Go to homepage
Description "The World Around Us"

The World Around Us for Children's Choir and SSAATTBB by Ben Rowarth

Commissioned by The Marian Consort and first performed on 27 May 2022 by The Marian Consort at The Dunster Festival

Performance Notes

General
 
The order of movements is as follows: Autumn - Interlude I - Winter - Interlude II - Spring - Interlude III - Summer.
 
The children should be split into four choirs as indicated in the score. This means they will perform one movement each and come together at the end of the piece.
 
The interludes fill the gaps between seasons in order to give the children a break from singing and to cover any necessary movement on stage between main sections.
 
All glissandi should be for the whole duration of the given note.
 
All trills should be above the given note.
 
Main Sections (Seasons)
 
The children’s parts are always accompanied by an adult singer, this should enable flexibility to miss out some lines if it looks like the children have too much to learn or are finding it too difficult.
 
Interludes
 
Tempo markings should be taken as a guide, it should feel at all times flexible, lilting and conversational.
 
Stems with no note heads = spoken at natural pitch.
 
Crossed note heads = half way between sung and spoken (normally part of a move from sung to spoken).
 
All spoken text should sound as natural and conversational as possible, as if telling a story to a child.
 
This is in four voice parts only so as to provide the option of four singers at a time having amovement’s rest if performing the piece one per part. This does not mean the movements need to be sung one per part.
 
Texts
 
Seasons
 
Each of the Seasons combines a poem written by Sarah Teasdale (1884 - 1933) with a compilation of new poetry written specifically for this project by all of the children involved in the premiere performances, 2022.
 
Poems by Sarah Teasdale:
Epitaph (Autumn)
December Day (Winter)
There will come soft rains (Spring)
Dusk in June (Summer)
Interludes
 
The story of The Gribbin was written by Ben Rowarth.

Duration: 25 minutes

0 of 0 reviews

Leave a review!

Share your experiences with other customers.