O Clap Your Hands

M. Thomas Cousins

Text adapted from Psalm 47

O clap your hands,

All ye people:

Shout unto God with the voice   

 of triumph;

For the Lord most high

Is a great king over all the earth;

Sing praises, sing praises

Alleluya, alleluya

For God sitteth upon the throne

Of His holiness.

Ave Maria

Jacob Arcadelt

Ave Maria,

Hail Mary

Gratia plena,

Full of grace,

Dominus tecum.

The Lord is with thee.

Benedicta tu in mulieribus,

Blessed art thou among women

Et benedictus fructus ventris  

 tui, Jesus.

Blessed is the fruit of thy   

 womb, Jesus.

Sancta Maria,

Holy Mary

Ora pronobis.

Pray for us.

Amen

So be it

Unclouded Day, Mvt. 1 from Heavenly Home: Three American Songs

arr. Shawn Kirchner

Words & music by Rev. J.K. Alwood

Unclouded Day is a setting of an early American gospel tune by J.K. Alwood, who was a Circuit-Riding Preacher in the American Midwest. It has been arranged by Shawn Kirchner into an eight part a cappella setting that combines traditional bluegrass vocal styling with counterpoint and fugue.

The following are Alwood’s own words about the inspiration for the piece:

“It was a balmy night in August 1879, when returning from a debate in Spring Hill, Ohio, to my home in Morenci, Michigan, about 1 o’clock a.m. I saw a beautiful rainbow north by northwest against a dense black nimbus cloud. The sky was all perfectly clear except this dark cloud which covered about forty degrees of the horizon and extended about halfway to the zenith. The phenomenon was entirely new to me and very lovely. I had traveled ten miles from the scene of mental toil. To awake and look abroad and remember the night was to be filled with sweet melody. A while at the organ brought forth a piece of music now known as “The Unclouded Day.” A day and a half was bestowed on the melody and four stanzas.”

Verse One:

O they tell me of a home far  

 beyond the skies,

They tell me of a home far 

 away,

And they tell me of a home

Where no storm-clouds rise:

O they tell me of an unclouded 

 day.

Chorus:

O the land of cloudless days

O the land of an unclouded sky,

O they tell me of a home

Where no storm-clouds rise:

O they tell me of an unclouded  

 day

Verse Two:

O they tell me of a home

Where my friends have gone,

They tell me of a land far 

 away,

Where the tree of life in eternal bloom

Sheds its fragrance through 

 the unclouded day.

Verse Three:

They tell of a King in his beauty   

 there,

They tell me that mine eyes 

 shall behold

Where He sits on a throne

That is bright as the sun

In the city that is made of gold!

Perhaps

Thomas Drury

“Perhaps” was originally the seventh song in a song cycle for soprano entitled Perhaps. This song cycle was written for his wife, Andrea, and is set to the poetry of Sara Teasdale. The choral version was originally arranged for the University of Southern Indiana’s Chamber Choir.  The couple recorded the song cycle and it is available, along with other works composed by Tom, on Spotify.  

Perhaps if Death is kind

And there can be returning,

We will come back to earth 

 some fragrant night

And take these lanes to find 

 the sea,

And bending

Breath the same honeysuckle

Low and white.

We will come down at night

To these resounding beaches,

And the long gentle thunder of 

 the sea,

Here, for a single hour

In the wide starlight,

We shall be happy, 

For the dead are free.

Come to the Woods

Jake Runestad

Come to the Woods is an exploration of the spirit of nature. Jake Runestad compiled the text from the writings of John Muir who was inspired by the transcendent natural landscape of California’s Yosemite Valley. The music meditates on Muir’s celebrations of nature through stunningly beautiful choral harmonies and pensive piano solos. Mountain winds, bracing windstorms and a wild sea of pines invigorate the soul and lead us to peace and rest.

UNT A Cappella Choir Program Notes

Another glorious day,

 Glorious day,

The day of sparkling sunshine,

And at the same time enlivened 

With one of the most bracing 

 wind storms. 

The mountain winds bless the 

 forests with love.

They touch every tree

Not one is forgotten.

When the storm began to sound, 

I pushed out into the woods to 

 enjoy it.

I should climb one of the trees 

 for a wider look.

The sounds of the storm were 

 glorious 

With wild exuberance of light 

 and motion.

Bending and swirling, back

 ward and forward,

Round and round and round 

 and round

In this wild sea of pines.

The storm tones died away

And turning toward the east I 

 beheld the trees

Hushed and tranquil

The setting sun filled them 

 with amber light

And seemed to say,

Come to the woods,

For here is rest.

