Shore

Program note:
Whilst shore is overtly about water and the actions of the ocean upon the land, it’s genesis is as a musical response to the palpable shift in the global and Australian political landscapes that followed the election of Barack Obama and Kevin Rudd last year. It is an exploration of the watery textures possible from giving individuals within a massed choir control over elements of their musical perfomance (namely rhythmic freedom). Optional percussion parts throughout also have these aleatoric watery elements at their heart.

Text:
Sh
Shh
Shore
Surely
Surely as I stand
Surely as I stand the sand beneath my feet is shifting

I know that day is dawning
Surely as light weaves through waves
old cliffs are moving
I know that day is dawning now

And surely as I stand
The sand beneath my feet
beneath my feet has shifted

We are water
We are water swimming in the sea
Searching through the darkest hours

We are water swimming in the sea
Conjuring the depths of night, like
Rays of light that asked to know the shade.
In that darkness blindness prevailed.

Yet surely as I stand
The sand beneath my feet has shifted

And I know that day is dawned
because this day has followed the darkest night.
Surely as I stand here.
Surely
Shh

CD Release:
The University of Newcastle Chamber Choir | This Land

2008

Shore

for SSAATTBB Chorus and hand percussion