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Elizabeth Alexander
Elizabeth Alexander (Seafarer Press)
Same Birds
A sassy frolic about deep listening, the cry of existence, and a congregation of rowdy birds.
SATB a cappella
Same Birds is a gaggle of glee, sizzling with quirky jazz voicings, snappy syncopations, and musical mischief. Its unabashed word play and exaggerated dipthongs grow ever more rambunctious until they culminate into the glorious, full-bodied pronouncement: “We are here.” The song concludes with an ethereal coda in which birdcalls are layered over the simple mandate: “Listen.”
(Commissioned by North Central ACDA for the Regional High School Honor Choir)”
Composer’s Notes
In “Same Birds,” I give singers permission to play around with vowels! The most prominent example of this vowel fun is on the word “same”; its bluesy, two-syllable melisma begs for a juicy “long a-long e” dipthong. Yes, I know this dipthong is verboten in classical music, but try it anyway. It’s the only way to find your inner crow.
The sassy, slightly nasal dipthong of “same” contrasts with the glorious, full-bodied pronouncement: “we are here.” In these three words lie the deep truth of the poem, that we ourselves are those same birds. We may be mundane, idiosyncratic or downright annoying at times, but by golly we’re showin’ up and doin’ our best anyway.
– Elizabeth Alexander
Text
Same Birds
We wake up again to the sound
of those same birds just
outside our window. I can’t
name them, wouldn’t need to
if I could, but only guess
what they seem to be
saying over and over.
Listen: We are here,
we are here,
we are here.
– David Allan Evans
© 2014 by David Allan Evans”
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