RAIN SATB

The text is a combination of raindrop sound effects and the stunning poetry of New Zealand poet Hone Tuwhare. I was struck by the raw beauty of 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. Rain has become something rare and wild; the overwhelm Hone writes about makes complete sense. I imagine as the song builds, the singers exulting in a muddy rain dance.

Notes

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 travelling through the phrase.

Enjoy the accents, this piece should feel like the choir could be accompanying rain-dancers. The piece uses parallelism, Something in the text reminded me of several of my favourite medieval songs, driven by clean powerful harmonies and crisp, exciting rhythms so I wanted to evoke the sense of organum. There’s something primal about experiencing rain so viscerally. If you find yourself in a consecutive fifth situation, please lean into it.

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.

This music is available to perform. Please contact me if you’d like to purchase the sheet music or please give me a hoy if your choir would be willing to make a recording for me I could share here!