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Journeys Through Song Digital Program

Welcome to our spring finale!

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Texts, Translations, and Program Notes

Come Travel With Me

By Scott Farthing

Let’s Go! Whoever you are, let’s go!

Come travel with me.

We will go down the open road,

We will go where high winds blow,

We will go down pathless and wild seas

The world before me!

There are things more beautiful and divine

Than words can ever tell.

There are things that will never die

There are things that will not grow old

Let’s go! We must not stop here, let’s go!

We will not fear!

Let’s go, I give you my hand,

I give you my heart,

I give you myself.

Let’s go, come travel with me!

Yonder Come Day

Based on the traditional Georgia Sea Island Spiritual

arr. Judith Cook Tucker

Some of the strongest retentions of African culture in the United States are found in the communities of the Georgia Sea Islands. The music of these islands includes spirituals, blues, call-and-response songs, field hollers, work chants, singing games, and stories. Judith Cook Tucker was inspired to compose this version after hearing an original version of the song by the Sea Island Singers in the 1970s.

The Journey

From Symphony in E minor by Antonín Dvořák and the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts”

arr. Joseph M. Martin

'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free,

'Tis a gift to come down where you ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,

To bow and to bend we shant be ashamed,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come round right.

Going home, going home, I am going home.

Going home, going home, nevermore to roam.

Though the road’s been so long, now I’m going home

To the place I belong, I am going home.

Arranger Joseph Martin combines one of the Shaker’s most well-known songs “Simple Gifts” with “Going Home.” “Going Home” was created from the “Largo” theme in Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, popularly known as the New World Symphony. The symphony was written in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York City. The text of “Going Home” is not original to the symphony.

Where’er you walk

From Semele

By G. F. Handel

Where’er you walk, cool gales shall fan the glade;

Trees, where you sit, shall crowd into shade,

Where’er you tread, the blushing flow’rs shall rise

And all things flourish where’er you turn your eyes.

Originally set as an oratorio, the opera, Semele, takes its name from the Greek myth it's based on: the mother of Dionysus. This aria is sung by Jupiter as a way to reassure his lover, Semele, that he is all in and that the entire world is in love with her.

Walk, Children, Walk!

Traditional Spiritual

arr. Rollo Dilworth

Walk together children, don't you get weary

Know that there's a great camp meetin’ in the promised land.

Walk and never tire. I’ll walk and never tire

There’s a great camp meetin’ in the promised land.

Sing together children, don't you get weary

Know that there’s a great camp meetin’ in the promised land.

Sing and never tire. I’ll sing and never tire

There’s a great camp meetin’ in the promised land.

Shout together children, don't you get weary

Know that there's a great camp meetin’ in the promised land.

Shout and never tire. I’ll shout and never tire

There’s a great camp meetin’ in the promised land.

Well-known composer and arranger Rollo Dilworth takes this contemporary gospel style setting of "Walk Together, Children" and uses an easy ostinato pattern to support the traditional melody. The ending chorus is filled with hope as the choir joins the great camp-meeting in the promised land.

Bonse Aba

Traditional Zambian Folk Song

arr. Victor C. Johnson

Bonse aba, mu pokelela, Ba lipele maka akuba bana.

Kuba bana, kuba bana, kuba bana bakwa lesa.

Muya ya ya, muya ya ya, muya ya ya, bakwa lesa.

Translation:

All people who accept his authority are his children.

Are children in the power of God.

This is the second of Dr. Johnson’s songs performed by Beginning Bel Canto this year. In the winter, we performed his beautifully lyrical 3-part setting, "Stopping By Woods." Bonse Aba evokes a completely different mood, and we can experience Mr. Johnson’s versatility as a composer.

Victor C. Johnson was born in Dallas, Texas. His first choral composition was published while he was in high school. Today, he is an award-winning composer, arranger, music educator, conductor - and an accomplished pianist and organist with over 400 published compositions. Victor currently serves as Minister of Worship and Arts at Shiloh Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, a position he has held since 2007.

The song text, Bonse Aba, is derived from the Bemba or Chibemba language - spoken in Zambia. It roughly translates to the following: All who sing have the right to be called the children of God. Since Bembe words have multiple meanings, it is difficult to translate word for word. Bonse Aba is a celebratory folk song of Christian origin. It can be sung in unison, 2, 3, 4, and 8 parts. Victor Johnson set this song for two parts, and we are grateful to be able to perform it for you today.

http://www.victorjohnsonmusic.com/

Alliancemusic.com

Bold Adventures

By Philip E. Silvey

"Once upon a time," four simple words

and I’m traveling there, anywhere!

