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Compose Like a Girl
Siren Song
Beth Darowish
A dancing sea chanty, with lots of lively spirit.
for 2-Part Treble voices, solo violin or C instrument, and piano
Beth Darowish is a choral composer, singer and K-12 certified music educator based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Her music is known for strong melodic writing, expressive vocal lines, and thoughtfully written texts inspired by nature, family, and personal experience. She has served as a guest conductor for choral festivals in New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Darowish earned a Bachelor of Music Education from Mansfield University and a Masters of Music Education from Boston University. Beth is a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, international music fraternity for women. She was accepted as a featured artist for the 2025 International Choral Composers Institute, studying under Jocelyn Hagen and studies composition with Sherry Blevins.
Composer’s Notes
This song was composed for my grandfather, who sailed on the USS Newport News in the US Navy from 1948-1952. He came home, and married my grandmother, and had two children. When I was young, he took my sister, brother and I on sailing adventures on his sailboat. Some of my favorite memories of him were sailing and teaching us how to pull the ropes, tend the sail and even steer using the tiller. Even now when I ride on a boat, hear a nautical term I didn’t know I knew, or see the ocean, I remember him and feel connected to his sailor’s spirit.
The phrasing should be felt like the rolling of the sea, with a rise and fall of the crescendo with each 4-measure phrase. The song should feel like a dancing, familiar sea chanty, with lots of lively spirit.
-Beth Darowish
Text
Once upon a time a young man heard the siren song of the sea.
Adventure waits for him, a young man, sail on the waves of the sea.
Yo ho, sail young man, find adventure!
Yo ho, sail to war, sail on the waves of the sea.
Then the young man, a sailor came home from war on the sea.
Met a lovely wife, and he said goodbye to the waves of the sea.
Land ho! Family, new adventure!
Land ho! Near the sea, visit the waves of the sea!
Time passed by, the sailor took his grandchildren out on the sea.
Adventure waits for them, the siren sings out the song of the sea. Yo Ho!
The siren song called louder, the sailor was called home, back to the sea.
The children, they cried, his adventure was over, sailing with them on the sea.
The siren sighed, “Don’t you worry, this is not the end.
His love for the sea will stay with thee, the sea’s waves never end.”
Once upon a time the children heard the siren song of the sea.
Adventure waits for them, remembering the sailor, sailing the waves of the sea.
Yo ho! Feel the sailor there, hear his laughter!
“Yo ho! Remember me, sailing the waves of the sea!”
-Beth Darowish
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