Bird Song

cabaret song for voice (Bb3-F5), bass flute, and bass clarinet

text by composer

3'30"

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2023

Commissioned by The Walden School

Premiered July 7, 2023 by TAK Ensemble: 

Laura Cocks, bass flute; Madison Greenstone, bass clarinet; Charlotte Mundy, voice

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Text:

They are stardust

They are shapeshifter

They are a bird who sings alone at night

They are a bird who sings with other birds

 

When dawn breaks

They gratefully rearrange their particles (this hurts) but

They rouse their brothers awake

They make an invitation

They sing

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I wrote the text of Bird Song while practicing using they/them pronouns for myself. I brainstormed strings of sentences using "they" as the subject. Sometimes the sentences were nonsense; sometimes they started to relate to each other and become poems. I liked this one enough to share it, and sent it to Clara Lyon, and thought of it a few months later when looking for a short text to set for TAK. In the spirit of the creation of the text, the song was mostly written linearly in one composing session, letting intuition lead and relationships emerge.

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