MOONS
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FORECAST
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THE FIRE CYCLE
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MOONS
SSAATTBB a cappella | 5 mins
Skill level: Advanced (college, semi-pro or pro choir)
Style: Playful and magical; narratively driven, with expressive range
PURCHASE THE SCORE
MOONS is about wanting to move mountains for someone else, but not getting the same energy back; an unrequited love.
The piece had its world premiere on 3 November 2012 at St. Ignatius of Antioch in New York City, performed by Ghostlight Chorus and conducted by Dr. Evelyn Troester DeGraf.
LYRICS
The piece had its world premiere on 3 November 2012 at St. Ignatius of Antioch in New York City, performed by Ghostlight Chorus and conducted by Dr. Evelyn Troester DeGraf.
LYRICS
Lyrics - by Bryan Kerwin
I split the moon in half, then in thirds.
now there are six moons, and
haven't you always wanted to see six moons?
If you get tired of them
we can feed them to the babies
and call them moon chips, or eat them ourselves
because we don't have any babies.
but we can make bad jokes about our new creations,
like when I feign anger and yell at your face:
"One of these days Alice, Kapowee! Straight to the moonS!"
Or huddle close to the fire and chat
with the balloon animals.
"wanna see something?" the gorilla asks you
and I pop him with a thumbtack,
his former flirtatious plastic settling down through the air like a feather
underneath the moons, our moons, six of them.
I'll divide them even more if you like
shape them into slits or squares or mazes
of moon cheese, put them back together and
draw a new face on it, because that old
one's been there thousands or millions of years and he's starting
to look tired of smiling.
Or extinguish the whole thing so the night's
always as black as closing your eyes,
like waking up cold in a tent, both of us stuffed
into one sleeping bag, I'm chewing on your hair,
and the fire's gone out.
it doesn't matter either way.
I split the moon in half, then in thirds.
now there are six moons, and
haven't you always wanted to see six moons?
If you get tired of them
we can feed them to the babies
and call them moon chips, or eat them ourselves
because we don't have any babies.
but we can make bad jokes about our new creations,
like when I feign anger and yell at your face:
"One of these days Alice, Kapowee! Straight to the moonS!"
Or huddle close to the fire and chat
with the balloon animals.
"wanna see something?" the gorilla asks you
and I pop him with a thumbtack,
his former flirtatious plastic settling down through the air like a feather
underneath the moons, our moons, six of them.
I'll divide them even more if you like
shape them into slits or squares or mazes
of moon cheese, put them back together and
draw a new face on it, because that old
one's been there thousands or millions of years and he's starting
to look tired of smiling.
Or extinguish the whole thing so the night's
always as black as closing your eyes,
like waking up cold in a tent, both of us stuffed
into one sleeping bag, I'm chewing on your hair,
and the fire's gone out.
it doesn't matter either way.
FORECAST
SSAATTBB a cappella | 6 mins
Skill level: Advanced (college, semi-pro or pro choir)
Forecast is a series of existential limericks that highlight the mysteries of the universe...
THE FIRE CYCLE
SATB a cappella | 5 mins
Skill level: Advanced (college, semi-pro or pro choir)
Style: Driving and Funky, with rhythmic energy - tense, with some edge
Published by See-A-Dot Music
The Fire Cycle is an energetic and wild ride through an imaginative and emotionally evocative narrative. The rapid text flies by in a series of metric changes, images of an apocalyptic world in and outer world on fire. It is a story of rebirth through destruction...but ultimately a story of love.
The piece had its world premiere on 24 May 2019 at LP Studios in Glendale, CA, performed by The Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles (C3LA), conducted by David Conley. It is published by See-A-Dot Music.
LYRICS
The piece had its world premiere on 24 May 2019 at LP Studios in Glendale, CA, performed by The Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles (C3LA), conducted by David Conley. It is published by See-A-Dot Music.
