Above Gravity

In the winter of 2017, Bob Gathany, former photographer for the Huntsville (AL) Times, was able to capture early evening footage of a massive flock of blackbirds in flight. The effect he filmed is called murmuration – a dazzling acrobatic display of birds swirling and creating fluid formations in air, seeming to defy laws of nature. It is believed that, as each bird reacts and responds to the subtle movements of birds near them, they create synchronized waves which in turn allow them to better communicate food sources, and offer protection as they fly en masse.

Julie Cadwallader Staub’s poem captures this image in words – “the whole flock taking a long, wide turn, as if of one body and one mind.” What if nature were our teacher in this case? How do we rise above the gravity of self-absorption, of division? How would our current world be different if our first priority was not our own freedom or well-being, but the good of others?

The opening of this piece is written to suggest fluttering of wings underlying the soprano introduction of the story; in the second section, solo lines are shared with tenors and altos, while the undulating accompaniment continues. The homophonic middle section leads us to the heart of Cadwallader Staub’s poem – that we are inextricably joined, achieving together what we cannot do alone. The final section paints a picture of the flock and the “long, wide turn”, before the flock fades from view.

If desired, the opening polyphonic sections (ms. 1-21, ms. 21-43, or both) can be sung by a smaller group of singers, with a tutti entrance at ms. 43 (or earlier, at the pickup to ms. 35). I encourage conductors to explore visual imagery to accompany performance (photos or videos of murmuration, or of blackbirds in flight), offering a multi- sensory experience for the audience.

– Ellen Gilson Voth, 2025