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WorksChoral MusicMixed Chorus (SATB) w/accomp.And the Song Am I

And the Song Am I

Voicing: SATB chorus, brass quintet
Text: Lily A. Long (edited and adapted by the composer)
Duration: 2 min.
Premiere: May 3, 2008; Dale Warland, conductor (Marshall, MN)
Commissioned by: Choirs of Note™ in recognition of the dedication and art of Minnesota's youth and music educators
Published by: Abbie Betinis Music Co., AB-056-00 (2011)
Score Sample: PREVIEW THE SCORE


LISTEN:

And the Song Am I (MIDI version, with all standard MIDI apologies)

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PROGRAM NOTE:

This fanfare, written for Choirs of Note™, was commissioned to provide musical "bookends" to a large choral festival. Therefore, as a concert opener, it might be performed from the beginning through the first ending. Then, to close the same concert, you play it again! For the second time, you may choose to start from the beginning, from measure 20 (brass only), or from the pick-up to measure 23, taking the second ending.

Of course, the piece may also be performed only once. In that case, please sing it straight through (from the very beginning), skipping the first ending, and going straight to the second ending.

Special thanks to Dale Warland, Russell Svenningsen, and Gordon Crow, for their dedication to this project.

- Abbie Betinis, 2008


…And the Song Am I Poem by Lily A. Long (edited and adapted by A.B.)
Cold may lie the day,
    And bare of grace;
At night I slip away
    To the singing place.
Where faint and far away
    I hear the beat
In broken rhythm and rhyme
    Of joyous feet…

The thunderous music peals
    Around, o'erhead -
The dead would awake to hear
    If there were dead;
But the life of the throbbing Sun
    Is in the song,
And we weave the world anew,
    With the singing throng!

And the pulsing chant swells up
    To touch the sky,

And the song is joy,
    is hope,
        is peace,
            is life -
    And the song am I!


"The Singing Place" by Lily A. Long. Published 1912 in Poetry magazine. Public domain. Edited and adapted by Abbie Betinis.