Credo (for unaccompanied soprano)

Credo (from The Lost Country of Sight) for unaccompanied soprano

Text by Neil Aitken, Music by Juhi Bansal

Credo

The notation consists of unstemmed noteheads and grace notes, without specified rhythms or durations. Use natural speech rhythms to dictate the rhythms and pacing of each phrase, which is demarked by a breath mark. The effect should be that of musically reciting a simple melodic line with ornamentation.

Two signs are used to show the relative stress upon a note and . The first marking indicates a sort of pickup gesture - i.e. notes marked with the sign are leading towards a note that has emphasis, but have none themselves. Notes marked with the sign are stressed in the manner of downbeats. . , , and are used to indicate microtonal inflections of a pitch. E.g. preceding an 'F' means to sing an F#, but one that is slightly 'sharper' than usual. The actual size of each microtone is not important - use your musical sense to decide how much to bend the tone.

The overall effect is intended to be similar to sung arabic recitations of religious texts. Do not be afraid to bend the pitches slightly, inflect or ornament them in different ways. Use a variety of vocal tones and colours, natural devices such as scooping into notes, etc, to create a lyrical, expressive effect, without being tied down to western classical conventions.

Credo Not so much the world, but what it signifies: last year's rain still sleeping in the deepest wells, or cherry trees arched over stone walls. Yearning.

The earth bent around a weathered pine. Old stoves tipped and sleeping, iron rusting into green. Forgetting.

God is always in the places I cannot reach, be He blackbird or raven. Even the geese guillotining the sky mean something to the girl laid down in weeds. Someone is speaking in darkness, a voice like sorrow, something like tin, the sun, even in sin, even then, I believe.

All night, our prayers rise like dust. Our voices reach like seed for rain.

Credo

Freely, expressively

Voice Not

so

rain

arched

ning.

much

the

still

o

-

world,

sleep

-

-

-

The

earth

ing

ver

but

in

what

the

deep

stone

bent

a

it

sig

-

walls.

-

round

a

est

-

ni

-

wells,

Yearn

fies:

or

-

wea - thered

last

cher

-

-

pine.

year's

-

ry

-

trees

-

-

Old

stoves

tipped

and

sleep

ing,

get

ting.

i

-

ron

rust - ing

God

is

in

al

-

-

to

green.

ways

in

For

the

pla

( ces

I

can

en

the

geese

laid

down

-

not

reach,

guil

in

-

lo

be

-

tin

-

weeds.

He

black

ing

the

Some

-

-

bird

sky

mean

one

is

or

ra

-

ven.

speak

-

-

) Ev

some - thing

to

-

ing

-

-

-

the

girl

in

dark

-

-

ness,

a voice

( sin,

like

sor

-

row,

some - thing

like

tin,

the

sun,

ev

-

en

in

night,

our

) ev

-

en

then,

I

be - lieve.

(Hum)

All

attacca

pra

-

-

-

yers

rise

like

dust.

Our

voi

-

ces

reach

like

seed

for

rain.