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Abbie Betinis

Composer Abbie Betinis creates “inventive” (The New York Times), “joyful… incandescent” (Boston Globe) music that “expands into ethereal realms” (Cambridge University Press). With performances from Carnegie Hall to Disney Hall, state prisons to capitol buildings, international cathedrals to intimate summer campfires, her music transports performers and audiences alike through storytelling, relevance, and craft. Her vast...

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Abbie Betinis Music Company

Lumen

Name: Lumen
SKU: AB-071-01
Availability: InStock

Abbie Betinis

This well-crafted, flexible canon passes “light” from singer to singer.

Choral

3-part mixed, mixed choir, treble choir

a cappella

Difficulty: 2

Duration: less than 3 min.

AB-071-01

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Unison chant, 3 part canon

With a meditative chant that rises and expands, “Lumen” (Light) is a flexible concert selection for all skill-levels. Beginning singers can repeat the ostinato chant, while others spiral into a 3-part canon, passing the soaring minor melody from singer to singer. The secular Latin text “Receive the light and pass it on, / I give that you may give” is appropriate throughout the year, including many festivals and holidays (ex. Hanukkah, Diwali, Advent, Christmas) and as a common school motto, at graduations. The score includes ideas for experimenting with form and staging, if desired.

Reviews:
“Abbie Betinis has quickly emerged as one of the strongest voices in American choral composition. Her music is characterized by eclectic texts and a unique, yet accessible style. Betinis composed “Lumen” in 2012 for the Waupaca High School (Wis.) Treble Clef ensemble. In the style of chant, the three-part canon is solemn and ponderous. The flexible voicing and performance practice give performers freedom to adapt the piece to their individual needs. The piece would work well as a processional at the beginning of a concert.”
– John Charles Hughes, Choral Director Magazine

“Abbie Burt Betinis is one of the leading composers of 21st-century American choral music. […] At the age of three, while singing a canon in the car with her family, she proudly held her own part — an event that is fondly remembered as a “coming-of-age” experience in a family abounding in musical tradition. Partly due to this upbringing, one compositional technique of which Betinis is very fond, and which affects most of her repertoire, is canon. The inclusion of canonic devices forms a deep connection between Betinis’s very soul and the music she composes.

At first glance her canons are quite simple, but further inspection will reveal something more complex; such canons can serve as surprisingly moving concert pieces. […] In the hands of Betinis, a canon is a much more complex and aurally stimulating art form.”
– Peter Steenblik, International Choral Bulletin

Composer’s Notes

This Latin text is a motto for many schools around the world, so I decided I wanted to make the music sound like one voice is “teaching” the next voice. I played with musical imitation in different ways (pitch, rhythm) because learning isn’t just about echoing, but about experimenting too. I also imagined the light (lumen) growing and growing each time it passes from singer to singer, so the music starts with small intervals and gradually expands into larger leaps and longer scales.

– Abbie Betinis

PERFORMANCE NOTES
The Chant is an ostinato which begins the piece, and is meant to continue underneath the 3-part Canon throughout the performance. But the piece can be performed in many ways. Here are some ideas, and feel free to come up with your own!

The Chant:

Try using the chant as a processional. Once in place, begin layering in the canon.
Try using the chant to end the canon: instead of the canon-singers dropping out after their last time through line 1, have each group join the chant until all voices are singing in unison.
Try singing the piece as a four-part round, with the chant as part 1.
Try inviting your audience to join you on the chant. (You may print the lyrics in your program.)

The Canon:

Try standing in a large circle or horseshoe, perhaps grouped in parts surrounding the audience, so they can easily hear how the melodies travel.
Try beginning the canon with a soloist, cueing the singers on either side, then the singers next to them, and so on, so the canon travels symmetrically out from the soloist.
For an evocative visual element, try candles or bright silk scarves to pass the ‘light’ to the next group as they begin the canon. Or join hands with the next group as they begin.

Instrumentation:
This score is a cappella, but it’s also effective with a low pedal or open fifth for support (organ, strings, etc). I love it when ensembles experiment with instrumentation and accompaniment to make my canons fit your needs.