NEW – G. Schirmer Dale Warland Choral Series – I AM MUSIC by Dale Trumbore

Composer Dale Trumbore‘s I am Music (SATB Chorus & Piano | 6′) is newly available from the G. Schirmer Dale Warland Choral Series. Commissioned by Brandon Elliott and Choral Arts Initiative, the music begins with energetic excitement and ends serenely, following the powerful statement “I am the instrument of God” as the choir whispers “I am music.”

 

Hear the piece and preview the score here:

 

TEXT

“I tell the story of love, the story of hate, the story that saves, and damns.  
I am the incense upon which prayers float to heaven.
I am the smoke which palls over the field of battle where men lie dying with me on their lips.

I am close to the marriage altar, and when the graves open, I stand nearby.
I call the wanderer home, I rescue the soul from the depths.
I open the lips of lovers and through me the dead whisper to the living.

I speak through the birds of the air, the insects of the field,
the crash of the waters on rock-ribbed shores, the sighing of wind in the trees, and I am even heard 
by the soul that knows me in the clatter of wheels on city streets.

Through me spirits immortal speak the message that makes the world weep, and laugh, and wonder, and worship.

I know my brother, yet all men are my brothers;
I am of them and they are of me, for I am the instrument of God.
I am music.”

—Anonymous, ca. 1919

 

More from Dale Trumbore:

 

A winner of the VocalEssence Welcome Christmas Carol Contest, Ring Out, Ye Bells! is a jubilant new Christmas carol. As the piano evokes ringing bells and struck harps, the choir throws “all its power into singing!” in a triumphant ending.

 

Frozen In evokes the icy calm of a placid winter evening walk and sets an evocative text full of crystalline imagery by contemporary poet Annie Finch.

 

A Valentine for Hands describes the most beautiful and intimate images of love – “warm hands,” “gentlest sounds, touches and hours.” The text is set apart and isolated in sound, marked by gentle silences until halfway through the piece when the voices finally merge together, remaining that way – finally united, until the very end.