RAIN SATB

Notes

I was struck by the raw beauty of New Zealand poet Hone Tuwhare's poetic language. Like other master poets, his text seemed simple at first, but as I worked with it, I became quite intoxicated by its depth. I live next to the desert, where we have had a multiyear drought. Here, rain is something rare and wild; the overwhelm Hone writes about makes sense. I envisage as the song builds, the singers exulting in a muddy rain dance.

Something in the text reminded me of several of my favourite medieval songs, driven by clean powerful harmonies and crisp, exciting rhythms. I added text of raindrop sound effects. Throughout the piece, the raindrops are percussive and dry (ironically). This means crisp plosive consonants and softer vowels, emulating the hit and decay of percussion instruments. In contrast the poetry text can be legato and elegant, whilst retaining the forward rhythmic momentum throughout.

I have included phrase markings over much of the poetry. Some phrases include rests - observe the rests but keep moving through the phrase.

I have written in foot stomps, but I would encourage more percussion which can be as simple as quaver pulses with finger clicking, shaky egg or similar, or more sophisticated, with contrasting or no percussion in the D section.