Be Like the Bird
Voicing: 5 part canonText: Victor Hugo, in English translation
Duration: varies
Dedication: To High Rocks for Girls; Hillsboro, West Virginia
Premiere: The MPR Carolers, Minnesota Public Radio - Dec. 23, 2009
Published by: Abbie Betinis Music Co., AB-062-C9
Order now: Order sheet music
LISTEN:
(Soprano Carrie Henneman Shaw with the MPR Carolers: Kim Sueoka, Kathy Lee, Melissa Morey, and Abbie Betinis)
Hear Abbie's interview on Minnesota Public Radio.
WATCH:
Be Like the Bird
Be like the bird that, pausing
in her flight awhile on boughs too slight,
feels them give way beneath her --
and sings --
knowing she hath wings.
This text is in the public domain.
Be like the bird that, pausing
in her flight awhile on boughs too slight,
feels them give way beneath her --
and sings --
knowing she hath wings.
This text is in the public domain.
PROGRAM NOTE:
I wrote this canon just after completing cancer treatment for the second time. My family and I sent it out as our annual Christmas card in 2009. And -- while I couldn't have foreseen it at the time -- it would turn into my mantra over the next year, while I underwent a third cancer diagnosis and bone marrow transplant (more info).
My cousin Sarah Riley and I discovered the text quite by accident. In October 2009, our grandfather, the Rt. Rev. John H. Burt (a.k.a Christmas reveler and merry-maker, lover of music and literature, and inspiring leader and activist) had died. After his funeral, and after an impromptu family round-sing (common in the Burt family), Sarah and I were sitting on Grandpa's old couch, reading through some of the sermons he had written and delivered throughout his long life. Sarah is co-director of an incredible program called High Rocks, a comprehensive and unique school for girls founded by her mom, Susan Burt, in the mountains of rural West Virginia.
Sarah and I realized that Grandpa had quoted this lovely Victor Hugo text in a few sermons over the years, always to inspire courage in the face of adversity. It struck me as a surprisingly hopeful text befitting a difficult year, but it also moved me to tears to think of the work that my Aunt Susie and now my cousin herself, sitting there next to me on the couch, are doing to change the world -- one girl at a time.
So I dedicate this carol to High Rocks for Girls. May High Rocks continue to educate, empower, and inspire each girl to know that "she hath wings."
Performed by :
Alaska Children's Choir & Cantora Arctica (Janet E. Stotts), Wasilla, AK
Amasong (Meagan Johnson Smith), Urbana, IL
Atlanta Young Singers (Paige Mathis), Atlanta, GA
Augsburg College (Sonja Thompson), Minneapolis, MN
Bella Voce Singers (Jessica Corbin), Brooklyn, NY
Camerata Nova (Angela Neufeld), Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Camrose Camerata, Alberta, Canada
Canadian Mennonite University (Janet Brenneman), Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Central High School Chamber Choir (Martha Graber), Saint Paul, MN
Centre College (Barbara Hall), Danville, KY
Champlin Park High School Choir (Laura Tempel), MN
Choir of Harvard Memorial Church (Carson Cooman), Cambridge, MA
Como Park Senior High School Choir (Carole Whitney), MN
Concordia College, Moorhead, MN
Coon Rapids High School Choir, Coon Rapids, MN
Dickinson State University, Dickinson, ND
Encanto Choir, Mamoré & Parcival Choirs (Maria Tomassen), The Netherlands
First Church in Belmont Unitarian-Universalist, Belmont, MA
Grand Island Senior High School (Carolyn Lokken), NY
High Rocks School for Girls, Hillsboro, WV
Indusa, The Hague, The Netherlands
InVocation Singers, Fridley, MN
Kamarikuoro Aava, Helsinki, Finland
Kammerkoor Cantate (Marian Hofstra), Venlo, The Netherlands
Ladies of the Street (Sandi Mielitz), Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Lake Forest Academy (Tim Plambeck), Lake Forest, IL
