THERE IS A GIFT

 

As part of my second residency with The Master Singers, the piece written for their Lessons and Carols concert came with a requirement.  For this piece, I was assigned to use a particular poem, written by Wisconsin Poet Laureate, Max Garland.  The text was set in a verse-chorus style, so I sat and thought of how to best set this text to match the format.  While there are choral pieces that contain verses and refrains, the pieces I have written until this point had not been in a particular form or contained elements of verse and chorus.  This stipulation created a new challenge for writing a piece.  

 

The piece unfolds like a child unwrapping a gift at Christmas.  The innocence and awe we encounter this time of year reminds us that the greatest gifts in life are those that we cannot buy and wrap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Voicing: SATB with divisi, a cappella

Premiered by The Master Singers, Dr. Gary Schwartzhoff, director (Eau Claire, WI)

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Status: Unpublished