Redeemer

My church asked me to write a choral piece for Easter based on Nicole C Mullen's "Redeemer". Originally they were going to pass out lyrics sheets and if anyone wanted to sing part of the solo, they could just start singing. And then make-up whatever background vocals they could along with the CD accompaniment the lady had provided. I told her it would be nearly impossible to co-ordinate given the complexity of the song and the fact that almost everyone involved were untrained amateur voices. She said the only other way to do it was to write out the choral parts from scratch (thus making it my job to do so).

I had a week to do it, and I wasted all my time on school and other such distractions, but managed to get this piece finished by this morning. There will be two soloists to sing the opening verse (with choir oohs and aahs in the background), then the chorus will all come in to sing the "bridge" in 4-part harmony, and then a nice 5-part reprise of the chorus in a raised key.

I am not one to write for piano, so it's simply block chords. Fortunately, I'll be playing the piano for the performance, and between me improvising on the chord structure and a few other guys playing guitar and bass, it won't really matter.

My greatest contribution to this piece is merely the choral writing. I wanted to make it simple enough to teach a chorus of amateur singers, and yet interesting enough to really impress the congregation. It will be premiered at my church on Easter Sunday, April 8th, by a small 12-15 member chorus. (I'll be playing piano, singing tenor, and teaching the parts simultaneously, hehe).

It's not a master work, but it is a legitimate arrangement.

Sean, sounds nice. Of course I liked it!

My only concern was how close the notes in the right hand of the piano were. If you space out the notes there it will be a much richer harmony.

Which application can read a .MUS file? My Linux system does not know anything about that kind of file -- it appears as raw data.

Thanks,
Raphael

Which application can read a .MUS file

Finale, there's a free version called Notepad but I'm not sure if it's available for Linux systems.

Yes true, you can download Notepad for free, available at the Finale website. Also, I included a PDF along with the score, and am now including an MP3 performance of this piece. Hopefully I'll have another one come Easter with an actual chorus.

www.myspace.com/nightingaleincorporated