12 new songs and 10 re-released songs from www.Alphasongs.net, Composed by Matthew L. Kearns

2024 New Process Release - www.Alphasongs.net - 22 Songs

"My America"
Orchestrated for Vibraphone & Marimba
Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns
Copyright ©2020, 2022 Matthew L. Kearns, all rights reserved.
Alphasongs LLC, www.AlphaSongs.net
Original Contemporary Acapella Ensemble Compositions

Notes:
My America is a personal expression of common heritage we all share, coming from somewhere else to take root and ownership in this nation, something only preserved through democracy, something we
must vote to preserve.

The song holds a special resonance for me, reflecting my own family’s Latinx and Eastern European origins. Both sides of my heritage resonate in the song, especially in Verse 3. The central message of My America is: “Most of us came from somewhere else.” My own roots came through Ellis Island and across
the Rio Grande and because of this, I was inspired to write this tribute to the spirit of the USA.
Another inspiration was my desire to compose a piece on a patriotic theme to which all Americans could relate. Accordingly, the lyrics of My America recognize our common heritage as immigrants, but also acknowledge that we live in divisive times. Some of this is attributable to our pluralistic origins and to cultural differences, such as those between urban and rural communities. Despite these differences, if we learn to respect each other’s point of view, we can come together in My America. Your America, too.


Performance Notes:
This piece is scored for a small-to-medium vocal ensemble.
For more creativity, improvisational beat-boxing can enhance rhythms even more. Have fun with it!

My America

My America Vibe Marimba

At the Central Square
Orchestrated for Vibraphone and Marimba
Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns
Alphasongs LLC, www.Alphasongs,net
Copyright ©2020, 2022 Matthew L. Kearns, all rights reserved.

Notes

At the Central Square depicts friends gathering for breakfast and some shopping. Perhaps, in this day and age of online shopping and social distancing, the picture here is a bit nostalgic, but it’s still great fun to meet friends and enjoy the pulse and the rhythm of the city. 
I named the sections of the song based on the topics of that section’s lyrics. Structurally, there is a build-up section at the beginning and a wind-down section at the end in which overlapping lyrics in various vocal parts depict friends gathering and later dispersing at the Central Square. These sections are titled “Meet me at the Square” and “It was a lovely Day,” respectively. The next two sections reveal the day’s agenda: “Let’s do Breakfast” and “Let’s go shopping,” which is the main activity At the Central Square. This section is filled with stores opening and sales and places to dine.
The day’s shopping breaks down into two sections. The first—“Let’s go shopping”—f¬ocuses on people enjoying themselves in the hustle and bustle of the Central Square. The second section—“Pulse of the City”—uses a march rhythm to depict the regular daily clockwork of the downtown core. After immersing themselves in the city, our friends reminisce about the wonderful omelets at Joe’s Diner and the day itself, in “That was fun!” And then they depart with thoughts about “It was a lovely day.”
Often, my songs will start with a subject or a musical theme that flashes into my consciousness. I sing these musical ideas into my phone as they come to me. I then transfer them to a musical score and listen to them to get ideas for harmonies. These are my musical “seeds.” Two of these seeds were recorded separately and later became the Alto/Bass counterpoint that begins and ends the piece. From there, the rest of the song blossomed.

Performance Notes 
•	This piece is scored for a small-to-medium vocal ensemble. 
•	There is also a part written for hand claps. The clapping parts are intended to be a starting point for adding rhythmic emphasis. The clapping is intended to emphasize rhythms and enhance timing. This part is optional and could be left out. On the other hand, I would encourage adding the written clapping parts…or…
•	For more creativity, improvisational beat-boxing can enhance rhythms even more. Have fun with it!

At The Central Square

At The Central Square - Vibraphone and Marimba

Original Contemporary Acapella Ensemble Compositions
Orchestrated for Vibraphone Marimba
www,Alphasongs.net 
See Scores and Video at https://www.alphasongs.net/amp-107
Copyright ©2023 Matthew L. Kearns, all rights reserved.

Notes

Driving Around and Round Again began on Valentine’s Day 2020. I was preparing to sing in a weekend concert series with the Kirkland Choral Society (Dr. Glenn Gregg, conductor), featuring two works by composer John Muehleisen. We were premiering a commissioned work titled The Gathering, as well as another recent piece titled Love Is. The second piece moved me enough to present the Love Is score to my wife as part of a Valentine’s Day gift. Later that day a four-bar phrase popped into my head, and over the next week this phrase blossomed into a song. Within a week, I had 108 bars of five-part harmony.
 

