Sure on this Shining Night

Setting of the James Agee poem, for SSA choir with 6-part splits.

Sure on this Shining Night

If you want, go ahead and compare this with Morten Lauridsen's version (SATB). You can find many choirs singing it on youtube.

As for the piece, it sounds nice, except it's a bit repetitive with the melody and entrances into each verse (specifically the sopranos on the E and the high B.)

Besides that, keep working.

I really enjoyed this! You know how to handle a 3 part (ish) setting. haha. Now look at this:

1. Why not try and add some modulation. There are minimal if ANY accidentals in the piece... look at the fireworks of any great piece and it is 60% of the time a modulated or unexpected chord.

2. Think about rebuilding the chords to have a "fuller" sound. Most of the time you do... but I don't like the air and space you put in the texture at times.

EXAMPLE: m. 27-39. Your phrases are all two bar phrases and it's like BUILD UP BUILD UP... breathe... BUILD UP BUILD UP... breath...

There is no climax. Think about building that section up with NO rests and push the music through different directions and let there be some more MOVEMENT. It might travel to place you didn't even think of.

3. I would speed the whole piece up a bit. just a thought.

There are actually no accidentals in this piece... it was written for a beginning women's choir headed by a friend of mine. They wanted something a cappella, but approachable and challenging at the same time. It was my attempt to capture something very simply.

Well, on that same token, diatonic harmonies are generally difficult to climax... Maybe consider adding ONE for the "climax" of the piece, a half step up or down from a previously sung note. I think it will be 1000x more effective.

However, think about the structure of the piece and the way you approach a big moment and decide if it is effective enough. If you think it is, then leave it alone. :phones:

I definitely agree with Morivou as far as accidentals and modulation are concerned. It can be somewhat challenging to add modulation to a piece meant to be easy, but there are plenty of ways in which it can be done. Try key changing to Bb (as its so similar to Eb). Possibly in measure 33 - you are already on a suspended Bb here so, if done right, the choir will hardly even notice the change. Your V chord just becomes your I. You might need to make a few further adjustments throughout the rest of the piece for range purposes as well if key changes are made.

One thing I noticed was the text setting in the beginning (and the similar parts throughout the piece) when you have each part singing a different word in the phrase. This can work in very few cases and yours (mostly) is not one of them. The basic rule of thumb is that if a word ends in a vowel this works because the vowel sound will be held until the end of the note. If it ends in a consonant it wont work as the consonant will not sound until just before the next note. Measure 1 (and the measures following), for example, will be phonetically sung: "Ah", "Thi", "Nah", with "N", "S", and "Eet" sounding simultaneously at the end of measure two. This will cause the words to be completely mushed and the audience WILL NOT be able to understand what is being sung, no matter how well the choir sings it. Have the Sop 1s sing "On this night", the Sop 2s "This night" and the Altos "Night" (respectively adjusted in later occurrences.

I liked most of the harmonies and I think this has a lot of potential. Keep writing! :)