Sea of Clouds

Baranyk, Claire

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/114373 Copy

Description

Title

Sea of Clouds

Author(s)

Baranyk, Claire

Issue Date

2022

Keyword(s)

• Honorable Mention
• American Choral Directors Association (ACDA)
• Student Chapter
• SATB accompanied choral composition

Abstract

The original inspiration for this piece I actually got back in high school when I was on an airplane. When I looked out the window, I saw what looked like a “sea of clouds” and I knew I wanted to write a piece highlighting that concept in some way. Looking back, that time in my life was a difficult one. As many adolescents do, I felt out of place in my environment and was constantly looking for ways to escape. I always had dreams of just packing up my stuff and moving far away to get away from my past and be the one dictating my own life and choices. The sea of clouds is a metaphorical representation of that ongoing battle, and the piece is pretty much an internal dialogue between my emotional self wanting to escape and my logical self expressing fear and doubt of leaving the place where I have built my entire life. I hope that the story I tell in this piece can resonate with others that also feel the cognitive dissonance of wanting to start over and create an identity that is completely their own, but also holding onto their roots and aspects of their past that hold significance in who they are. I don’t have a choral background or experience composing for vocalists, so I apologize for any technical errors. I know that “clouds” and “sea” are pretty common, if not overused tropes in contemporary choral music. Throughout the piece you will hear many repeated motifs with this idea, and a more lyrical melody that sits on top of a moving piano part. However, I hope to put my own spin on it through different chord progressions and voicing that is not as traditional. There are a lot of moments where the voice parts and lyrics are different and then parts where they come together in a heterophonic texture, and this is intentional. You will notice throughout the piece that there is a feeling of tension that comes from a lot of the chord progressions being unresolved. I choose to write like this because in the ongoing internal battle there is not a true resolution (Eb major #11), the storyteller has to come to terms with the fact that they will always be in search of their identity and spend their life navigating how to balance the past and present.

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/114373

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/114373

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