After the weekend concerts, I went to our after-party. A few minutes later, John and his wife Lynn arrived and sat right across the table from me. During our conversation, I shared an early draft of Driving Around and Round Again with John, who offered to review more of my work and extended an invitation to study with him. This song opened up what has become an amazing journey in musical composition and publishing, like a garage door opening and going out for a drive. I have been studying regularly with John since June 2020.
 

The song starts with the aforementioned four-bar phrase on the lyric, “I’m driving around and round again. Love driving around and round again…” A little engine noise to get started (“rum rum rum”), and we’re off and running. The four bars repeat without breaks throughout the entire 108 bars. Around this central theme, the other four parts weave their way through different sections of the song, with a story about a drive around town, sung mainly by the altos.
 

Musically, the challenge was to create enough variation around the repeating phrase to give this piece a sense of direction. The lyrics clearly establish the sense of a journey, while the music reflects different aspects of that journey, particularly during the two refrains, where the change to the relative minor key reflects a more serious leg of our journey, giving us some things to think about on our drive home. Happily, despite the change of key, the repeating phrase still works with the minor key with minimal alteration. The repeating phrase becomes a persistent anchor against the ever-changing harmonies in the other voices. (And who is that crazy baritone honking “Bee-bee-beep” in traffic all the time?)
 

 
­­­­Performance Notes
• This piece is scored for a small-to-medium vocal ensemble.
• For more creativity, improvisational beat-boxing can enhance rhythms even more. Have fun with it!­

Driving Around and Round Again

Driving Around And Round Again - Vibraphone Marimba

Driving Around and Round Again Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns, Music by Matthew L. KearnsCopyright ©2020, 2021, 2024 Alphasongs LLC, all rights reserved.NotesDriving Around and Round Again began on Valentine’s Day 2020. I was preparing to sing in a weekend concert series with the Kirkland Choral Society (Dr. Glenn Gregg, conductor), featuring two works by composer John Muehleisen. We were premiering a commissioned work titled The Gathering, as well as another recent piece titled Love Is. The second piece moved me enough to present the Love Is score to my wife as part of a Valentine’s Day gift. Later that day a four-bar phrase popped into my head, and over the next week this phrase blossomed into a song. Within a week, I had 108 bars of five-part harmony. After the weekend concerts, I went to our after-party. A few minutes later, John and his wife Lynn arrived and sat right across the table from me. During our conversation, I shared an early draft of Driving Around and Round Again with John, who offered to review more of my work and extended an invitation to study with him. This song opened up what has become an amazing journey in musical composition and publishing, like a garage door opening and going out for a drive. I have been studying regularly with John since June 2020. The song starts with the aforementioned four-bar phrase on the lyric, “I’m driving around and round again. Love driving around and round again…” A little engine noise to get started (“rum rum rum”), and we’re off and running. The four bars repeat without breaks throughout the entire 108 bars. Around this central theme, the other four parts weave their way through different sections of the song, with a story about a drive around town, sung mainly by the altos. Musically, the challenge was to create enough variation around the repeating phrase to give this piece a sense of direction. The lyrics clearly establish the sense of a journey, while the music reflects different aspects of that journey, particularly during the two refrains, where the change to the relative minor key reflects a more serious leg of our journey, giving us some things to think about on our drive home. Happily, despite the change of key, the repeating phrase still works with the minor key with minimal alteration. The repeating phrase becomes a persistent anchor against the ever-changing harmonies in the other voices. (And who is that crazy baritone honking “Bee-bee-beep” in traffic all the time?)¬¬¬¬Performance Notes • This piece is scored for a small-to-medium vocal ensemble. • For more creativity, improvisational beat-boxing can enhance rhythms even more. Have fun with it!  Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software

Driving Around and Round Again - Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns

