Seafarer Press | Elizabeth Alexander, composer

choral chamber vocal chamber orchestral piano

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LEVEL   E = Easy
ME = Moderately Easy
  M = Medium
MD = Moderately Difficult
  D = Difficult

Adult Women Men Youth Children by theme/style by difficulty

A Palette to Paint Us as We Are (Gerald Rich)

SA, piano - SEA-014-00 - $2.00/copy
SATB, piano - SEA-014-01 - $3.00/copy

5 minutes - M Ithaca College Choral Competition Finalist

Inspired by Gerald Rich's moving tribute to our skins' true colors — including such luscious shades as mahogany, coffee, champagne and rose gold — this piece weaves together a wide variety of choral textures and instrumental timbres, moving softly and tenderly from one hue to another, creating a seamless tapestry of sound.

Note: Despite its two-part SA voicing, this is a significant work, worthy of a mature women’s or upper level children's choir.

Composer's Note: I first heard Gerald Rich's moving tribute to our skins' true colors in the late 1990s, at a poetry reading where he read from his work.  As the opening words of this poem were spoken, the room grew suddenly still except for a few barely audible gasps.  As I took in each delicious shade of color, I envisioned a musical language that would contain as much harmonic and melodic color as the poem, moving softly and tenderly from one subtle hue to another. -E.A.

To view the SA score, click here
To view the SATB score, click here

To hear a recording, click here
(MP3, 1.6 MB, SATB version sung by One Voice Mixed Chorus ~ Jane Ramseyer Miller, conductor ~ Paul Kovacovic, piano) A recording of this
piece is now available
on the CD:
Finally On My Way To Yes

A Palette To Paint Us As We Are Music by Elizabeth Alexander
Poem by Gerald Rich
Give us a palette to paint us as we are.
Enough of black and white, yellow and red,
Those false colors that sham at fact.

Coffee, and chocolate, and café au lait,
Ivoried saffron, and saffroned ivory,
Bronze, and brass, copper, and rose gold,
Tea and pale butter, golden almond,
Infinite varieties of browns and tans,
Pale rose, pink and soft rose cream,
mahogany, oak, cedar, and champagne.

These are the colors of people I see,
Not black and white, not yellow and red.
Those false colors no longer will do.
Give us a palette to paint us true.

Copyright by Gerald Rich Reprinted by permission of the poet

View and play the SA score (See SATB score) Scorch was designed by the folks who built Sibelius notation software, as a simple way to allow Sibelius scores to become webpages.  Despite its slightly ominous name, Scorch is free, is not excessively large (approx. 1 MB), and does not do anything demonic like put you on a mailing list or affect other computer programs. - E.A.

If you can't see the score after the file finishes loading, click here to download the Scorch plug-in.

View and play the SATB score (See SA score) Scorch was designed by the folks who built Sibelius notation software, as a simple way to allow Sibelius scores to become webpages.  Despite its slightly ominous name, Scorch is free, is not excessively large (approx. 1 MB), and does not do anything demonic like put you on a mailing list or affect other computer programs. - E.A.

If you can't see the score after the file finishes loading, click here to download the Scorch plug-in.