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Catalog
The Whole World Is Coming
- SATB chorus
- Texts from four different Native American traditions
- 8:30
- Difficulty rating (1-5): 4
- Movements I, III, IV sold on this site; score: $3 (for reproduction rights; minimum purchase of 10 required; additional charge for hard copies)
- Movement II, House Song to the East, published by Alliance Music Publications, Inc. (listed on this site)
- Hear performances of Movements I, III, IV (Plymouth State University Chamber Singers, Dan Perkins, conductor)
- View a PDF score excerpt of Movements I, III, IV
- Purchase Movements I, III, IV, request full review copy or more information, etc.
- Commissioned by the Plymouth State University Chamber Singers, Dan Perkins, conductor
- Premiered by them on April 24, 1998
- Finalist, 1998 Ithaca College Choral Composition Contest
The Whole World Is Coming was commissioned by the Plymouth State University Chamber Singers for their Summer, 1998 tour of England. The conductor of the ensemble, Dan Perkins, asked that I write a work which could serve as both a stand-alone concert piece and as incidental music for an educational theatre work on Native American life. I chose to set translated texts from four different Native American peoples. This piece and excerpts from it have been performed extensively by college, high school All-State, and regular high school choirs, and both performers and audiences have responded very positively.
I. The Whole World Is Coming
The whole world is coming,
A nation is coming, a nation is coming,
The Eagle has brought the message to the tribe.
The father says so, the father says so.
Over the whole earth they are coming.
The buffalo are coming, the buffalo are coming,
The Crow has brought the message to the tribe,
The father says so, the father says so.
-- Sioux
II. House Song to the East
III. Creek Cradle Song
(literal translation)
Down the stream
You hear the noise of her going
That is what they say
Up the stream
Running unseen
Running unseen
Up the stream
You hear the noise of her going
That is what they say
To the top of the bald peak
Running unseen
Running unseen
(free translation)
If you hear the noise of the chase
Going down the stream
Then run up the stream.
If you hear the noise of the chase
Going up the stream
Then run to the top of the bald peak,
Then run to the top of the bald peak.
-- Creek
III. The Song of Kuk-ook, the Bad Boy.
This is the song of Kuk-ook, the bad boy.
Imakayah — hayah,
Imakayah — hah — hayah.
I am going to run away from home, hayah,
In a great big boat, hayah,
To hunt for a sweet little girl, hayah ;
I shall get her some beads, hayah ;
The kind that look like boiled ones, hayah ;
Then after a while, hayah,
I shall come back home, hayah,
I shall call all my relations together, hayah,
And shall give them all a good thrashing, hayah ;
I shall marry two girls at once, hayah ;
One of the sweet little darlings, hayah,
I shall dress in spotted seal-skins, hayah,
And the other dear little pet, hayah,
Shall wear skins of the hooded seal only, hayah.
-- Alaskan native
The poems "The Whole World Is Coming", "Creek Cradle Song", and "The Song of Kuk-Ook, the Bad Boy" are taken from the anthology The Sky Clears, edited by A. Grove Day, and used here by permission of its publisher, the University of Nebraska Press.
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