Go Back and Wait Copyright ©2024 Alphasongs LLC (ASCAP), all rights reserved Lyrics by Kai Cofer, Music by Matthew L. Kearns - www.Alphasongs.netFrom: The Process, a play by Kai Cofer. Notes:We find our main character, Joseph, having to come to grips being one of the defendants waiting in line for court processing, a fact he barely believes at this point in the play. So, the other defendants are basically communicating the reality of the circumstances, being in line, while Joseph is still professing his disbelief. As I was writing this song, I felt it could be stronger to get back to some good strong rap verses coming from the two lower voices in the verses where they take the lead. Fun to mix acappella with hip-hop. Like in the first two songs, we have acapella harmonies and rhythms backing up the leads from a small mixed choir, but this time each of the voices take the lead until the last verse done in a crisp four-part harmony with the title message at the end.  Performance Notes:This song has 4 different actors taking the lead in different verses and in the theatre performance, these lead parts are intended to be performed in rap, rather than sing. The notes designated for rap are shown with crossed noteheads in this score. But these notes also have a musical position on the staff and in a concert performance outside of the theatrical presentation, the lead part could be sung with the note positions and values in this score. The “melody” in the singing version is meant to be on a chord note with minimal motion in the melody when the chord changes and no melodic motion for the duration of the chord. Basically, crossed noteheads means a theatre performance of this song in rap and a concert performance that could be rapped or sung.  This piece is scored for small to medium vocal ensemble. The theatre performance will generally have one person on a part. There is a written hand clap part in this score. The clap line is a suggested starting point for adding rhythmic emphasis to this song, The clap line can also be a starting point for a good improvisational beat boxer add to add their rhythmic improvisations to enhance the beat and rhythms in this song even further.   Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software

Go Back and Wait - Lyrics by Kai Cofer,  Music by Matthew L. Kearns

Dreams Shine Like the Sun Copyright ©2021, 2024 Alphasongs LLC all rights reserved. Lyrics by Matthew Kearns, Music by Matthew L Kearns.Notes:Dreams Shine Like the Sun came in January of 2020 and has evolved quite a bit since then. Coming in our short winter days this song was written. Most likely to address the seasonal shortage of sunshine. My dream to write my own scores as a composer was just beginning to come together. The way this music came together was heartwarming. A solid lyrical structure featuring different vocal parts coming to the fore in each of the 3 verses. The central idea is basking in the warmth of my dreams like sunshine warming my body. Dreaming to find purpose and direction is good for the human spirit. At the time, I was still quite uncertain if my endeavor to compose music was worth it, but as I’ve seen this piece evolve, I know the development both win this song, and my musical skills, in general, have all been worth it.Musically, What I love most about this piece is the opportunity it provides 3 different parts, to come to the front to sing lead on the verses. First we hear the Mezzo-soprano beginning to think about these dreams and the purpose they serve. Verse two introduces the tenor leading the verse, with the Mezzo harmonizing above. Verse three is a Soprano/Tenor duet with a soaring attention grabbing soprano line. The Chorus is a wonderful cascading harmony and a real ensemble team effort to put Dreams right in the spotlight. I’m hoping the bright sunny warmth of this song finds it‘s way to your heart.   Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software

Dreams Shine Like the Sun - Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns

Catch A Flicker, Catch a FlameCopyright ©2020, 2021, 2024 Alphasongs LLC, all rights reserved.Lyrics and Music by Matthew L. Kearns NotesCatch a Flicker, Catch a Flame is one of my early songs, but one that received significant revisions in 2020. The original draft came to me in one 8-hour session back in August 2019. The song seeks to capture the warm excitement of making a new connection, a new friendship in the platonic sense. The punchy staccato introduction turns our attention to the flames of friendship catching on as we come together. With a new friendship, we discover new interactions, new observations, new ways to enjoy each other's company and to have fun, like a new game.Lyrically, the song develops in three sections, beginning with an introductory metaphor of a fledgling spark which can, in essence, catch a flicker, catch a flame. Next, in the chorus, we reflect upon observing the sparks coming together. Finally, questions raised in the chorus are answered in the two verses. The new game is the coming together of a new friendship. “I like you! I think you like me too!”We start with a 16-bar introduction of the ostinato motif and then move into the first rendition of the chorus. Musically, this song contrasts verses with a simple crisp, staccato melody in the soprano on top of a punchy chordal ostinato in the lower three parts, transitioning to smoother more legato chord progression in the chorus. Each of the two verses is preceded by a four-bar statement, re-introducing the ostinato foundation of the verses. The rhythm of the piece is emphasized persistently in the form of hand claps in 2 parts.Performance Notes •	This piece is scored for a small-to-medium vocal ensemble. •	There are also parts written for hand claps. The clapping parts are intended to be a starting point for adding rhythmic emphasis. The clapping is intended to emphasize rhythms and enhance timing. This part is optional and could be left out. On the other hand, I would encourage adding the written clapping parts…or…•	For more creativity, improvisational beat-boxing can enhance rhythms even more. Have fun with it!   Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software