Down the hidden path to uncertainty, through time.

Up the castle stairs, stepping carefully, I climb.

Moving with caution, not sure what I will find,

words take me there on those...

Bold Adventures to the unknown,

farther and faster than I have ever flown,

on such grand excursions to who knows where?

Finding myself in places I could never go,

face to face with characters I could not know,

words make it so.

Deep within the woods so mysterious, I hide.

Down the crumbling cliffs so precarious, I slide.

Finding my footing just in the nick of time,

words rescue me, on those...

Meanwhile… Behind you!

Suddenly! …out of the blue!

Moving with caution not sure what I will find,

words take me there on those...

“Once upon a time,” four simple words

and I’m traveling there, anywhere!

Words make it so!

Philip Silvey, an internationally sought-after composer, clinician, and conductor, teaches at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. One of ten children, he was born in rural Pennsylvania in 1965. Taking note of Philip’s visceral connection to music, his mother registered him for piano lessons in the second grade. He tried to quit in 4th grade, but his parents held him to a three-year commitment, after which he never looked back.

With a love for singing and his rapidly developing piano skills, he accompanied his choir throughout junior high and high school. In his sophomore year, Philip began writing arrangements and original songs.

He continued to sing, play and compose in undergraduate school, where he majored in Theory, Composition, and Music Education. After receiving his Master’s in Composition from Penn State, he secured a full-time teaching job in Michigan, where he taught middle and high school choir. It was there that he began publishing his compositions. His career brought him to the University of Maryland, and then to Baldwin Wallace University before his present position at Eastman.

In reference to Bold Adventures, Philip writes:

As a kid, I spent many mornings searching the shelves of the school library to discover a new adventure. I took my favorite books out on loan more than once over the years, not just for the great characters and imaginative plots, but because I liked how the writer’s words made me feel. Well-written books can transport young readers, and I hope this composition inspires singers to open a new book and travel wherever it takes them!

https://www.esm.rochester.edu/directory/silvey-philip/#:~:text=BIOGRAPHY,graduate%20courses%20in%20music%20education. Eastman School of Music, PhilipSilvey.com

A Path To Each Other

By Jocelyn Hagen and Timothy C. Takach

Each word, a stone, We can build a wall, Or a path to each other.

This song reiterates the power of our words and how they can be used as a form of isolation or as a means of connectivity and compassion.

Timothy Takach (b. 1978) and Jocelyn Hagen (b. 1980) make a formidable husband and wife team. They share a love for beautiful music and deep respect for one another. They live in Minneapolis with their two children. Individually, they have complimentary though differing gifts and styles.

Jocelyn grew up as an only child in a small town in North Dakota. She began studying piano at the age of three, and in her teens, she was winning piano competitions all over the country. She describes herself as a child who spent a lot of time in her own head, perfecting her ideas until she was ready to share them with the world in a completed form. For this reason, Tim says that Jocelyn rarely shares her work with him before it is ready to be revealed, and while he hears a piece here and there, the finished work is always exciting for him.

Timothy grew up learning to love music by watching movies, listening to film scores and singing. The piano was his tool, and he enjoyed singing, arranging, and transcribing, but he had little interest in playing for 5 or 6 hours per day - which is requisite for a concert pianist.

Tim is a lover of collaboration, so he often bounces his ideas off of Jocelyn who says that Tim has an amazing grasp of the text, in terms of how it should be set and sung. He is gifted at finding inclusive and unifying poems for text.

The couple met during their undergraduate years at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where they majored in composition. Both are well-known composers today. They have numerous publications and received major grants and commissions from all over the world.

A Path To Each Other is written as part of their Collaboration Series. The words are sung in canon form - as a simple round, which invites empathy and emphasizes the potential for building community. We have all yearned for human connection, especially since the onset of the pandemic. This song speaks to that yearning: Each word, a stone. We can build a wall or a path to each other.

The Portfolio Composer: Episode 144; Jocelynhagen.com; TimothycTakach.com

Michael Patrick Culloton: JOCELYN HAGEN AND TIMOTHY TAKACH: AN INTRODUCTION TO THEIR CHORAL MUSIC AND A STUDY OF THEIR

POSITIONS WITHIN A LINEAGE OF MINNESOTA-BASED COMPOSERS, Fargo, ND: 2013

Follow the Drinking Gourd

By André Thomas

Follow the drinking gourd.

For the old man is awaitin’ for to carry you to freedom

If you follow the drinking gourd.

When the sun comes back and the first quail calls,

Follow the drinking gourd.

For the old man is awaitin’ for to carry you to freedom

If you follow the drinking gourd.

The riverbank will make a very good road,

The dead trees will show you the way.

