Obviously choral pieces revolve around the words that are being sung, I tend to view them as a tapestry on which music is created. The music should represent what is being said, but also be able to stand on its own without lyrics—which has been said to me a million times in choir rehearsals, but is true. I tend not to think about lyrics when I listen to choir music, it’s too many inputs for me to keep track of. I have, therefore, struggled to create choral pieces where there is a unified vision that included lyrics as well as music that can live alongside the lyrics. One song that I find myself singing in my own head is North by Sleeping at Last. There is a choral arrangement that I have performed with two different groups. It has been incredibly moving. I think I find it so because of its simplicity as well as the fact that the whole song is summed up by one musical phrase sing the words: “give us bread, give us salt, give us wine.” I have aspirations of making lyrics as poignant as a song like this, but after countless attempts I haven’t come up with a song that has made it out of my songwriting journal.
North by Sleeping at Last
https://open.spotify.com/track/7HQCXYyaBmhugyRDvy4V7m?si=cc44f809afe14de7