Catch A Flicker, Catch A Flame - Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns

At the Central Square Copyright ©2020, 2021, 2024 Alphasongs LLC all rights reserved. Lyrics and music by Matthew L. KearnsNotesAt the Central Square depicts friends gathering for breakfast and some shopping. Perhaps, in this day and age of online shopping and social distancing, the picture here is a bit nostalgic, but it’s still great fun to meet friends and enjoy the pulse and the rhythm of the city. I named the sections of the song based on the topics of that section’s lyrics. Structurally, there is a build-up section at the beginning and a wind-down section at the end in which overlapping lyrics in various vocal parts depict friends gathering and later dispersing at the Central Square. These sections are titled “Meet me at the Square” and “It was a lovely Day,” respectively. The next two sections reveal the day’s agenda: “Let’s do Breakfast” and “Let’s go shopping,” which is the main activity At the Central Square. This section is filled with stores opening and sales and places to dine.The day’s shopping breaks down into two sections. The first—“Let’s go shopping”—f¬ocuses on people enjoying themselves in the hustle and bustle of the Central Square. The second section—“Pulse of the City”—uses a march rhythm to depict the regular daily clockwork of the downtown core. After immersing themselves in the city, our friends reminisce about the wonderful omelets at Joe’s Diner and the day itself, in “That was fun!” And then they depart with thoughts about “It was a lovely day.”Often, my songs will start with a subject or a musical theme that flashes into my consciousness. I sing these musical ideas into my phone as they come to me. I then transfer them to a musical score and listen to them to get ideas for harmonies. These are my musical “seeds.” Two of these seeds were recorded separately and later became the Alto/Bass counterpoint that begins and ends the piece. From there, the rest of the song blossomed.Performance Notes •	This piece is scored for a small-to-medium vocal ensemble. •	There is also a part written for hand claps. The clapping parts are intended to be a starting point for adding rhythmic emphasis. The clapping is intended to emphasize rhythms and enhance timing. This part is optional and could be left out. On the other hand, I would encourage adding the written clapping parts…or…•	For more creativity, improvisational beat-boxing can enhance rhythms even more. Have fun with it!   Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software

At The Central Square - Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns

Let ‘em GrowCopyright ©2024 Alphasongs LLC (ASCAP) All rights reserved., www.Alphasongs.netLyrics by Kai Cofer (ASCAP), Music by Matthew L. Kearns (ASCAP)From: The Process, a play by Kai Cofer. Notes:As Scene Five of Act One develops in the musical, the Process, Joseph, the main character finds himself waiting in the complaint department for two of the department’s clerks, Ross and Eric who clearly have many competing agendas to processing complaints. In fact, Joseph becomes essentially ignored entirely and doesn’t even sing in this song. Independent of Joseph, Ross is clearly fascinated by the prospect of growing a long beard and he’s having success convincing his desk mate, Eric to do the same. And then the other long beards of the cast show up to get down and country in this delightful song. In the original lyrical development, Kai tells me he was contemplating songs outside the realm of country music, but with a mixed ensemble of long bearded hillbillies on stage, it only seemed appropriate for me to dive into the country/bluegrass genre to give the lyrics of the song good blending musical colors.  Within the “hillbilly” ensemble, the percussion and the men give this song it’s rhythm, with our two ladies in the cast playing the slide guitar role in their singing parts. After the fourth and final time through the chorus I wanted to give the song an eight-measure postlude to give the two lead singers some ad lib time with the music of the hillbilly backup ensemble and a concluding Yee-Haw at the end. This could be some line or square-dancing moves or ad lib dialog TBD. With a cappella scoring, finding opportunities for moments of music and stage motion is challenging but worthwhile and I hope you think the postlude works well. It should be fun in the play. Performance Notes:This piece is scored for small to medium vocal ensemble. The theatre performance will generally have one person per part. In most of my songs, I include handclap or finger snap parts as a starting point for adding rhythmic emphasis with the idea that improvisational beatboxing can add far more interesting percussion. Not in this song. In this song, there are foot stomps on every beat and a hand clap pattern syncopated to that and off the beat. This rhythm persists throughout the entire song, and I felt because of that, these clapping and stomping parts could invite audience participation and are worth doing as written.Also I have written Verse One with crossed noteheads. In my scores, crossed noteheads means that the part can be spoken rather than sung. In verse one of this song, I would invite the baritone soloist to think of delivering this in a Johnny Cash style talk-singing way, whereas in some of my other scores, the crossed noteheads would mean rap style delivery.  Not this song. Keep it country.   Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software

