Brown Skin Folk Song
instrumentation | SSA + violin + cello
date | 2018
duration | 7'
premiere | February 24th, 2018 by Boston Conservatory Women's Chorus, conducted by Dr. George Case, soloist Micah Welch
notes | Brown Skin Folk Song seeks to engage and celebrate the poem Self-portrait at 25 by Elese M. Daniel. Through an ideally Black or Latinx non-men soloist, the piece works to channel aspects of coming of age as well as the nuanced experience of being a woman of color coming into adulthood. The ensemble engages directly with the text and the soloist, shifting often between fostering and obfuscating the soloist. However expressive agency is specifically fostered in the soloist, who has the vast majority of the speaking time. Brown Skin Folk Song specifically features aleatoric compositional techniques, extended techniques, and various harmonic qualities to highlight and enhance a narration of the poem.
Full Text:
Self-portrait at 25 by Elese M. Daniel
I know a woman,
lovely in her bones,
bark bound in epic ridges
of brown skin-- folksongs
rung through the viscera,
beneath it church-like chords
overlap the subtle differences
of her sadness and fear. They
suspend themselves in hope.
Swing low, civil semantics: A chariot
awaits in the innocence of the winds,
low and open.
The face is what one goes by
generally; we explore the inner
workings of a masterpiece
only after we recognize the
repetition of its blinking eyelashes
or the score of a smile set
between cheeks.
I know a woman,
lovely in her bones,
their call and response
pragmatic in its jubilee.
date | 2018
duration | 7'
premiere | February 24th, 2018 by Boston Conservatory Women's Chorus, conducted by Dr. George Case, soloist Micah Welch
notes | Brown Skin Folk Song seeks to engage and celebrate the poem Self-portrait at 25 by Elese M. Daniel. Through an ideally Black or Latinx non-men soloist, the piece works to channel aspects of coming of age as well as the nuanced experience of being a woman of color coming into adulthood. The ensemble engages directly with the text and the soloist, shifting often between fostering and obfuscating the soloist. However expressive agency is specifically fostered in the soloist, who has the vast majority of the speaking time. Brown Skin Folk Song specifically features aleatoric compositional techniques, extended techniques, and various harmonic qualities to highlight and enhance a narration of the poem.
Full Text:
Self-portrait at 25 by Elese M. Daniel
I know a woman,
lovely in her bones,
bark bound in epic ridges
of brown skin-- folksongs
rung through the viscera,
beneath it church-like chords
overlap the subtle differences
of her sadness and fear. They
suspend themselves in hope.
Swing low, civil semantics: A chariot
awaits in the innocence of the winds,
low and open.
The face is what one goes by
generally; we explore the inner
workings of a masterpiece
only after we recognize the
repetition of its blinking eyelashes
or the score of a smile set
between cheeks.
I know a woman,
lovely in her bones,
their call and response
pragmatic in its jubilee.