Left foot, peg foot, traveling on,

Follow the drinking gourd.

The river ends between two hills,

Follow the drinking gourd.

There's another river on the other side,

Follow the drinking gourd.

When the great big river meets the little river,

Follow the drinking gourd.

For the old man is awaitin’ for to carry you to freedom

If you follow the drinking gourd.

André Thomas was born in 1952, in Wichita, Kansas to a single mom and two sisters. His mother sang regularly in church, and he grew up hearing the gospel choir sing. This was his introduction to music and singing. He took lessons here and there with members of the church, but his piano skills are largely self-taught until junior high when he began formal lessons at Wichita State University. In the spring of 8th grade, after only one year of lessons, he won a regional piano competition.

He continued in his junior high choir, and recalls a sense of discomfort about the spirituals taught in school:

...This was not the black music that I knew, and it certainly wasn’t the music that I experienced at my church! The text utilized dialect and it made me feel as if performing this music gave white people a chance to make fun of black people.

(André J. Thomas, Way Over in Beulah Lan': Understanding and Performing the Negro Spiritual. (Dayton, OH: Heritage Press, 2007).

He attended Friends University and was mentored by composer and conductor, Jester Hairston (1901 - 2000) who explained to him that dialect was “not a sign of inferiority but an accommodation for sounds that were not part of African speech”.

Says Dr. Thomas:

From an enslaved people grew the songs that became America’s voice all over the world. I went from being this kid who was embarrassed about his heritage to one [for whom] it became his life’s work. I will thank Jester Hairston for the rest of my life for taking this “know-it-all” kid to set him straight.
André Thomas- The Meaning and Impact of African American Spirituals - 11/12/19

Mr. Thomas earned his Master’s Degree from Northwestern University in Piano Performance in 1976, and then his Doctorate in Conducting and Education in 1983 from the University of Illinois. He recently retired as head of Choral Activities at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and he is presently a visiting professor at Yale. He has written several books, published hundreds of songs - most of which are gospel and spiritual songs, conducted major symphonies all over the world, and won international acclaim as a composer, conductor, and educator. We are thrilled to give you his arrangement of Drinking Gourd today.

This song, Drinking Gourd, is heavily debated among experts as fact or fiction. It has been set literally hundreds of times since it first appeared in print in 1928 by HB Parks. The writer of these notes grew up with a literal sense of this song, and in researching these notes, has concluded that as in many accounts, both fact and folklore play a part. Many enslaved folks were freed through the underground railroad and different songs provided parts of clues regarding the escape routes to freedom.

The details of this song begin with an account in the 1870s, well after the Civil War. Mary Austin (1868-1934) first heard this song sung at the age of 5 or 6 by Moses W. Drakeford in her hometown of Carlinville, Illinois. In 1912, HB Parks (1856-1936) heard a similar tune sung in North Carolina, and then, he heard it again in 1913 in Louisville, Kentucky. Lee Hays, (1914 - 1981) of the Weavers, who was living in Forrest City, Arkansas in 1918, reports having heard Follow the Drinking Gourd sung by his aunt. HB Parks heard another version in 1918 wherein the lyrics were “Follow the risen Lord.” In 1928 it was first published by the Texas Historical Society.

Looking at the lyrics that are familiar to most of us, this defines a route. The “Drinking Gourd” is the Big Dipper, and “the star” is the North Star. “The river makes a mighty good road” because one cannot trace tracks or scents once a river is crossed. “The old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom” was added in 1947, but “the old man” could describe any member of the Underground Railroad. Regarding Peg Leg Joe, there is evidence that trees were marked with trailheads, but there is no indication of a specific person named Peg Leg Joe. However, many accounts were told with a conglomeration of characters, and again, there were multiple people involved in the Underground Railroad. HB Park’s family helped many enslaved families escape, so regardless of the exact points in history, the story makes it real to the listener.

During the Civil Rights Movement, Follow the Drinking Gourd was sung at many protests, and it was since published and arranged for solo and choral voices hundreds of times.

Whether this song is accepted as fact or historical folklore, it is an important icon in the Civil Rights History, and so much so, that it was worthy of a setting by the renowned André Thomas who has spent the greater part of his life studying, teaching and arranging music of this genre, so it is with this frame of reference that we present it to you today.

http://www.followthedrinkinggourd.org/Afterword.ht; https://casanders.net/music-history/the-true-story-of-follow-the-drinking-gourd/

https://Andrethomas.com; https://music.yale.edu/people/andre-thomas;

André Thomas- The Meaning and Impact of African American Spirituals - 11/12/19

We Will Do Miracles

By Dominick DiOrio

We will do miracles.