Let 'em Grow - Lyrics by Kai Cofer, Music by Matthew L. Kearns

Itsy Bitsy, Copyright 2021, 2022, 2024 Alphasongs LLC all rights reserved. Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearnswww.Alphasongs.netNotes:OK, I must confess some fascination with spiders. As a boy, I used to collect them in jars and watch them in captivity for a while, then I’d let them go. The Itsy Bitsy song (1st verse) was a favorite when my children were growing up. My wife and I would sing Itsy Bitsy spider to them often. Of course, they also grew up loving Harry Potter and its occasional tales of creepy spiders. So, at the crossroads of these tales, I developed the tale of Miss Itsy Bitsy and how she became Aragaga, Queen of the giant forest spiders, a new arrangement to help celebrate Halloween. Musically, this is a fun 7 verse journey through variations on the original Itsy Bitsy spider song theme. Alto carries the melody, and the soprano either doubles, or has a descant harmony to the theme, while Tenor and Bass supply the rhythm elements in a more instrumental role. A fun 4 part arrangement with rhythm and variation.Performance NotesThis piece is scored for small to medium vocal ensemble. There is a part written for hand claps. The clapping parts are intended to be a starting point for adding rhythmic emphasis. The percussive parts are intended to emphasize rhythm and enhance timing. These are optional and could be left out. On the other hand, I would encourage adding the written clapping parts. For more creativity, improvisational beatboxing can enhance rhythms even more. Have fun with it.   Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software

Itsy Bitsy - Music and Lyrics by Matthew L Kearns

Interurban FanfareCopyright ©2020,2022, 2024 Alphasongs LLC (ASCAP), all rights reservedMusic and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns (ASCAP) NotesIn the initial months of the pandemic, athletic events ground to a halt, and I was really beginning to miss going to sporting events. I’ve been a Seattle Seahawk football season ticket holder since the dawn of the franchise. But other sports too.  There is always so much energy in the anticipation of a game beginningI attempted to make the lyrics general for all sports. I tried to capture the energy of a city coming to the sporting event whether it’s my Seahawks football team, or a basketball, baseball, or soccer team. Watching sports on television gets us into the action of the game itself, but for me, much of the show happens in anticipation of the game itself, and the energy of a sports crowd arriving live in person at the stadium. Interurban Fanfare paints the scene with its lyrical and musical fanfares.Musically, this is a rich dense six-part harmony both introduced and concluded with the “Fanfare” section with cascading B major entrances on “Here we go on….” In between are 3 verses and choruses. The chorus has its own cascading, “cheering the team on” fanfare as well.  First 2 verses in the soprano focuses on the fans coming to the game. Verse 3 gets us right to the moment of the kickoff/tipoff/first pitch with the teams coming on the field. The melody shifts from soprano to tenor and builds right to the start of the game on a final “Let’s go!” I hope the anticipation of the big game gets you into Interurban Fanfare as well. Performance Notes:•	This piece is scored for a small-to-medium vocal ensemble.•	There are also parts written for hand claps. The clapping parts are intended to be a starting point for adding rhythmic emphasis. The clapping is intended to emphasize rhythms and enhance timing. This part is optional and could be left out. On the other hand, I would encourage adding the written clapping parts.•	For more creativity, improvisational beat-boxing can enhance rhythms even more. Have fun with it!   Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software

