score information

by on

Unison and Piano

Duration: 2.5 min

Text: John Shaw Neilson

Boosey and Hawkes 2017

Commissioned by Amabile Choirs of London, Canada

Let Your Voice Be Heard sets Australian Poet John Shaw Neilson’s poem that evokes themes of respect and humility. The work is an uplifting anthem that encourages us to live life fully, with love and peace. The song combines a memorable melodic line and a steadfast piano accompaniment to deliver the message that everyone has a voice and the right to be heard and valued.

Let your song be delicate.
   The skies declare
No war — the eyes of lovers
   Wake everywhere.

Let your voice be delicate.
   How faint a thing
Is Love, little Love crying
   Under the Spring.

Purchase:

Themes: singing, love, spring, life, peace, having a voice, respect, communicating, delicate, unison


					


	

					




		
			


	

		

		

				
		by 	
					
		on 	
			

	


	
	

				
SATB or TTBB a cappella


Duration: 3 min


Text: James Joyce


Cypress Choral Music








Written for the Amabile Men’s Choir.  Please email me directly for either Mens or Mixed score until the published version is available.




Sleep now, O sleep now, O you unquiet heart! A voice crying ‘Sleep now’ Is heard in my heart. The voice of the winter Is heard at the door. O sleep, for the winter Is crying ‘Sleep no more!’ My kiss will give peace now And quiet to your heart – Sleep on in peace now, O you unquiet heart!




There is also a version for SATB choir and Strings (email me for the score)




satb




Purchase / listen and hear


JW Pepper


Themes: death, love, longing, sleep, men’s, ttbb, peace

					


	

					




		
			


	

		

		

				
		by 	
					
		on 	
			

	


	
	

				









SATB or SSAA a cappella
Duration: 4 min
Text: E Pauline Johnson
Cypress Choral Music


 




Commissioned by Jennifer Moir, as part of the Woodstock Fanshawe Singers album on the poems of E.P. Johnson.


Canadian Chamber Choir recorded the SATB version and can be found on their newly released album.








WEST wind, blow from your prairie nest,


Blow from the mountains, blow from the west.


The sail is idle, the sailor too;


O wind of the west, we wait for you!


Blow, blow!


I have wooed you so,


But never a favor you bestow.


You rock your cradle the hills between,


But scorn to notice my white lateen.


Be strong, O paddle! be brave, canoe!


The reckless waves you must plunge into.


Reel, reel,


On your trembling keel,


But never a fear my craft will feel.


We’ve raced the rapids; we ’re far ahead:


The river slips through its silent bed.


Sway, sway,


As the bubbles spray


And fall in tinkling tunes away.


And up on the hills against the sky,


A fir tree rocking its lullaby


Swings, swings,


Its emerald wings,


Swelling the song that my paddle sings.




Purchase


SATB score


JW Pepper


 
					


	

					




		
			


	

		

		

				
		by 	
					
		on 	
			

	


	
	

				
SAB and Piano

Text: James Ephraim McGirt

Duration: 3 mins

Cypress Choral Music








Commissioned by the Ontario Music Educators Association for the Soundscapes Conference, November 2014. Available with optional string accompaniment (Summer 2016) from the publisher.


Anyone who has experienced the wonder of a walk through the forest will love this song. The SAB setting is perfect for young choirs or choirs that are short on tenors. However, the men often carry the melody, making the composition suitable for choirs of all levels.




Born like the pines to sing


the harp and song in my breast.


Though far and near, there’s none to hear,


I’ll sing as the winds rejoice.


As the winds sweep by


I’ll laugh or cry


In the winds I cannot rest.




Purchase


Score


JW Pepper 


Themes: pines, tree, nature, singing, round, sab, community,

					


	

					




		
			


	

		

		

				
		by 	
					
		on 	
			

	


	
	

				
 


SATB a cappella

Duration: 2 min

Text: James Joyce

Cypress Choral Music


Video: ihana youth choir (Lisa Ward) 2017: The Lover’s Chant VIDEO








Winner of the Diane Loomer Award for Choral Writing. Premiered by the National Youth Choir of Canada.


“They say cream rises to the top and Matthew won the ACCC Diane Loomer award with this choral gem – a beautiful setting of the James Joyce poem.




Dr. Julia Davids added this piece to her Canadian Chamber Choir Series.  Directors and singers will appreciate the intuitive voice leading, long phrases and meaningful text.” from Cypress Choral Music.


The Lover’s Chant is included on the Halifax Camerata Singers new album ‘ A Time for All Things’




When the shy star goes forth in heaven

All maidenly, disconsolate,

Hear you amid the drowsy even

One who is singing by your gate.

His song is softer than the dew

And he is come to visit you.


O bend no more in revery

When he at eventide is calling.

Nor muse: Who may this singer be

Whose song about my heart is falling?

Know you by this, the lover’s chant,

‘Tis I that am your visitant.