We travel the open road, the world before us;

We travel the open road, all is beautiful,

You, air that serves us with breath to speak, to sing’

You are our words.

You, earth, before us with possibility;

You are a picture alive,

You, world, you express us, you reflect us,

You are more to us than our words

You are our poem. You are our song!

We will live here with you and do miracles!

We are better than we thought.

We are larger than ourselves.

We are the possibility of the world!

This text was adapted from Walt Whitman’s “Song of the Open Road” and filled with messages of hope and aspiration. As we look at the road that lies ahead of us, we are filled with possibilities to achieve greatness beyond our wildest dreams.

Dominick DiOrio was born in 1984 in New York. He has won numerous awards as a composer and conductor. Presently he teaches at Indiana University at the Jacobs School of Music, where he conducts the award-winning contemporary chamber choir, NOTUS. He also manages regular travel to Philadelphia, where he serves as Artistic Director & Conductor of the Mendelssohn Chorus.

Mr. DiOrio grew up in a family where music was part of the joy of everyday life in a non-professional sense. he listened to Billy Joel and Elton John, and as he discovered “classical music,” he expanded his listening to include Beethoven, Mozart, Bernstein, and Copland. His mentor, Janet Galvan, introduced him to the expanse of choral music. Mr. DiOrio believes that singing together evokes joy both for the singer and the listener, and this is central to his writing:

I want to make music because it can change people’s lives… and have an impact on people. Music has the ability to lift up others and communities…to make people feel things.

This is not the first time this year that the Children’s Chorus of Washington has performed a piece by Mr. DiOrio. Before we were immersed in the pandemic, Ms. Clark commissioned Dream A New World Trilogy based upon texts by poets Eloise Greenfield (1929 – 2021) and Elizabeth Alexander (b. 1962) for the Intersections Festival in honor of our 25th Anniversary. It was performed live in March 2022 as a collaborative effort with dance choreography by Ashanté Green, performed by Dance Institute of Washington (DIW) students.

"We Will Do Miracles" was written for the 25th anniversary of the Cincinnati Children’s Bel Canto Choir in 2018. Today, we will be performing it with our combined (Beginning and Advanced) Bel Canto Choirs.

The text for "We Will Do Miracles" is one of two we are performing today that is inspired by and adapted from Walt Whitman’s "Song of the Open Road." In his notes, Mr. DiOrio, says of the piece:

It is unapologetically boisterous, and it has a driving and infectious energy throughout. The text is hopeful and aspirational, perfect for an occasion of joy and celebration.

The Advanced Bel Canto and Concert Choirs were able to meet Mr. DiOrio earlier this spring, and today, so we are excited to get to know him and his music on a deeper level by singing "We Will Do Miracles."

With One Accord - Episode 54: Behind the Music/Dominick DiOrio (Houston Chamber Choir)

https//:dominickdiorio.com; Song of the Open Road

To Catch A Fish

From Dream A New World Trilogy

By Dominick DiOrio

Text by Eloise Greenfield

It takes more than a wish

to catch a fish

you take the hook

you add the bait

you concentrate

and then you wait

you wait you wait

but not a bite

the fish don’t have

an appetite

so tell them what

good bait you’ve got

and how your bait

can hit the spot

this works a whole

lot better than

a wish

if you really

want to catch

a fish

When I selected this poem to be a part of our Dream A New World Trilogy, I was struck by the simplicity of this poem and loved the bigger message that it conveyed. In our current world of instant responses and gratification, this message of patience and active hard work to get what you want is a perfect reminder for our young singers. We were delighted to premiere this composition at the Intersections Festival this past March.

Stardust

By B.E. Boykin

Text by Brittny Ray Crowell

In “Stardust," the singers call for “a home where we can run” in memory of Ahmaud Arbery, “a home where we can pray” in memory of the victims of the Mother Emanuel shooting, “a home where we can breathe” in memory of George Floyd, and a home “to sleep and dream without fear” in memory of Breonna Taylor. When we sing, we pray twice, and it is my prayer that this piece stirs all who hear it to call for justice for the people of color taken from this world before their time and without concern for their humanity. Marcus J. Jauregui

The Bantu text “Kum Buba Yali, Kum Buba Tambe” is based on the story of the enslaved Africans that sang these words as they leaped from a slave ship coming up on the islands near St. Simons, Georgia in their attempt to “fly back home,” known as the flying African legend. Within many African legends, singing and flying are often woven together as a form of lifting their spirits towards the heavens, towards freedom, towards hope. Children’s author Virginia Hamilton explains that tales “created out of sorrow” carry Black Americans forward.