Interurban Fanfare - Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns

I Need to Take a Coffee Break Copyright ©2024 Alphasongs LLC (ASCAP) All rights reserved, www.Alphasongs.net Lyrics by Kai Cofer (ASCAP), Music by Matthew L. Kearns (ASCAP)From: The Process, a play by Kai Cofer. Notes:In Scene Two of Act One of musical, the Process, the office workers gather around one of the cubes during frenetic work activity. As the office crew ensemble forms, they begin an accompaniment for Cindy, a secretary prominent in this office space. Cindy laments a common thought among the office crew, “I Need to Take a Coffee Break!” the title of this song. Offices have a culture and a pace of operations. Some are regimented, others are loose. Some are frenetic, others are casual. But coffee is always central to the American office culture and this song celebrates our collective reverence and addiction for the morning brew. Musically, I give this song a rhythmic staccato musical structure to help us into the mood of crisp alertness that coffee provides us. The vocal ensemble accompaniment provides a nice wake you up rhythm to Cindy’s enthusiastic story about her mild(?) addiction to coffee. We find out how much her enthusiasm is shared by the crew, especially an accountant named Bernie at the end of each chorus. Bernie really loves his Joe! Performance Notes:This piece is scored for small to medium vocal ensemble. The theatre performance will generally have one person on a part. There is also a part written for hand claps. The clapping parts are a starting point for adding rhythmic emphasis. The hand rhythm part is optional but could also be incorporated into improvisational beatboxing to enhance rhythmic emphasis even more. In the theatre version of the song, at the end of each chorus, Bernie holds a fermata on a G natural singing the word “Joe!!”, with coffee mug held prominently. In a concert performance of the song, I recommend eliminating the measure at the end of the chorus with the fermata, moving, at tempo, into the next verse. Have fun with it.   Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software

I Need to Take a Coffee Break - Lyrics by Kai Cofer, Music by Matthew L. Kearns

Hello, Hello New  Copyright ©2022, 2024 Alphasongs LLC (ASCAP), all rights reserved, www.Alphasongs.net Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns (ASCAP)Notes:Hello, Hello New conveys a simple message, a personal inspiration to have a positive attitude toward change, especially those changes of a positive nature within ourselves. This song came from aspirations I have about the transition from a long career as a data engineer into what I've always dreamed about: pursuing musical composition as a form of self-expression. Musical ideas are often present in my self-dialog in the form of what I call “sing-thinking.” Hello, Hello New acknowledges getting more engaged with sing-thinking as I get into the final months of my engineering career.The song's primary chorus opens the work in 3-part men's harmony and immediately repeats in 5-part mixed harmony. The chorus is an aspirational message to myself to embrace change in my life. There are two verses between the choruses, reflecting the observations about the nature of change all around us. So, after the chorus introduces the song, the first observation about change follows. Then back to the chorus. Another observation about change comes in the second verse, followed by a repeat of the first verse. Finally, back to the 5-part version of the chorus and then repeating one last time with the 3-part men's chorus version, finishing the song as it started. echoing the opening phrase.The harmonies are meant to be straight forward and happy, with strong chords in the chorus and more intricate rhythmic content in the verses. I gave the hand rhythms more attention with their interactions with the musical content. I love how this song makes me happyPerformance Notes:This piece is scored for small to medium mixed vocal ensemble. It's a happy song to be performed with smiles. There are parts written for hand claps. These parts are intended to be a starting point for adding rhythmic emphasis. The percussive parts are intended to emphasize rhythms and enhance timing. These are optional and could be left out. On the other hand, I would encourage adding these parts. For more creativity, improvisational beat-boxing can enhance rhythms even more. Have fun with it.   Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software

