flute Trio,
2012; Twenty Studies for piano, 2013-14; Music for Strings and Two Encores for Strings for 2vln, 2vla,
2vlc, 2015; Album for Choir, 2015.
Arrangements include: By J. S. Bach: Trio BWV 655, piano and flute; Vor deinen Thron BWV 668,
piano; Fugue in F minor BWV 689, SATB recorders; Four Duets BWV 802-5, keyboard; Six Preludes and
Fugues from Book I, keyboard; Flute Sonata BWV 1031 transposed into G major for alto recorder and
keyboard; Flute Sonata BWV 1032 completed by Peter Billam for flute and keyboard, also in C major for
alto recorder, and in G major for descant; Ricercare a 3, from the Musikalisches Opfer for keyboard;
Ricercare a 6, for sSATBG recorders, or strings, or two keyboards; and Fuga Canonica in Epidiapente;
from the Art of Fugue: Contrapuncti 1, 4 and 9 for keyboard, and Contrapunctus 14 as completed by D. F.
Tovey, for keyboard, or for SATB recorders, or for strings; Passacaglia and Fugue in c for piano four
hands; Chorales with Descant for melody instrument and piano; Cello Suites I, II and III for flute or alto
recorder, Forty Chorales for piano, Der Geist hilft for SATB-SATB recorders. By Brahms: Fugue in Ab
minor for organ, for SATB recorders and gamba, in A minor; Choralvorspiele for organ plus settings by
Isaac, Bach, Praetorius, recorders. John Carr, Divisions on an Italian Ground, flute or recorder and guitar.
Franz Liszt, Late piano pieces, G.F. Händel: Concerto Grosso in A minor op 6 no 4, harpsichord and
recorders; Recorder Sonata in Bb no 5, in G for tenor recorder and keyboard. Claudio Monteverdi, Ecco
Mormorar l’Onde, SSATB recorders. Arnold Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht for piano. Franz Schubert:
Four Songs, voice and guitar; Dances, recorders and guitar, Dances, piano 4 hands. Scriabin, Two Preludes
op.67; Five Preludes op.74, piano. Telemann, Twelve Flute Fantasias, recorder. Wilbye, Draw on sweet
Night, SSATTB recorders, and for flute choir. Twelve Italian Songs, voice and guitar; Seven English Songs,
voice and guitar; Fourteen Folk Dance Tunes, recorder and guitar; Bushband Dances, violin, accordeon and
banjo; Easy Classical Pieces, Bb trumpet and piano; Famous Beginnings, for piano.

These pieces are under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Very briefly:
• You may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
• You may transform and build upon the material for any purpose. cc
BY
• You must give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made.

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