Arroyo (n.) is a dry riverbed found in desert regions. This arroyo is found in Arches National Park. From the moment that I stepped on the sandy path, I felt the memory of ancient water swirl around my feet. I felt the waiting presence whisper in the gentle wind, while the dust lay barren on the ground. What can the arroyos of this world teach us about our own lives and dry places?

Tess McCarty (’22), mezzo-soprano
Elijah Schouten (’23), clarinet
William Rand (’22), piano

Arroyo
by William Rand


I see you 
Dust, baked by the sun
Carved out and left there to dry
Lain down to die
You think you’re done for

You sing of time now forgotten
when things just flowed your way
Those were the good old days
Those days are gone.

There were days when you were fed
by rain falling down, bathing the ground 
water, come down 
Those were the good old days
Those days are gone.

Then one day
sun grew closer
Scorching the once fertile ground
Your rushing slowed down

When sunlight burned!
withering, writhing
shriveling, dying
you saw the fall of your life
gone with the cool breeze
so too the source of your rushing

You saw the fall
starved out in drought
left in the brutal sun!

Left to dry
Lain to die
Lama sabachthani!

You cracked 
You lay down
from dust you came
to dust you returned

Apathy atrophied thy broken heart.

The wind tells of another story 
restless waiting
patient bathing 
sun rays gazing upon you

You never died
You never left
You never moved

You stayed.         the.            same.         shape.

You may think you died
but the wind 
tells another story

Arroyo

Senior Recital Processed

Arroyo for mezzo-soprano, clarinet, and piano

Quiet as the pulse of being, vast as the unconscious mind.  
The mystical canyons of Canyonlands National Park slowed my very breath the first moment my eyes were graced with their unbelievable majesty. These canyons are carved out by the mighty confluence of the Colorado River and the Green River. When the sun is high in the sky, the canyon walls are cast in the deep blue shades of water.

Deep, Blue Silence 
By William Rand

Oh, wondrous depth
slowing my very breath
as I gazed in awe
at the wonder I saw.

Deep 
Blue 
Silence,

Hollowed are you,
Hallowed are you.

Walls colored in rust 
shaded and shaped
by wild swirling dust

Towering stories 
of time long forgotten
sculpted by waters’ influence,
deepened by rivers’ confluence

Stilled and stirred
Holding and heard.
Hollowed by dried rain.
Hallowed be thy flame.

In the heat of noon hour,
sky shades shadows
of deepest
Bluest
silence

Wondrous depth,
Hollowed are you
Hallowed are you.

Deep, Blue Silence

Starting as just a trickle at the top of Cascade Canyon, Hidden Falls grows into a mighty roar as it tumbles downward toward Jenny Lake. Towering above the mist, the aspens, and the rocky canyon are the formidable Grand Tetons. This water is sacred.

Elijah Schouten (’23), clarinet
William Rand, (’22), piano

Hidden Falls for clarinet and piano

Ode to Trees for a cappella choir

From the raging of all of Creation, comes the new becomings of the world. Waters may rush in dry places and trees may grow in every place where life is found. The rising dawn shall greet the new morn.

Reclaim
by William Rand

There shall come a great and glorious raging 
trembling from the depths of all the Created.
No stone unshaken, no water untroubled. 
Rising from the depths, falling from the heights

Love that once gave birth to the world, 
Shall reclaim the world in the waters of the womb 
Flesh and blood as fields and streams
Wind and rocks as breath and bone

Those who once 
found death 
in the dried places 
Shall instead find 		
				breath
in the swaying willow
				pulse 
in the reaching redwood
		   		reach
in the steadfast acacia
		   		soul
in the eyes of the aspen
		    		depth 
in the sturdy trunk of oak	
		    		flame 
in the maple leaf 
		   		resolve
in the infinite evergreen
		    

And the patient desert shall be rewarded 
for waters shall break forth, 
soaking the arroyo 
	awakening river beds 
	healing the dried cracks,
	who wait with parched breath…

		for the coming of the rushing,
			the flowing, and moving 
				the nourishing, 
					strengthening,
						enlivening pulse of living water

And the rising dawn shall light the new way.

Reclaim for chamber orchestra

Song of the Wind and Waters

Dedicated to all of the guardians of life who protected us all during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank You For Being Here for choir and piano

(Firebirth) IV. Fireweed, revival

Performed by Spiritus Novus
Will Rand, conductor
St. Olaf College
January 2019

...and with new breath

God's Eternal Blessing

Spiritus Novus, choir 
William Rand, conductor

Back in August, I was preparing to depart from my Great-Grandma who is 102-years-old. My Grandma has been one of my saints and a deeply grounded relationship in my life since I was born. As she lives out her final years on this earth, I notice her slow release from this life. I notice her body’s senses departing along with some of her memory. Our conversations to this day are mostly about our love for each other and the peace that we carry forward in the memories of the life we spent together. As I was preparing for my next season of life, she was entering her final season of life. This piece is a moment of solidarity with her, with my own soul, and with the Creator that walks with us as we “Go on in peace and in love”.

The Journey is Long

Go on - for Choral Ensemble

Psalm 139
Music by Will Rand
David Lohman, vocalist

Psalm 139: "O God, You Search Me and Know Me"

"In the Eye of the Storm"
Words: Will Rand
Music: Will Rand
Kris Davis, vocalist

In The Eye Of The Storm

conductor, composer, horn player, pianist.

WillRand

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