It's just weather |
for SATB choir, a cappella
Duration: ~5'
Premiered December 4, 2021 in Berkeley, CA and December 18, 2021 in San Francisco, CA by the International Orange Chorale; Zane Fiala, conductor
Program Note:
I had wanted to write a choral piece about climate change for several years, and in the time I took to finally start it, the topic has only become a more urgent issue. I sought to build a text from quotes by American politicians who have publicly denied the existence of climate change. It would have been tempting to find quotes from notable climate activists, but I felt the most emotionally resonant words came from those who have adamantly denied the science. I spent a few (depressing) weeks scouring the internet for such statements which came from sources such as Twitter, Fox News, and congressional meetings. After compiling pages worth of material, I narrowed it down to a few select statements and collaged a text I could work into a musical narrative. I originally wanted to quote a multitude of politicians which included Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann, and other now-suspended Twitter accounts. Humbly, I admit I didn’t realize until after I finished the piece that the entire text came from just two sources: Patrick Moore, the prominent climate skeptic formerly associated with Greenpeace; and James Inhofe, the Oklahoma senator who famously brought a snowball to the Senate floor as evidence against rising global temperatures.
My fascination with minimalism was the right musical voice for this text. Incessant repetition of text fragments intentionally diminishes their meaning. The choir is forced to repeat these words similar to how society grows tired of hearing them. The harmony is often static while I play with rhythmic ideas via odd meters and displacing the prosody. As an increasingly common trope in my music, I strive to juxtapose the ugliness of the texts with conventionally “pretty” sounding chords and lyrical lines.
Duration: ~5'
Premiered December 4, 2021 in Berkeley, CA and December 18, 2021 in San Francisco, CA by the International Orange Chorale; Zane Fiala, conductor
Program Note:
I had wanted to write a choral piece about climate change for several years, and in the time I took to finally start it, the topic has only become a more urgent issue. I sought to build a text from quotes by American politicians who have publicly denied the existence of climate change. It would have been tempting to find quotes from notable climate activists, but I felt the most emotionally resonant words came from those who have adamantly denied the science. I spent a few (depressing) weeks scouring the internet for such statements which came from sources such as Twitter, Fox News, and congressional meetings. After compiling pages worth of material, I narrowed it down to a few select statements and collaged a text I could work into a musical narrative. I originally wanted to quote a multitude of politicians which included Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann, and other now-suspended Twitter accounts. Humbly, I admit I didn’t realize until after I finished the piece that the entire text came from just two sources: Patrick Moore, the prominent climate skeptic formerly associated with Greenpeace; and James Inhofe, the Oklahoma senator who famously brought a snowball to the Senate floor as evidence against rising global temperatures.
My fascination with minimalism was the right musical voice for this text. Incessant repetition of text fragments intentionally diminishes their meaning. The choir is forced to repeat these words similar to how society grows tired of hearing them. The harmony is often static while I play with rhythmic ideas via odd meters and displacing the prosody. As an increasingly common trope in my music, I strive to juxtapose the ugliness of the texts with conventionally “pretty” sounding chords and lyrical lines.
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Text:
There is no crisis, there’s weather all around the world. It’s not only Fake News, it’s Fake Science. With all the hysteria, all the fear, could it be the greatest hoax ever? Because we keep hearing that 2014 has been the warmest year on record, I ask the chair, You know what this is? It’s a - Snowball. So it’s very, very cold outside. - Written by the composer, inspired by various political figures |
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