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sai-national.org • Fall 2022 23 Philleo performed her most famous song at the piano from coast to coast. e melody of Out Where the West Begins is catchy and memorable. Written in G major, it is easy to sing. e song is strophic with a slight variation in the second verse with some text painting in the accompaniment. e song has a big forte finish, which helps to make it a crowd pleaser. It was performed and recorded numerous times during Philleo's life. Today, there is a 2015 commercial recording by Cecelia Otto. e poem Roundup Lullaby was penned by Charles Badger Clark and was first printed in his 1915 collection titled Sun and Saddle Leather. Philleo's setting was published — again by Margaret Sanford — in 1919. Western artist Bill Gollings made an original pen and ink drawing for the sheet music illustration. Because this is a lullaby sung by a cowboy to lull the cattle to sleep, the character offers a charming stylistic contrast to Out Where the West Begins. For this song, Philleo chose the key of F major and common time. Again, the melody is beautiful, and the accompaniment is easy to play. e music has subtle changes in each of the three verses, so it is not strictly strophic in form. e melody includes rocking dotted eighth and sixteenth note patterns so the singer can sooth the herd. Here the lyrics are more Western in character, with lines like "Hee-ya, Tammalalleday! / Settle down, you cattle, till the mornin'." e lyrics might sound familiar because another woman composer named Gertrude Ross also set the poem a few years later for her song with the same title. It was featured in the 1936 Western movie musical Rhythm on the Range, sung by Bing Crosby. Other composers have also set Clark's famous poem, but Philleo seems to have been the first. In June 1920, the Chicago publisher F. J. A. Forster bought the copyright for both songs mentioned earlier, as well as a third titled Trails about the pioneers in the region. Based on Forster's subsequent publications, mostly arrangements, it seems that his primary interest was Out Where the West Begins. Philleo continued to publish with Sanford as well as G. Schirmer and Willis Music, along with publishers in Denver. Philleo continued to compose and teach piano in the 1920s. During this decade she also became involved in radio broadcasts. Working as a staff composer for the NBC affiliate station KOA in Denver, she composed for the vocal group known as the Solitaire Cowboys. During and aer the Great Depression she taught piano less, but Philleo submitted ten pieces for copyright registration in 1930. Her last compositions, published posthumously in 1937, were two teaching pieces published by the Willis Music Company. Titled Two Pastimes on the Black Keys, these two short works were written while she was sick with cancer. Aer teaching with Miessner's Melody Way, perhaps Philleo wanted to encourage young pianists to learn about sharps and flats and intended these fun teaching pieces as one way to supplement the method. e sale of this music had to help financially during her time of illness. She travelled to the Chicago area to be near her stepsister at the end of her life. Aer she passed on March 20, 1936, her ashes were buried at Dumont, near her Colorado cabin home. Estelle Philleo's life was short, but she le a strong musical legacy. In addition to teaching piano to countless children and entertaining audiences at venues large and small, she composed dozens of songs that bring the American West to life. To be sure, her view of the region was strongly positive and highly romantic, but her music still has relevance today. In a 1932 interview published in the Salt Lake Tribune, she said, "I am not concerned much with the trend in music, but I feel that my mission is to keep alive the romantic traditions of the west through the medium of music. e spirit of the west must be caught and perpetuated." And that is exactly what she did. Reference List Otto, Cecelia. "Out Where the West Begins" On An American Songline: A Musical Journey along the Lincoln Highway. Otto, 2015, compact disc. Sampsel, Laurie, and Donald Puscher. "'Out Where the West Begins': e Denver Song that Became a Western Classic." American Music Research Center Journal 22 (2013): 35-57. https:// www.colorado.edu/amrc/amrc-journal. "Song Writer of Western Classic Utah Visitor." Salt Lake Tribune (Oct. 27, 1932), 8. Laurie J. Sampsel is a Professor of Musicology at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is a 1983 initiate of the Alpha Nu Chapter at Youngstown State University. Music Histy Cover of "Out Where the West Begins" published Cover of "Out Where the West Begins" published by M. St. Vrain Sanford, 1917. by M. St. Vrain Sanford, 1917. From the author's personal collection From the author's personal collection Cover of "Roundup Lullaby" published by M. St. Cover of "Roundup Lullaby" published by M. St. Vrain Sanford, 1919. Vrain Sanford, 1919. I I mage courtesy of the American Music Research Center, mage courtesy of the American Music Research Center, University of Colorado Boulder University of Colorado Boulder

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