Begin
Begin was composed in June of 2020 in the shadow of both the COVID-19 pandemic and the death of George Floyd. The introduction summarizes how it feels to live through these monumental moments in our history. As the song develops, though, these shadows are replaced with a hopeful light. “We are stronger when we have each other,” and this song is intended to lift up the listener with a message of solidarity, unity, and optimism.
This piece was commissioned by Gettysburg Children's Choir for their 2020 Summer Sing, which I had the pleasure of co-directing with Dr. Brent C. Talbot, assisted by Austin Nikirk and Allie Charney. We ran this virtual choir camp in a completely online format, and students learned the piece through daily Zoom rehearsals. At the end of the week, they sent us a video of themselves singing their part, which Dr. Talbot beautifully edited into the video below. I intentionally wrote this piece to function well as a virtual performance, and I'm thrilled to be able to offer it here to choir directors planning for online teaching environments.
Virtual Performances
Watch "Begin" featured on FOX43 News here!
This piece was commissioned by Gettysburg Children's Choir for their 2020 Summer Sing, which I had the pleasure of co-directing with Dr. Brent C. Talbot, assisted by Austin Nikirk and Allie Charney. We ran this virtual choir camp in a completely online format, and students learned the piece through daily Zoom rehearsals. At the end of the week, they sent us a video of themselves singing their part, which Dr. Talbot beautifully edited into the video below. I intentionally wrote this piece to function well as a virtual performance, and I'm thrilled to be able to offer it here to choir directors planning for online teaching environments.
Virtual Performances
- Choirs that purchase this piece can also receive additional materials for distance performances at no additional charge. These include practice tracks by voice part, a custom click track that will precisely follow the tempo changes, and the full instrumentation of the video below (produced in Logic Pro X). Your purchase also includes licensing for video production!
- Each of the three editions of this piece (treble, SATB, three-part mixed) are written to be sung simultaneously. This allows multiple choirs of various voicings to collaborate on the same project across an entire choral program.
- The music is designed to be enriching, but not overly difficult. You will find plenty of unison, pop-influenced melodies, and harmony built by intuitive voice-leading. There are plenty of concepts in the piece that are opportunities for musical growth, but I've found it important for virtually performed pieces to have a more shallow learning curve.
- The detailed score is specifically designed for physically distanced singers (see below for perusals). Boxed text indicates placement of ending consonants, and dynamic and articulation markings indicate phrasing. The final product will be a more unified sound overall if singers are encouraged to follow these markings.
- The music was also designed to support video production. If you choose to create a video project, you will find that the phrases of the verses have just enough space in between them for a smooth transition between images. See the videos above for an examples, and have fun making it your own!
Watch "Begin" featured on FOX43 News here!