There Will Come Soft Rains
For SATB Choir, Piano, and Vibraphone (Optional)  (ca. 4:00)

Gladde Music Publications
Choral Score  (GMP0701) - $1.85
Vibraphone Part  (GMP0701X) - $6.00

Commissioned by the El Diamante High School Miner Choir (Visalia, California)
for the 2007 California Music Educators Association Convention
John Sorber, Director

Poet Sara Teasdale employs the gentle image of soft rainfall and the calmness of nature to lull the reader into a false sense of well-being.  Poetically, it is significant that the first mention of something man-made, a "low fence-wire", provides a perch for robins that are "whistling their whims".  At this point, a dramatic change occurs in the mood and texture of the music -- a torrential "storm" emerges -- as mankind injects war and strife into this otherwise idyllic scene.  However, nature endures man's destructiveness and scarcely knows or cares when he perishes.  What a powerful, cautionary warning to mankind!

 The musical harmony employs polychordal writing and elusive tonal centers to illustrate the strange duality of co-existing, conflicting images.
The vibraphone, along with subtle hand-sounds made by the singers, creates the anticipation of a brewing rainstorm....

 

Click here to read the sci-fi short story by Ray Bradbury which is based on Teasdale's poem.    
You can also watch an animated video that illustrates the poem!

 

 

 

 

See the Choral Journal listing!


      

The Miner Choir
El Diamante High School
Visalia, California
John Sorber, Conductor

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World Premiere!

March 16, 2007 at the...
California Music Educators Association (CMEA) State Conference
Ontario, California
by the El Diamante High School Miner Choir, Visalia, CA
John Sorber, Director