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Dale Trumbore
Dale Trumbore
Like Something Newly Freed (SSAA)
This piece builds from a gentle beginning to a full, climactic ending as we imagine ourselves taking flight.
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Like Something Newly Freed
SSAA a cappella
As Laura Foley’s poem “Like Something Newly Freed” progresses, we shift from observing blackbirds at sunset to narrating from their perspective, as we imagine ourselves among them and desire their unencumbered flight and freedom in our own lives. This setting of Foley’s text attempts to capture those sensations of ever-increasing immersion and momentum in music, particularly in moments like “the lightness of a song” and “gaining on the sun.”
Like Something Newly Freed was commissioned by California ACDA for the 2017 California All-State Mixed Honor Choir (Dr. Amanda Quist, Conductor).
Composer’s Notes
In the beginning of this piece, the treble voices remain separate from the lower voices, singing neutral syllables and depicting the birds’ movement while the lower voices remain “grounded” in the melody. As we begin to imagine ourselves among the “lift” and “wings” of flight, the singers join together, their voices equally capable of demonstrating both the flight and the observation of the flight. -Dale Trumbore
Text
LIKE SOMETHING NEWLY FREED
When you watch blackbirds flocking
in silhouette
against bare trees, against
a salmon sky, you wonder
at the sight, at the lift
you feel inside, the wings
and all that space.
As night begins,
you raise black wings
like leaves, like the lightness of a song.
As night hurries in,
you streak across the darkening sky
like something newly freed
and gaining, gaining on the sun.
—Laura Foley
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