Hello, Hello New - Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns

Joscelyne StrongCopyright ©2020, 2021, 2024 Alphasongs LLC (ASCAP All rights reservedMusic and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns (ASCAP)www.Alphasongs.net NotesSeveral years back, a woman from the Midwest joined a choral society I was in. She was starting her new career with one of the big tech companies as an HR professional. She was so fun and spirited. We liked each other from the start. This song is for my friend, Joscelyne Gray. More recently, Joscelyne has been a pillar of strength in her battle with ovarian cancer. Despite numerous treatments and many difficult outcomes, her spirit never dies. At the time this song is being finished, Joscelyne is still battling, and even writing novels through it all. I was so inspired by her spirit that I composed this song to build hope for her healing. Her strength through this gauntlet of her life’s journey has been special and inspiring. Joscelyne Strong is structured in a unique way for a song; the verses and interludes tell Joscelyne’s story, and the refrains and chorus are my own subjective reflections.  The chorus is a personal message from me that musically frames the structure of the song, occurring in the beginning after an introduction, in the middle, and repeated twice at the end. Joscelyne always had the most beautiful eyes with very warm and caring eye contact; hence, the opening lyric of the chorus, “Joscelyne, your eyes, your spirit never dies.”Following the first two appearances of the chorus, the verses describe chapters of Joscelyne’s story. A repeating refrain with the thought, “Life takes turns; you never know…”, is a personal pause to reflect on her experience. Between the refrains, the first line of each interlude reflects on the prior verse, while the second line previews the next verse. The verses feature the alto voice on the melody. In the interludes, the melody appears in the mezzo-soprano, with an active soprano descant on top of the melody. The song concludes by repeating the chorus to emphasize my lasting memory of Joscelyne, her eyes, and her spirit, which will never die. Enjoy this song of hope for Joscelyne Gray.UpdateI’m sad to note here that just before New Year’s Day 2021, Joscelyne passed from us. I’m sure she was in the best possible frame of mind and as the song says, “her spirit never dies.” Joscelyne leaves an amazing community of friends and family who cherish her memory. This song pays tribute to Joscelyne, her partner Marie, her family and friends, and the amazing community who loved her so dearly. Matthew L Kearns01/05/2021Performance Notes •	This piece is scored for a small-to-medium vocal ensemble. •	For more creativity, improvisational beat-boxing can enhance rhythms even more. Have fun with it•	In the bass line, you see the rhythmic syllables “dm” and “dmm”. Both syllables close to the “m” right away. “dm” should be short, almost staccato. “dmm” is a close to a hum with duration.   Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software

Joscelyne Strong - Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns

Come My Way,  Copyright ©2024 Alphasongs LLC (ASCAP) all rights reserved, Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns (ASCAP),  www. Alphasongs.netCome My Way,  Copyright ©2023 Matthew L. Kearns (ASCAP), Alphasongs LLC (ASCAP), Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns,  www.Alphasongs.net Notes: Come My Way, was first conceived as a song, sharing the joy of friends coming together to play games. I was looking for simple positive harmonies. A song that is relatively easy to sing but with challenging five-part harmonies.  Lyrically, the two female parts present the setting and desire for friends to come my way to play this game. The male parts are basically instrumental, rhythmic, and structural, supporting the story above.  The soprano’s lyrics paint the scene, the setting, and the game play. The alto expresses the desire for friends to come my way and play the game. Like other songs I’ve done, I insert 3-part sections sequenced with 5-part sections to add to the dynamic texture of the song.  The essential spirit of the song and the game that was derived from this song is to promote the benefits of being able to engage with others to tell stories. Storytelling and being able to engage with good storytelling between friends and family is a very precious element of our social fabric and well worth honing as a skill. I truly love my moments sharing stories with friends. In the end, this is what Come My Way celebrates too. Performance Notes: This piece is scored for small to medium mixed vocal ensemble. It's a happy song to be performed with smiles. There are parts written for hand claps. These parts are intended to be a starting point for adding rhythmic emphasis. The percussive parts are intended to emphasize rhythms and enhance timing. These are optional and could be left out. On the other hand, I would encourage adding these parts. For more creativity, improvisational beat-boxing can enhance rhythms even more. Have fun with it.   Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software

Come My Way - Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns

“My America”Copyright ©2020, Matthew L. Kearns, All rights reserved.Lyrics, by Matthew L. Kearns Notes:My America is a personal expression of common heritage we all share, coming from somewhere else to take root and ownership in this nation, something only preserved through democracy, something we must vote to preserve.The song holds a special resonance for me, reflecting my own family’s Latinx and Eastern Europeanorigins. Both sides of my heritage resonate in the song, especially in Verse 3. The central message of MyAmerica is: “Most of us came from somewhere else.” My own roots came through Ellis Island and acrossthe Rio Grande and because of this, I was inspired to write this tribute to the spirit of the USA.Another inspiration was my desire to compose a piece on a patriotic theme to which all Americans couldrelate. Accordingly, the lyrics of My America recognize our common heritage as immigrants, but alsoacknowledge that we live in divisive times. Some of this is attributable to our pluralistic origins and tocultural differences, such as those between urban and rural communities. Despite these differences, ifwe learn to respect each other’s point of view, we can come together in My America. Your America, too.Performance Notes:This piece is scored for a small-to-medium vocal ensemble.For more creativity, improvisational beat-boxing can enhance rhythms even more. Have fun with it!   Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software

