June 3, 20223 yr Hi all, This my initial attempt to write SATB for a short poem. It is also my second SATB work. The other one written years back. The poem is "Grief" by Barabara Crooker. I was motivated to compose this work by the death of a family member. So all advice is most welcome to improve the work. It is short four line poem - thus a short musical endeavor. Thanks Mark
June 3, 20223 yr I am truly sorry for the loss of your loved one, but what better legacy to leave them than a lovely choral work! The text is moving and the harmonies you chose fit well! I do have a few pointers for the phrasing and vocal ranges. When setting a poem to music, it's important to capture stress. In other words, syllables in the poem that receive greater emphasis — these should generally take the highest / longest notes in the music. So, in your poem (stressed syllables underlined): Grief is the river you wade in until you get to the other side. Or something like that, since the poem doesn't employ rhyming meter. I typically do this before composing so I have a good idea of how the words should sound when set to music. The ranges here are rather high. You could probably transpose the entire piece down a major 2nd or 3rd and still be on the high side of the voices. It's not unsingable, just... unfriendly, perhaps. Sopranos can certainly hit that Bb5, but there's also lots of G5s and A5s. Similar story with the tenors. Altos aren't terribly high, although an E5 will be out of range of many altos. The basses seem to be okay here (although they'll need some tweaking if you elect to lower the whole piece). A nice work, thank you for sharing!
June 4, 20223 yr Author Tonskaid, Thank you so much for the helpful suggestions. I made changes in the voices, a few tweaks here and there ... some of the stress words were not changed to keep the effect I desired. I will continue to review the work over the next few days and seek suggestions. Mark Edited June 4, 20223 yr by MJFOBOE newer version
June 9, 20223 yr Author Hi all, My orchestra conductor and also the Music Director of a Unitarian Church with a very good choir will read through my work and record it. Mark
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