Lake Forest College Women's Chorus (Emilie Amrein), IL
Macalester College Women's Choir (Eugene Rogers), Saint Paul, MN
MPR Carolers, Saint Paul, MN
New Jersey Gay Men's Chorus, Princeton, NJ
Palmdale High School Choir (Michael McCullough), CA
Parkway United Church of Christ (Bonnie McClain), MN
Peddie School (Marisa Green), Hightstown, NJ
Songcology: choir of cancer patients, Port Moody, BC, Canada
Speelgroepen voor Vereniging voor Huismuz (Els Schreuder), The Netherlands
St. James Episcopal Church, MI
St. John's Episcopal Church, McLean, VA
St. Martin's Chamber Choir (Tim Kreuger), Denver, CO
The Magpie Consort (Sheena Phillips), Dublin, OH
The Wolf Project, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Unitarian Universalist Cong. of Princeton (Marjorie Herman), Princeton, NJ
University of Manitoba (Elroy Friesen), Winnipeg, MB, Canada
UW-Stevens Point Choirs, Stevens Point, WI
Valborg Octet, Zeist, The Netherlands
Viterbo University Concert Choir, LaCrosse, WI
Wayne State College (Ronald Lofgren), Wayne, NE
Wellesley College (Lisa Graham), Wellesley, MA
West Virginia Univ. at Parkersburg, WV
Westminster College (Natasia Cain), Fulton, MO
Young Women's Ldrship School (Ruth Millgard), Astoria, NY
(Have you performed this work? Contact me to add your performance.)Amasong (Meagan Johnson Smith), Urbana, IL
Atlanta Young Singers (Paige Mathis), Atlanta, GA
Augsburg College (Sonja Thompson), Minneapolis, MN
Bella Voce Singers (Jessica Corbin), Brooklyn, NY
Camerata Nova (Angela Neufeld), Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Camrose Camerata, Alberta, Canada
Canadian Mennonite University (Janet Brenneman), Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Central High School Chamber Choir (Martha Graber), Saint Paul, MN
Centre College (Barbara Hall), Danville, KY
Champlin Park High School Choir (Laura Tempel), MN
Choir of Harvard Memorial Church (Carson Cooman), Cambridge, MA
Como Park Senior High School Choir (Carole Whitney), MN
Concordia College, Moorhead, MN
Coon Rapids High School Choir, Coon Rapids, MN
Dickinson State University, Dickinson, ND
Encanto Choir, Mamoré & Parcival Choirs (Maria Tomassen), The Netherlands
First Church in Belmont Unitarian-Universalist, Belmont, MA
Grand Island Senior High School (Carolyn Lokken), NY
High Rocks School for Girls, Hillsboro, WV
Indusa, The Hague, The Netherlands
InVocation Singers, Fridley, MN
Kamarikuoro Aava, Helsinki, Finland
Kammerkoor Cantate (Marian Hofstra), Venlo, The Netherlands
Ladies of the Street (Sandi Mielitz), Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Lake Forest Academy (Tim Plambeck), Lake Forest, IL
Lake Forest College Women's Chorus (Emilie Amrein), IL
Macalester College Women's Choir (Eugene Rogers), Saint Paul, MN
MPR Carolers, Saint Paul, MN
New Jersey Gay Men's Chorus, Princeton, NJ
Palmdale High School Choir (Michael McCullough), CA
Parkway United Church of Christ (Bonnie McClain), MN
Peddie School (Marisa Green), Hightstown, NJ
Songcology: choir of cancer patients, Port Moody, BC, Canada
Speelgroepen voor Vereniging voor Huismuz (Els Schreuder), The Netherlands
St. James Episcopal Church, MI
St. John's Episcopal Church, McLean, VA
St. Martin's Chamber Choir (Tim Kreuger), Denver, CO
The Magpie Consort (Sheena Phillips), Dublin, OH
The Wolf Project, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Unitarian Universalist Cong. of Princeton (Marjorie Herman), Princeton, NJ
University of Manitoba (Elroy Friesen), Winnipeg, MB, Canada
UW-Stevens Point Choirs, Stevens Point, WI
Valborg Octet, Zeist, The Netherlands
Viterbo University Concert Choir, LaCrosse, WI
Wayne State College (Ronald Lofgren), Wayne, NE
Wellesley College (Lisa Graham), Wellesley, MA
West Virginia Univ. at Parkersburg, WV
Westminster College (Natasia Cain), Fulton, MO
Young Women's Ldrship School (Ruth Millgard), Astoria, NY