My America - Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns

Seeds of ChangeCopyright © 2021, 2024 Alphasongs LLC (ASCAP) all rights reserved.Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns (ASCAP)www.Alphasongs.netNotesThe rhythm of my life required changes. I came to a traumatic time where it was necessary to make some decisions about changing from past associations to new directions and new associations. I’ve been finding direction through composing lyrical and musical ideas to score. This was one of many seeds of change that I consciously planted in the spring of 2019 when I started putting notes to score, discovering I could compose. This song comes to me two years later looking back to time it became clear how some relationships could not continue. Relationships with the family I grew up with and the musical family I was with, had strong dysfunctional elements and unconscious negative biases against me. Many others in those groups never showing regard toward me, even enabling the bullying against me and my family. After positive mental health care came into the picture, it finally became clear how much I needed to break from these relationships that were wounding me again and again. Knowing these separations would be traumatic, I made very deliberate conscious changes in my life, planting the Seeds of Change. One of the seeds I planted was a very conscious effort to embrace my musical ideas and grow my abilities to really compose them into songs. I planted other seeds as well, continuing my mental health care resuming my transcendental meditation practice, working on my musicianship, better focus on work, strengthening relationships with those friends and family who accepted me, losing weight, quitting tobacco, etc. My life is on a journey to a better place. The lyrics reflect this new harvest of better ideas, changes and looking forward to cultivating positive changes from the seeds of change that I plant. The lyrical structure of the song is somewhat freeform, in that it has an interlude and refrain that repeat itself, anchoring the story of the song, written in four parts. I wanted the music to be at a nice walking rhythmic tempo reflecting the desire to put my life on a more even keel, so to speak. The tenor and bass parts provide this rhythmic steadiness throughout the piece but with many interesting subtle variations. The soprano and mezzo-soprano parts carry most of the lyrics, but there are moments of texture where these parts step aside to let the alto part take the lead. The song concludes in this 3 part harmony mode (alto, tenor, bass) to a gentle, simple ending, keeping the persistent rhythm maintained throughout the song. Performance Notes This piece is scored for small to medium vocal ensemble. There is a part written for hand claps. These clapping parts are intended to be a starting point for adding rhythmic emphasis. The percussive parts are intended to emphasize rhythms and enhance timing. These are optional and could be left out. On the other hand, I would encourage adding the written clapping parts. For more creativity, improvisational beatboxing can enhance rhythms even more. Have fun with it.  Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software

Seeds of Change - Music and Lyrics by Matthew L.Kearns

Somewhere Under the RainbowCopyright ©2024 Alphasongs LLC (ASCAP), Lyrics by Kai Cofer (ASCAP), Music by Matthew L. Kearns (ASCAP) - www.Alphasongs.netFrom: The Process, a play by Kai Cofer. Notes:Later in Scene Two of Act One of musical, the Process, another office worker named Liz gets a message from the boss, Mr. Goldman. She is surprised to find out the company is sending her to Seattle, a place she has never visited before. She begins to dream about her new destination as we go into this song, As a Seattle native, myself, I was thrilled to work on these lyrics as an introduction to the new musical I’m working on with Kai Cofer. His lyrics capture the highlights of the city and what it’s known for. In fact, I worked in an office for three years located right at the north end of the Pike Place Market and the song raises wonderful memories of those days, wandering through the produce and fish markets and that famous original coffee shop, at lunch, looking out at ships coming in and out of Elliot Bay. In Kai’s lyrical work, he is often thinking about an existing song with his original lyrics. Lyrically, Somewhere Under the Rainbow was written with the melody of the Wizard of Oz classic, Somewhere Over the Rainbow in mind. Musically, I wanted to give the original classic a brief tribute, using the same first five notes but in a different rhythm. From there, the song moves into its own distinct verses and interludes. In the middle of the song, we have two sections called The Market and The Coffee which are different than the verses. They paint a musical picture of Liz as she ponders traveling to Pike Place Market to enjoy the sights and the coffee. It’s a wonderful picture I remember fondly. Finally, we go back to the third verse and conclusion as Liz laments, “The Emerald city’s always green. It really must be seen.” And I do concur. Performance Notes:This piece is scored for small to medium vocal ensemble. The theatre performance will generally have one person per part. There is also a part written for hand claps. The clapping parts are a starting point for adding rhythmic emphasis. The hand rhythm part is optional but could also be incorporated into improvisational beatboxing to enhance rhythmic emphasis even more. Have fun with it. Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software

Somewhere Under The Rainbow - Lyrics by Kai Cofer, Music by Matthew L. Kearns

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