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About the Composer
Tracy Wong
Tracy Wong Series
Semangat Membara (SAB Practice Tracks)
Inspired by Hildegard von Bingen’s O ignee Spiritus (O fiery Spirit), the piece encourages us to celebrate the human spirit in all its resilience and strength.
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Semangat Membara
Download audio practice tracks for Tracy Wong’s “Semangat Membara” for SAB and percussion.
Includes full access for 1-50 singers. These tracks are sold in batches of 50, so please round up the number of singers in your group to the nearest multiple of 50. Example: 42 singers = Qty. of 50 in your cart.
Because of the cultural content of my music, I manage all aspects of the recording and production of learning tracks of my music, and I am delighted to have Graphite be the distributor of these learning tracks. I take pride in doing my best to make sure that these are representative of me and are “ethically-sourced”. This means that the audio recordings and learning tracks for my own music would be edited and/or recorded by choral musicians who speak the language(s) I set music to, and have the lived experience of the culture which I do my best to honour through my music. These musicians are paid for their time, experience, skill, and artistry. I also commit 10% of income earned from my choral works, learning resources, and workshops on Malaysian-themed choral/vocal/composition/music towards funding Malaysian artists and music educators I collaborate with on current and future artistic & educational initiatives.
All purchases will have a packet of audio tracks (the various part-dominant tracks, full mixed track, pronunciation guide).
About the tracks:
- These rehearsal tracks are recordings of my own voice, singing all vocal parts. I have designed them (with the help of my friend in Singapore, Cherie Chai) for the benefit of distant / isolated singing in your personal spaces, and to encourage independent learning. These audio tracks work best with earphones / headphones on.
- These tracks would provide the pronunciation, style, and tone that is appropriate for the performance of this piece.
- The tracks are professionally mixed so singers are ensured high quality audio recordings to support their learning!
Important licensing & purchasing terms: The purchase of this resource allows your choral organization to distribute it to your singers and staff for their own learning at any time, but not to be duplicated, edited in any way, and/or shared beyond the organization.
Thank you for supporting ethical consumption of self-published music!
Tracy Wong
Composer’s Notes
A portion of sales from this piece will be donated to after BREAST CANCER.
after BREAST CANCER focuses on women who have survived, women who don’t have insurance, women who cannot have their basic needs met after a mastectomy or lumpectomy surgery. As the survival rates improve, additional resources that support a woman’s Quality of Life (“QOL”) after breast cancer are required to assist women with the various issues that arise during and after treatment.
Semangat Membara is a rhythmic composition for SAB choir and percussion. Inspired by Hildegard von Bingen’s O ignee Spiritus (O fiery Spirit), the piece encourages us to celebrate the human spirit in all its resilience and strength. Original Malay text is merged with excerpts of Hildegard’s Latin text and a small musical reference of her hymn is interwoven with rhythmic word and vocal play, sung in Malay.
Commissioned by Saint Paul Academy and Summit School and Tim Kraack (Director), the piece is also inspired by the outcome of a fun exercise as part of its creation process – singers collecting field recordings of environmental sounds.
“The outdoor sounds, while being more “real” to them, were also more exotic and some of the kids had to go out of their way to record them, bringing into question whether those sounds are actually part of their daily lives. On the surface, it seemed like a straightforward assignment, but students started to grapple with the sounds that they actually encounter on a day-to-day basis, versus the sounds that they would like to encounter.”
Drawn to the rhythmic sounds that were collected, the piece has the flexibility to include a non-traditional set of percussion that singers have access to – explore high and low timbres (striking wood panels, boxes, metal sheets, stuffed containers, etc.) that would support and lift your performance in a unique way!
The louder active sections of the piece embody the shared expression of a universal fiery spirit that guides one through life’s challenges and out of danger. The quieter sections capture the reflective moments, giving way to the yearning for new experiences.
I am grateful to the choirs of Saint Paul Academy and Summit School and Tim Kraack (Director) for commissioning me to create this work. It is an honour to be a part of this meaningful collaboration.
– Tracy Wong, January 2025
Text
O ignee Spiritus, laus tibi sit,
qui in timpanis et citharis
operaris.
Mentes hominum de te flagrant
et tabernacula animarum eorum
vires ipsarum continent.
Nunc dignare nos omnes ad te colligere
et ad recta itinera dirigere.
Tiada rupa
Tiada nama
Tiada gentar
Semangat membara
TRANSLATION:
O fiery Spirit, praise to you,
who on the tympana and lyre
work and play!
By you the human mind is set ablaze,
the tabernacle of its soul
contains its strength.
Now deign to gather us, to draw us all to you,
and to direct us on the upright course.
No face/image
No name
No tremble/fear
Fiery Spirit
$1.00 per set
