Rolande Maxwell Young


Rolande Maxwell Young Schrade was born in Washington, D.C. She was an American composer, pianist, teacher, and the matriarch of a musical family with five children. After studying at Catholic University, she became a pupil of Harold Bauer at the Manhattan School of Music, and of Vittorio Giannini at the Juilliard School. In 1949, she married Robert Warren Schrade, an internationally-known concert pianist and faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music.
Young made her debut as a pianist at Town Hall in New York in 1953, performing works of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Grieg, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Krenek, Debussy, and her compositions. She was a member of ASCAP.
In 1968, Rolande and Robert founded a family concert series in South Worthington, Massachusetts, incorporated in 1975 as Sevenars Concerts, Inc., a non-profit corporation under IRS Code 501. The name "Sevenars" was derived from "seven Rs": Robert, Rolande, and their five children Robelyn, Rhonda Lee, Rolisa, Randolph, and Rorianne, who all performed on the series at various times. The family and music festival were featured on radio and television, winning acclaim from the press. The Schrades were the first family to be listed on the Steinway & Sons artist roster, and they expanded when Robelyn married New Zealand concert pianist David James, who joined the concerts, as did their now adult children Lynelle and Christopher.
There are over a hundred published and recorded songs to Rolande's credit, including "Sunshine and Rain" and "How Can I?", "There's a Dream in My Heart", and "Mighty Paul Bunyan". She also wrote new words and revised the music of the Carrie Jacobs Bond songs for Boston Music Co.
In addition, she composed dozens of educational songs to inspire children throughout her decades of teaching in the New York independent school system. She saw the publication of two albums of original songs and arrangements as well as the "Allen-Stevenson Song" and the Worthington Bicentennial March for the town of Worthington, Massachusetts.
She died on January 19, 2015, at the age of 87.

Compositions include

Source:

Piano

  • "Little Acorn Suite"

    Vocal

  • "A is for America"
  • "A Little Less "Please", A Little More "Thank You""
  • "Catch That Freedom Train"
  • ""Do", See the Doughnut"
  • "Don't Mention Me"
  • "The Footsteps of America"
  • "Fortress of the Free"
  • "From Your Heart"
  • "Horn of Gold"
  • "How Can I?
  • "The Lady on the Shore"
  • "Look for Joy"
  • "Mighty Paul Bunyan"
  • "My Category is Love"
  • "My Kingdom for a Kiss"
  • "Santa's Lost His Glasses"
  • "Somehow There's Magic in You"
  • "Song of Peace"
  • "Sunshine and Rain"
  • "Tender Age"
  • "The Good Song"
  • "There's a Dream in My Heart"
  • "There's a Tremolo in the Trees"
  • "Things I Shouldn't Know"
  • "Vacation Song"
  • "When the Train Came In"
  • "Will the Real Santa Claus Stand Up?"

    Collaborations with [Joe Leahy]

  • "My Category is Love"
  • "My Kingdom for a Kiss"
  • "Sun Valley Moon"
  • "Sunshine Rain"
  • "There's a Dream in My Heart"
  • "Things I Shouldn't Know"