A Cycle on the Earth

All the music at our fall concert has to do with the earth.  Not a unique theme, but each choir tells a story with their cycle.

I'm preparing Alberto Grau's "Kasar Mie La Gaji."  I'm taking a section at a time- marking in my score, singing through each part, deciding on tempi, determining the shape of the phrase (he's quite explicit in his markings), hearing it in my head... it all must be solid before practicing conducting.

"The earth is tired."  The whole piece... "The earth is tired, the earth is tired, the earth is tired, ahhhh."  It's dry, it's overworked and overused... this is the earth we are singing about.

But the earth stays tired... there is no relief in the entire piece.  And from that, they sing Matthew Culloton's arrangement of "Famine Song."  "Rain" is the common refrain, and relief finally comes at the end; there is rain.  Without stopping the rain, Memley's "There Will Come Soft Rains."  Except this time, the rain falls and the earth moves on and suddenly the notion: if war devastates humankind, spring will still happen.  The rains will still smell sweetly, the birds will still chirp, the beauty of the earth will still exist, even if humans destroy themselves.

I promise, it's actually a very uplifting concert.