I Can Tell the World

arr. Moses Hogan

I can tell the world, yes, about 

 this,

I can tell the nations, yes, that 

 I’m blessed.

Tell’em what my Lord has 

 done

Tell’em the conqueror has 

 come,

And He brought Joy, joy, joy, to 

 my soul.

My Lord done just what He 

 said,

Yes He did, O Lord,

He healed the sick and He 

 raised the dead.

Yes, He did, O Lord,

He lifted me when I was down,

Yes, He did, O Lord,

He placed my feet on solid 

 ground, 

Yes, He did, O Lord, 

Across the Vast, Eternal Sky

Ola Gjeilo

Ola Gjielo collaborates with the poet Charles Anthony Silvestri to bring us a lush choral work about the legend of the firebird, with universal themes of spiritual growth, rebirth and renewal. 

Sunlight shines on my face;

This is my grace, to be

Restored, born again,

In flame.

When I was young I flew in the 

 velvet night;

Shining by day, a firebird 

 bathed in light!

Grey now my feathers, which 

 once were red and gold;

My destiny to soar up to the sun

Sunlight shines on my face;

This is my grace, to be

Restored, born again,

In flame.

Do not despair that I am gone 

 away;

I will appear again

When the sunset paints

Flames across the vast, eternal 

 sky.

Let the River Run

arr. Craig Hella Johnson

Written, composed, and performed by Carly Simon, this theme from the motion picture Working Girl was the first song created entirely by a single artist to win an Academy, Golden Globe, and Grammy Award.

Hello Mary Lou

(Goodbye Heart)

arr. David Wright

Hello Mary Lou is one of several songs written by Gene Pitney who is better known as a recording artist and sang songs like Blue Angel and Only Love Can Break a Heart. David Wright is a top arranger of the barbershop style and his arrangements are in demand and performed around the world.

The Awakening

Joseph Martin

From the composer: 

When I was asked to write the commissioned anthem for the 20th anniversary of TCDA (Texas Choral Directors Association), I knew that the piece would be sung first to music teachers and I wanted to encourage them in their work and remind them of how important they are to the lives of our young people.

When I was in Junior High school, I had a wonderful teacher who created a sanctuary for her students in the choir room. She opened many windows of artistic thought that were new to me, and she helped me fall in love with choral music. I wasn’t much of a singer and so played the piano for the group (my degrees are in piano performance). It was a violent time in the inner city school where I was bused everyday and music became a deeply important part of my life for many reasons during those years. This dear teacher, Doris Clark, had a special nurturing spirit and her kind but disciplined manner was both an inspiration and a challenge for us to do our best. She was energetic and insightful. She connected the dots of musical expression and the greater lessons of life in a way I had never considered. She also inspired a great sense of the sacred in the music and that was a tremendous impact on me and how I was to view my musical gifts through the years. She was one of my first true mentors.

In a tragic turn of events, following one of our concerts my final year she was brutally murdered in the choir room. We returned to a music suite surrounded by police tape and padlocks. That wondrous place that had been such a special sanctuary for us was turned in an instant into reminder of the hatred and violence that was part of that awful time. The Awakening is my journey back to joy... it is my testament to the power of music to heal and the determination that we all discovered while trying to honor the life-song of our beloved teacher. 

The piece lays out into three sections. The first section is a dream sequence...or should I say a nightmare, where there is only silenceand despair. Music of course is also a metaphor for life in the anthem, and I tried to write the piece so that even non-musicians might be able to relate to the feelings of hopelessness that are represented in this opening tableau. The music is replete with tone painting, and as this section settles into deep despair, all melody is smothered and this haunting section ends with just gasping whispers of silence.

The middle section is representative of the coming of dawn and the hope of a new day. The song, no longer dormant, emerges from the shadows and begins to shine. The whole of creation begins to sing in a festive ostinato and confident calls to praise are heard from each section. The hidden message of “Soli Deo Gloria” harkens back to the works of Bach (he often wrote these words at the ends of his music) and celebrates my personal conviction that the source of the “Song” is divine.

This spiritual admonition transports the piece headlong into the Finale which is a hymn of praise to the “Giver of the Song.” The finalshouts of exaltation banish the darkness of the opening dream forever with the proclamation “Let Music Live! Hopefully, both performer and listener will understand through the journey of the piece that they are part of the sacred song of life. I also hope that teachers and music directors will rediscover the joy of sharing the gift of music with their pupils and that they will feel encouraged even as my teachers encouraged me to celebrate that song in everything they say and do.