Shenandoah is a traditional American folk song that came into print in the late 1800s but was sung and shared throughout communities across Appalachia long before then. Many well-known arrangements of Shenandoah exist and I first sang it in high school choir. To me, it is equal parts solemnity and reflective beauty making it worthy of the natural beauty of the ShenandoahNational Park and the broader Appalachian region of the United States.

These two arrangements are achievable by high school-aged students and provide much needed opportunities for developing musical, lyrical, and nuanced mallet ensemble playing. The extended version is the same as the shorter one. It contains additional material where the shorter arrangement ends. There are a few new harmonic and thematic twists and turns like that of the Shenandoah River that ultimately settle into a subdued and reflective ending.