As Brittny Crowell’s text states:

We cry your names

For the strength to keep on fighting

With the hope that you are flying.

If You Want to Go

By Philip E. Silvey

If you want to go fast, go alone.

If you want to go far, go together

African Proverb

The exact origin of this proverb is unknown, but several scholars of African cultures highlight this proverb as representative of the Africanist perspective focused on collaboration and community and less about what we can do individually. Similar to the proverb “It Takes a Village …” the proverb also addresses the moral well being of the community and the collective social responsibility of a society and how we each play a significant role.

Praise Song For the Day

From Dream A New World Trilogy

By Dominick DiOrio

Text by Elizabeth Alexander

Each day we go about our business,

walking past each other, catching each other's

eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is

noise and bramble, thorn and din, each

one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning

a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,

repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,

with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,

with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky.

A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words

spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,

words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark

the will of some one and then others, who said

I need to see what's on the other side.

I know there's something better down the road.

We need to find a place where we are safe.

We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain: that many have died for this day.

Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,

who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built

brick by brick the glittering edifices

they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.

Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,

the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,

others by first do no harm or take no more

than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,

love that casts a widening pool of light,

love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air,

any thing can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.

After waiting for two years, we were so excited to finally have the opportunity to premiere this movement in March at the Atlas Intersections Festival. The text was written by Elizabeth Alexander for President Obama’s Inauguration in 2009. I was fortunate to be present among the participants and vividly remember that historic day and the optimistic energy that was so apparent. Alexander’s words clearly commemorated the hard work of our ancestors in building our country’s foundation and praising the belief in striving to continue to do your best work. Having all voices represented in this piece was important to showing the power of all of our voices towards a better future.

One Step

By Jocelyn Hagen

What is the meaning of success?

What does it mean to me?

How do I get there?

Do I have reason to be scared?

No. Never give up.

No. Never give in.

One step

Take another step

Take a step down

Take a step back

Turn around, look around

Take a step up

Spreading out, standing proud,

Stepping up, singing loud!

One step

Step up!

"One Step" is about embracing the messy journey and being OK with the idea that not every movement is a step in the upward direction. But it’s a step nonetheless, and oftentimes a step back or down is exactly what we need to learn something new or gain a new perspective. The important thing is that we keep moving, and we keep trying. By J. Hagen

O Pastorelle, Addio

From the opera Andrea Chénier

By Umberto Giordano

arr. Emile H. Serposs

O Pastorelle, addio!

Ci avviamo verso lidi ignoti e strani!

Ahi! Ahi! sarem lungi diman!

Questi lochi abbandoniamo! Ahi! Ahi!

Non avrà, fino al ritorno,

più gioie il cor.

Ahi! Ahi! Sarem lungi diman!

Now is the time for parting!

To shores far away and lonely,

we travel without you!

Ah! Ah! Far away we must go!

This dear land we love forevermore!

Joy and gladness we must leave behind

until we meet again.

This song of farewell is written by Italian composer Umberto Giordano and demonstrates his lyrical dramatic style of writing. As with any journey, saying farewell and leaving what you know and the people you love is one of the hardest parts of taking a step towards something different. This piece seemed to reflect the emotions we feel towards saying farewell to loved ones and was the perfect segue towards the next piece on the program.

Dayung Sampan

Trad. Singaporean Folk Music

arr. Darius Lim

Dayung sampan, dayung dayung sampan

Datang dari negara Cina sampai Singapura

Dayung mendayung sampai ke Singapura

Dayung Dayung!

Row the sampan (boat), row row the sampan

Anchored in the port in a Chinese town, you have come to Singapore

An oar to row your sampan to Singapore

Row row!

"Dayung Sampan" was originally an Indonesian folk song that was later adapted by immigrants who came to Singapore in the 19th century. This rendition of the folk song shares the idea of the fearless immigrants traveling by sea to Singapore’s sunny shores in search of a new life, where despite the highly dangerous voyages, travelers were spurred on by the promise of a better life. - Darius Lim

Rise Up

From speeches and writings by Susan B. Anthony

By Jake Runestad

Rise up!

There shall never be another season of silence.

Deepen your sympathy then convert it to action.

Pray every single second of your life, not on your knees but with your work.

Think your best thoughts,

speak your best words,

do your best work.

There is so much yet to be done.

Rise up!

This piece was commissioned in 2016 by the ACDA Women’s Choir Commission Consortium using text from Susan B. Anthony over 150 years ago. Her words continue to be an important message in today’s world.

Hope Lingers On

By Lissa Schneckenburger

arr. Andrea Ramsey

My mother, when love is gone,