To A Stranger (SATB)

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There is no black and white. Life it fluid and we dance together for short periods of time, but continue to move in our own direction.  Each passing stranger is important and we should treasure them, as everyone is merely a passing stranger.

 

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ONE PURCHASE GIVES YOU UNLIMITED COPIES FOR YOUR ENSEMBLE!

 

To A Stranger by Walt Whitman

 

My Story:

Walt Whitman is a poet who lived about 5 miles from the community where I teach.  This poem views every “passing stranger” as someone of importance, whether a person in real life, or a person in a dream.  The fluidity is knowing that every person in this world is a passing stranger that we may have already known or may get to know later on.  We could have already passed our significant other on the street, never knowing, as that was not the official moment that we plan to meet.

 

There is no black and white. Life it fluid and we dance together for short periods of time, but continue to move in our own direction.  Each passing stranger is important and we should treasure them, as everyone is merely a passing stranger.

 

I wrote this setting with the feeling of constantly passing each other and occasionally coming together for moments of beauty and clarity.  There is a feeling of being alone, yet connecting for moments of time with others who are on their own independent journey through life.

We are all passionate and loving. When we connect, those moments raise us to another place.  And then we return to our independent journey where we continue to pass endless strangers.

The music is written for a high school choir.  The voice-leading, repetition, and voice splits are created with an understanding of what high school-aged singers can read well and comfortably handle vocally.

To A Stranger – text by Walt Whitman

Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,
You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me as of a dream,)
I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,
All is recall’d as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured,

You grew up with me, were a boy with me or a girl with me,
I ate with you and slept with you, your body has become not yours only nor left my body mine only,
You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass, you take of my beard, breast, hands, in return,
I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or wake at night alone,
I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again,
I am to see to it that I do not lose you.

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Adam Paltrowitz is a master educator, composer, conductor, and clinician.

During his 20-year tenure as the Director of Choral Activities at Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School in New York, his groups have toured throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States.

He also has pioneered a philosophy that every student is a soloist. Adam’s choral program has also gained great acclaim for the cultivation of eight student-run a-cappella ensembles; some of these ensembles have performed on national and local television programs. His compositions and arrangements have been performed by choirs around the world.

Adam earned his B.S. in music education from New York University, M.A. in vocal pedagogy from Columbia University – Teacher’s College, and Ed.M. choral conducting from Columbia University – Teacher’s College.

​Adam resides in Manhattan with his wife, Blair Goldberg, a professional Broadway actress, and their daughter, Lyla.

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