chamber

Purchase from Santa Barbara Music Publishing: http://www.sbmp.com/SR2.php?CatalogNumber=1392

In today's time, there is much turmoil and distress. I personally believe that it is a requirement for us as musicians that we use our talents and our gifts to spread hope and love to those in the world who need it most. Sara Teasdale was a poet that lived a very difficult life, and I decided that this poem of hers would aptly carry a sentiment shared with me by Dr. Allen Hightower: "There can be no joy without pain". The exposition of this composition is warm and bouncy and characterizes someone that is young and full of hope. The liveliness subsides into a middle section that is hollow and ethereal, possessing a feeling of distress. The women echo each other's words in a haunting ostinato while the male voices sing variations of the phrase, "I am loved, I will sing," in such a way that seems as if they are reassuring themselves of the statement. After the climactic end of this section, the choir enters with the phrase: "I am loved, I will love". This phrase isn't truly in Teasdale's poem, but it's one I've pieced together using other lines in the text. It's sung in unison and is accompanied by the hopeful piano motif from the beginning of the piece. The music revvs back up into the first choral melody, yet once the piece reaches the height of this phrase, the listener can hear that our "character" now sings these melodic lines with a tinge of pain in their heart; pain, however, that they've overcome. This pain is represented by drawn out melodic lines and harmonic dissonances within otherwise major chords. As the choir begins to hum, two soprano soloists begin to sing their own line. I'd like to think that the first soloist represents the young, unadulterated character from the beginning, while the second soloist that joins the first represents the character's older self who has triumphed through the hard lessons life has to offer. The piece comes to a gentle close with the same line of: "I am loved, I will love". It is a powerful line of text, with an even more powerful message to carry. Whether or not you agree with Dr. Hightower's sentiment, you must agree with the fact that our world is suffering, and only the power of love and the music that we share with people can heal it. We must love others, and we must share with them our hope. This is a piece that I dearly hope you enjoy - I think when you are done letting it become a part of you musically, it will have a special place in your heart and the hearts of those in the audience. I wish you all the absolute best!

Performed by the Liberty High School Concert Choir; conducted by Dr. Rika R. Heruth; Baker Purdon and Hans Bridger Heruth, piano

Aug. 2016 Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City, MO
KC VITAs Chamber Choir, Dir. Jackson Thomas

This setting of The Serenity Prayer is an acapella setting of Reinhold Niebuhr's famous text.

Winner of the 2016 KC VITAs Chamber Choir Call for Scores
*Used with permission: KC VITAs 2016

chamber

Alondra