Our Strength, Our Song

Our Strength, Our Song (for Violin and Cello)

KWCO concert

Go Your Way (Chamber Orchestra)

This piece was commissioned by the Waterloo Chamber Players, performed in March 2013, conducted by Ben Bolt-Martin.  My instructions were to compose a piece to conclude the concert, following Schubert's Unfinished Symphony.  Tam Ve'Nishlam means "It is Finished/Accomplished", which were Jesus' final words on the cross... and the concert just happened to be the weekend of Passover, the anniversary of His death.  Musically, I wanted to focus on ideas of triumph, jubilation and victory.  It was an honour to get to write this, and they did an amazing job!

Artwork by Rebekah Cummings

Waterloo Chamber Players March 2013

TAM VE'NISHLAM (chamber orchestra)

For a cappella women's choir with amplified soloist.  Not performed (or notated!) yet, so right now it's all just my own voice.

The text and music were written during a dark time in my life (the painting represented here was painted during the same season... you can see the full image here: http://www.rebekahcummingsartist.com/art/acrylics).  As is often the case, it was the act of creating music and art that helped me grapple with everything and find hope. 

This piece is about the way our pain and trials, if we surrender to them rather than denying or resisting them, can often produce a beautiful vulnerability and honesty in us.  Our brokenness is transformed into openness, and we become an "open door" to unprecedented relational intimacy and to the Divine.

CLOSER (SSAA and Soloist)

This is actually a surround piece, but I've created a separate stereo version so it can be shared outside the studio/concert hall.  Please use headphones/earbuds/good speakers to catch all the details!

Apart from my voice and some bells, basically all the sounds I'm using are water-related, recorded in the kitchen and the bathroom with the help of water bottles, mixing bowls, crystal glasses, faucets/shower heads and drinking straws.

HOPE IS (electroacoustic - stereo version)

This is a song I've been waiting over a year to share - written 2 summers ago, and powerfully helped me begin to break through a really dark time, as songwriting tends to do for me!  I was hoping to produce it properly, add video component, etc. before sharing... well, circumstances are such that I'm just going to share it unfinished and messy, as is - I've waited long enough, and never has this song been more relevant to my life.  Still hoping to produce it properly, add visual component, and my incredible 15 year old niece Aria (a phenomenal dancer) is going to choreograph a dance to it sometime in the future!

Most sounds are recorded from my parents' mug cupboard, along with Mom's autoharp (SO FUNNN), some piano, and obviously lots of vocals.

*Bird sounds came from online sources: "meadowlark_daniel-simion" (Sound Bible)and "beating wings" SoundDogs (Pond5).

BEATING WINGS (Singer-songwriter - voices, mugs and bells, autoharp, piano)

This piece was written for the University of Toronto Concert Orchestra while I was composer-in-residence with them, directed by Paul Widner and featuring the amazing violin soloist Joanna Gorska, performed in Walter Hall at U of T on April 4th, 2018.  The UTCO was an amazing group to work with - mainly undergraduate string players who are studying in areas of music other than performance.

The piece is about the 5 stages of grief, transformed.  The past 2 years I've had to face grief from multiple angles all at once, unexpectedly - it was a fascinating, crushing, beautiful, necessary, difficult, redemptive process.  Grief is healing - a gift, and it CAN learn to dance!  Of course, music is one of the best ways I knew to express the process...

As always, I hope the music speaks to you where you're at :)

Rebekah Cummings

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