Wake, Awake

Use: Advent
Required Resources: SAB choir, 2 Trumpets
Language: English

There are many church choirs, made up of excellent singers and good musicians, that are just short on male voices, particularly tenors. Here's an SAB anthem that is perfect for them. Lest you think that all SAB music is simplified or just a watered-down version of an SATB work, composer Donna Robertson offers this sturdy anthem. The vocal parts are written in true 3-part texture, and offer capable choirs a challenge — they're not for sight-singing.

Three verses of the great chorale Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying are set for three-part choir accompanied only by two trumpets. The range and complexity of the instrumental parts also suggest players of above average capabilities.

With great rhythmic freedom and contrapuntal skill, the composer has created a dramatic chorale fantasia for voices and instruments that would be an awesome seasonal introduction on the First Sunday of Advent The CNP music (sized at 8½ x 11 inches) contains the three vocal lines and the trumpet parts in concert pitch, so these latter can be played on two organ stops if instrumentalists are unavailable). The last few pages of the piece have the parts for B-flat trumpets.

Small in resources but immense in its impact, Wake, Awake is a great choice for the SAB choir looking for some solid, worthy music to work on.