Words and Tune by Dorothy J. Smith
Piano Accompaniment by Johnie Dean
This is an SAB anthem, with keyboard accompaniment. The vocal lines are very singable, with unison singing on the stanzas. The texture moves to SAB on the refrain. The text is a direct reflection of the composer’s struggles in her life at the present: she and her husband have had to make life changes during the writing of this piece, and the text and tune have helped her through these difficult times. Dorothy is a retired music educator, having served over 37 years in public school music education. She has also had pieces published by Shawnee and Genevox.
This anthem is a nice one for all choirs--and fills a niche not often found: an easier piece to augment a choir’s repertoire and heavy rehearsal schedule. There are some twists in the tune that one does not expect, see m. 41, for example. The ending is quite effective, yet one needs to be careful that the sustained last note is focused on the first vowel of the dipthong in ‘go’.
An option on this piece is to have different sections of the choir sing parts of the stanzas, rather than all of the choir sing all of the time--or a soloist/ensemble could be enlisted to offer more variety. A flute or violin would be a lovely option on the opening line of the accompaniment; also, bring the instrument back in on the ending for the echo lines (mm. 56-62). There are several long vocal lines that carry over, so good breath control is a must.
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