How I Embraced “This Moment” Through Composition

I view myself as a choral director who composes out of need: my need to be creative and my choir’s need for repertoire that fits them.

This year, for the first time in over 20 years, in addition to leading my two high school choirs, I’m teaching the 7th-8th grade middle school chorus.  With that new responsibility came my desire to write for my new ensemble.

The music I write is mindful of average singers, since all of my ensembles are self-selected: I always think about comfortable range, leaps, and repetition. As a result, my students can utilize their sight-singing skills and learn music quickly.

When I write a composition or arrangement, I’m writing for the students that are in front of me. As a result, I have learned how to write highly accessible, musically interesting repertoire. One unique aspect of my writing is that I almost always write a-cappella.

Embracing “This Moment”

I was so excited to work with a different age group along with the opportunity to write a new composition for them. Prior to beginning my new 7-8 chorus responsibility, I had my annual summer choir clinic; this clinic is voluntary and open to all students in grades 6 through 12 throughout my district.

I created a three-part plan: first write a piece for the 7-8 chorus. Next, teach it at the summer choir clinic. This way, the high school singers would lead the younger students with their voice. Lastly, teach it to the 7-8 chorus in September; those grades 7-8 students who participated in the summer choir clinic would be musical leaders of the middle school chorus.

The piece I ended up composing is entitled”This Moment”. The meaning is all about embracing the current moment and understanding that while each moment is fleeting, we must embrace each moment. The composition was written for soprano, alto and baritone.

“This Moment” was a big hit at the summer clinic. Here’s the recording (Notice the casual attire, with my conducting shorts on):

Here are the lyrics

Welcome to this moment

Let’s all share this moment

We all have this moment

On to other moments

Here we’re in a moment

Let’s embrace this moment

Now we’ve past a moment

On to other moments

Now we’re in a moment

We’ve just lost a moment

We forgot the moment

On to other moments

Time can really fly

Time can pass you by

Welcome to this moment

Let’s all share this moment

We all have this moment

Now another moment

Here we’re in a moment

We’ve just lost a moment

We forgot the moment

Those greeting, fleeting moments

One day at a time

Moments are just moments

Moments are but moments

Moments lead to moments

Let’s enjoy each moment

Moments are just moments

Moments are but moments

Own your every  moment

A meeting, greeting, fleeting moment!

Part one and two of the plan was complete. Now onto the final part: the middle school chorus…….or so I thought.

Spoiler alert: my plan didn’t go as planned, but I was sure to embrace the moment.

What came next

Well, I thought I was up to part 3. I had the piece photocopied and ready for my middle school chorus. But, I realized something interesting: this arrangement would fit my high school treble choir like a glove. The range of the baritones (F#3-D4) was perfect for an alto part, especially since the F#3 was minimal. In fact, I didn’t need to change a single note on the page.

So within 15 minutes, I had an SSA treble choir arrangement. The members of my treble choir who attended the summer clinic were excited to see this arrangement. It was a big hit from the first read-through.

Now onto the middle school……..

Well, I got to the middle school to see less than 20 students were enrolled in the entire 7-8 chorus and no boys. As much as I hope to recruit, the fact that I’m only in the building for the period 0 chorus period, before the school day even begins, makes it quite difficult to reach new students.

In reality, all the music I had planned would not work.  I need to find music for my current ensemble, not one I hope to have in the future.

I quickly realized that this SAB arrangement, written specifically for them, wasn’t going to work. This is where I needed to make a decision: do i scrap this piece or write a new arrangement?

Well, being the creative (and stubborn) person that I am, I HAD to write a new arrangement. I mean, I intended this piece for THIS group.

And there came a two-part, soprano/alto arrangement. I will be introducing it to my singers on Wednesday.

Embracing the moment

Many composers write a piece and then later adapt it to different voicings. What makes my situation unique is the fact that I wrote it with one main purpose and it ended up not fitting that purpose but instead created 3 different, fully viable arrangements.

A song about embracing the moment enabled me to take a potential moment of frustration and instead embrace a moment with creativity and excitement.

If you love this piece, I REALLY want you to have it. I will provide a instant download with unlimited photocopying for your ensemble for just $19.99! I’m pretty confident you won’t find a better value for choral sheet music out there!

Just use code: embracethismoment at checkout. Here are the links:

This Moment (SAB – unaccompanied),  This Moment (SSA – unaccompanied), This Moment (SA – unaccompanied)

Here’s a few examples of other pieces that were written specifically for my ensembles. for more, check out my website.