LYRICS
Lyrics - by Zachary Schomburg
There are trees and they are on fire. There are hummingbirds and they are on fire. There are graves and they are on fire and the things coming out of the graves are on fire. The house you grew up in is on fire. There is a gigantic trebuchet on fire on the edge of a crater and the crater is on fire. There is a complex system of tunnels deep underneath the surface with only one entrance and one exit and the entire system is filled with fire. There is a wooden cage we’re trapped in, too large to see, and it is on fire. There are jaguars on fire. Wolves. Spiders. Wolf-spiders on fire. If there were people. If our fathers were alive. If we had a daughter. Fire to the edges. Fire in the river beds. Fire between the mattresses of the bed you were born in. Fire in your mother’s belly. There is a little boy wearing a fire shirt holding a baby lamb. There is a little girl in a fire skirt asking if she can ride the baby lamb like a horse. There is you on top of me with thighs of fire while a hot red fog hovers in your hair. There is me on top of you wearing a fire shirt and then pulling the fire shirt over my head and tossing it like a fireball through the fog at a new kind of dinosaur. There are meteorites disintegrating in the atmosphere just a few thousand feet above us and tiny fireballs are falling down around us, pooling around us, forming a kind of fire lake which then forms a kind of fire cloud. There is this feeling I get when I am with you. There is our future house burning like a star on the hill. There is our dark flickering shadow. There is my hand on fire in your hand on fire, my body on fire above your body on fire, our tongues made of ash. We are rocks on a distant and uninhabitable planet. We have our whole life ahead of us.
There are trees and they are on fire. There are hummingbirds and they are on fire. There are graves and they are on fire and the things coming out of the graves are on fire. The house you grew up in is on fire. There is a gigantic trebuchet on fire on the edge of a crater and the crater is on fire. There is a complex system of tunnels deep underneath the surface with only one entrance and one exit and the entire system is filled with fire. There is a wooden cage we’re trapped in, too large to see, and it is on fire. There are jaguars on fire. Wolves. Spiders. Wolf-spiders on fire. If there were people. If our fathers were alive. If we had a daughter. Fire to the edges. Fire in the river beds. Fire between the mattresses of the bed you were born in. Fire in your mother’s belly. There is a little boy wearing a fire shirt holding a baby lamb. There is a little girl in a fire skirt asking if she can ride the baby lamb like a horse. There is you on top of me with thighs of fire while a hot red fog hovers in your hair. There is me on top of you wearing a fire shirt and then pulling the fire shirt over my head and tossing it like a fireball through the fog at a new kind of dinosaur. There are meteorites disintegrating in the atmosphere just a few thousand feet above us and tiny fireballs are falling down around us, pooling around us, forming a kind of fire lake which then forms a kind of fire cloud. There is this feeling I get when I am with you. There is our future house burning like a star on the hill. There is our dark flickering shadow. There is my hand on fire in your hand on fire, my body on fire above your body on fire, our tongues made of ash. We are rocks on a distant and uninhabitable planet. We have our whole life ahead of us.
BALOO BALEERIE (ARR.)
Female voices (lower) | 3.5 mins
Skill level: Intermediate (high school, college, community)
Baloo Baleerie is an arrangement of a very old lullaby, thought to have originated in Bressay (Shetland) near Northern Scotland.
Written during the global pandemic of COVID-19, this work had its world premiere online during a live-streamed church service at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in the Pacific Palisades, CA.
Written during the global pandemic of COVID-19, this work had its world premiere online during a live-streamed church service at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in the Pacific Palisades, CA.
IN PARADISUM (ARR.)
SSAATTBB a cappella | 3 mins
Skill level: Intermediate (adv. high school, college, community)
Style: Sacred, with a cinematic feel; large expressive range
PURCHASE THE SCORE
In Paradisum (Into Paradise) is an interpretation of the rollercoaster of emotions one can feel during a funeral or memorial service.
Written during the global pandemic of COVID-19, this piece had its world premiere on 12 December 2020 during an online live-streamed concert. It was recorded by members of The Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles (C3LA), and featured live shadow puppetry designed and performed by Miranda Kahn.
LYRICS
Written during the global pandemic of COVID-19, this piece had its world premiere on 12 December 2020 during an online live-streamed concert. It was recorded by members of The Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles (C3LA), and featured live shadow puppetry designed and performed by Miranda Kahn.
LYRICS
Lyrics
In paradisum deducant te Angeli;
in tuo adventu suscipiant te Martyres,
et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem.
Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat,
et cum Lazaro quondam paupere
aeternam habeas requiem.
May the angels lead you into paradise;
may the martyrs receive you at your arrival
and lead you to the holy city Jerusalem.
May choirs of angels receive you
and with Lazarus, once poor,
may you have eternal rest.
In paradisum deducant te Angeli;
in tuo adventu suscipiant te Martyres,
et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem.
Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat,
et cum Lazaro quondam paupere
aeternam habeas requiem.
May the angels lead you into paradise;
may the martyrs receive you at your arrival
and lead you to the holy city Jerusalem.
May choirs of angels receive you
and with Lazarus, once poor,
may you have eternal rest.