Purchase


Score


JW Pepper


Themes: love, chant, nature, star, space, longing, life, nature

					


	

					




		
			


	

		

		

				
		by 	
					
		on 	
			

	


	
	

				
Three Part Voices, Piano and C Instrument (violin recommended)

Text: St. Patrick

Duration: 4 min

Publisher: Alliance Music Publications, Inc




 






Commissioned by the Amabile Choirs of London, Canada. May be performed SSA, TTB, SAB, or any combination of voicing.




I arise today, through the strength of Heaven;

light of Sun, brilliance of Moon, splendor of Fire,

speed of Lightning, swiftness of Wind, depth of Sea,

stability of Earth, firmness of Rock.




 


Purchase


Score


Alliance Music


Themes: rising, strength, adversity, life, nature, space, togetherness, struggle, strife, resilience, uplifting, three part, piano, flute, violin, c instrument

					


	

					




		
			


	

		

		

				
		by 	
					
		on 	
			

	


	
	

				

SAMPLE SCOREDownload




TTB a cappella
10 mins total
-Thoughts – Marjorie Pickthall
-Song – Marjorie Pickthall
-Stars – Marjorie Pickthall
Sulasol (Finland)


Purchase (sheetmusic plus)




Commissioned by the Canadian Men’s Chorus (Toronto). Email me for a score excerpt. Marjorie Pickthall was a British born- Canadian poet. She lived in Toronto and died in Vancouver.








Thoughts


I gave my thoughts a golden peach,


A silver citron tree;


They clustered dumbly out of reach


And would not sing for me.


I built my thoughts a roof of rush,


A little byre beside;


They left my music to the thrush


And flew at eveningtide.


I went my way and would not care


If they should come and go;


A thousand birds seemed up in air,


My thoughts were singing so.


 


Song




I shall not go with pain


Whether you hold me, whether you forget


My little loss and my immortal gain.


O flower unseen, O fountain sealed apart!


Give me one look, one look remembering yet,


Sweet heart.


I shall not go with grief,


Whether you call me, whether you deny


The crowning vintage and the golden sheaf.


O, April hopes that blossom but to close!


Give me one look, one look and so good-bye,


Red rose.


I shall not go with sighs,


But as full-crowned the warrior leaves the fight,


Dawn on his shield and death upon his eyes.


O, life so bitter-sweet and heaven so far!


Give me one look, one look and so good night,


My star.




 


Stars




Now in the West the slender moon lies low,


And now Orion glimmers through the trees,


Clearing the earth with even pace and slow,


And now the stately-moving Pleiades,


In that soft infinite darkness overhead


Hang jewel-wise upon a silver thread.


And all the lonelier stars that have their place,


Calm lamps within the distant southern sky,


And planet-dust upon the edge of space,


Look down upon the fretful world, and I


Look up to outer vastness unafraid


And see the stars which sang when earth was made.






Purchase


 


Themes: space, men’s choir, love, nature, life, healing, prayer, water, stars, journey, longing


 
					


	

					




		
			


		
			


	

		

		

				
		by 	
					
		on 	
			

	


	
	

				
Voice and Piano

10 mins total

-Requiescat, Oscar Wilde

-Sweet Bide With Me, Eugene Field

-For Broken and Tired Am I, Archibald Lampman


Plangere Publishing


****[errata in the score: Sweet Bide With Me mm3, piano the last 8th note should only be one pitch – do not play the top note; Requiescat mm 26, piano beats 3 and 4- this half note chord should be played as written – major triad with suspended 4th – the added flat is a notation error, this should be a major chord not a minor]****


ranges:


High songs = D# (just above middle C) to A (first ledger line treble staff)


Medium songs = C# (middle C one) to G (just above the staff)


Low songs = B natural (just below middle C) to F (top line treble staff)


Purchase: HIGH, MED, LOW versions


Leslie Fagan


Simone Osborne




Available in High, Med and Low versions.


Emery 3 songs HighEmery 3 Songs Mediumemery low voice




Requiescat


TREAD lightly, she is near

Under the snow,

Speak gently, she can hear

The daisies grow.

All her bright golden hair

Tarnished with rust,

She that was young and fair

Fallen to dust.

Lily-like, white as snow,

She hardly knew

She was a woman, so

Sweetly she grew.

Coffin-board, heavy stone,

Lie on her breast,

I vex my heart alone,

She is at rest.

Peace, peace, she cannot hear

Lyre or sonnet,

All my life’s buried here,

Heap earth upon it.


Sweet, Bide With Me


Sweet, bide with me and let my love

Be an enduring tether;

Oh, wanton not from spot to spot,

But let us dwell together.


So rest you, love, and be my love,

That my enraptured blooming

May fill your sight with tender light,

Your wings with sweet perfuming.


Or, if you will not bide with me

Upon this quiet heather,

Oh, give me wing, thou beauteous thing,

That we may soar together.


For Broken and Tired Am I


O endless sunsteeped plain,

With forests in dim blue shrouds,

And little wisps of rain,

Falling from far-off clouds:


I come from the choking air

Of passion, doubt, and strife,

With a spirit and mind laid bare

To your healing breadth of life:


O fruitful and sacred ground,

O sunlight and summer sky,

Absorb me and fold me round,

For broken and tired am I.




Purchase


Requiescat


Sweet Bide With Me


For Broken and Tired Am I