Thanks to Making Music for asking me to write a blog for them about repertoire and the environment! If you're interested in programming music about the climate but you're not sure where to start, there are some useful resources here. I'm also happy to be consulted about possible concert programmes, and can connect you with members of the Classical Declares team if you have more specialised requests. https://www.makingmusic.org.uk/news/music-repertoire-environment #ChoirsForClimate #MusicDeclaresEmergency #ClassicalDeclaresEmergency

My latest #ChoirsForClimate piece: this is Riversong, words by Rob MacFarlane. It's suitable for any largish choir (I think it needs at least 20 singers) and uses lots of short phrases and canons, flowing together to form a musical river. It's very easy to sing - if your choir can manage a simple round you'll be able to pick this up. And it's free under #CreativeCommons! https://choirsforclimate.com/2024/10/28/riversong/

New #ChoirsForClimate song!

Riversong – with words (below) by Rob MacFarlane, suitable for any level of choir. Best with lots of performers but will also work for a small group. It works Rob’s amazing text into easy rounds of five, ten and fifteen parts, and some very simple backing parts, which can all be performed together or separately. Designed for community choirs with a wide variety of abilities. Download (#CreativeCommons license) at https://choirsforclimate.com/riversong

#Choir #NewMusic #Singing

Are you:

in or near Edinburgh?
passionate about the climate?
willing to sing about it?

Then come and sing with Choirs for Climate at the #Edinburgh #Climate Festival 2024!
Rehearsals Saturday 22nd June 10am-1pm (may finish earlier) and Saturday 29th June 10am-noon. After finishing rehearsing on the 29th, we'll head over to the Meadows for the gig, which is on 29th June, singing from 12.15-1 in the marquee.
Signup form: https://forms.gle/5qZTCwpTa27VUUBn7
#choir #scotland #ChoirsForClimate

Anyone in Edinburgh (or nearby) interested in helping to write a new climate change musical? DM me for details - hoping to do a workshop day or something like that in May/June. #NewMusic #Musical #Musicals #Climate #ClimateChange #ChoirsForClimate

Back on the promotion wagon! Today's piece is "Why We Sing", which is another #CreativeCommons licensed #ChoirsForClimate piece. You can hear recordings, see the full lyrics, and download a score for your #choir at https://choirsforclimate.com/2022/04/14/why-we-sing/ - it's for 2-part flexible choir and piano, with optional divisi to 4 parts. It explains why we think that singing can change the world. Originally written for the Ecocide Law project, the third verse can be changed to suit whatever cause you're singing about.

Ideally it should be performed as part of an entire programme for Choirs for Ecocide Law, which is available here: https://www.stopecocide.earth/choirs All the songs there are available for unison voices (or solo singer), flexible 2-part choir, or SATB, and accompaniment can be piano alone or an entire band (chord symbols included). It's licensed under #CreativeCommons, contributions to climate causes appreciated. #ChoirsForEcocideLaw #ChoirsForClimate #Ecocide

Today's bit of self-promotion: "The Rules" for flexible 2-part choir and piano! This is part of #ChoirsForEcocideLaw (the concert I'm going to see in a few weeks in Finland with 1000 people singing it, yikes) and was premiered at our Creative Scotland funded #ChoirsForClimate concert in March 2023. Just found a performance of the Choirs For Ecocide Law full programme on YouTube which I didn't know about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTrkvTwu0Ps&t=605s - a big thank you to the Koblenz University Choir in Germany!

And for people who follow me for choir purposes - guess what, there's a Choirs For Ecocide Law project! (I wrote one of the pieces and we performed several of them in March with #ChoirsForClimate - see my pinned post for details.) It's an entire programme of music that you can download, perform and use to campaign for ecocide law. https://www.stopecocide.earth/choirs

First performance of WARNING might be happening in Sweden soon apparently! https://choirsforclimate.com/2023/09/17/warning-canon/ Watch this space for details... #ChoirsForClimate

New page on #ChoirsForClimate - https://choirsforclimate.com/climate-choir-actions/ - a list of protests, concerts & other events to inspire your climate choir actions. Featuring Climate Choirs, Extinction Rebellion, St Matthew's Cathedral Choir Washington, Sea Change Chorale Maine, Christian Climate Action & Music Declares Emergency - if you know of recordings of climate choir actions to add, please send them in using the form at the bottom of the page.
#ChoirsForClimate #ClimateCrisis #climateemergency

Anyone protesting about climate, here's a song for you to sing at protests: https://choirsforclimate.com/2023/09/17/warning-canon/
One group sings "keep driving, keep flying, keep shopping, keep buying, we got this, everything's fine"
The other group sings "one degree of warming, two... three... listen to the warning"
Simple but very effective. Gets in your head. Hopefully gets in politicians' heads too.
#ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #ChoirsForClimate

A new #ChoirsForClimate piece - feedback welcome! https://soundcloud.com/hutchingsmusic/warning-demo
It's a double canon - I've amplified the first statement of each entry a bit, and then you can hear them all mixing together for a while.

It's intended to be used at climate protests and marches, and should be easy to learn by ear.

Some of the words are by @breadandcircuses , used with permission - thanks B&C!

Score link: https://choirsforclimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Warning.pdf Free to download and use #CreativeCommons
#ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

Choir directors and singers - if you've got a small choir or only one other person to sing with, you might want to find some 2-part repertoire! Here's a list of all my original works and arrangements for 2 part choirs: https://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/everything-ive-written-for-2-part-choirs/ Most of these can be done with 2 singers no matter what their voices are. Several of them are available for free under #CreativeCommons licenses as part of #ChoirsForClimate or #ChoirsAgainstRacism.
#choir #music #NewMusic #choral

A few new #ChoirsForClimate #lyrics , under construction:

We know about the changing climate
We know about the rising sea
We know about the loss and damage
We've known since 1973

It happens in another country
It happens in a different year
It happens to some other people
But not us and not now and not here

Sooooo.... [*key change!*]

It's business as usual
This is fine...

(find finished songs at https://choirsforclimate.com , by me and lots of others - new ones welcome)

@breadandcircuses ooh. Is this a lyric from something existing (doesn't seem to be?) and if not, could I use it for #ChoirsForClimate please? (And if you've got any more to go with it I'd love to see them)

"Send Lazarus" (SATB, no divisi) is the first piece I wrote for #ChoirsForClimate - https://choirsforclimate.com/2020/10/10/send-lazarus/ - with words by David Ervin, a climate-change retelling of the rich and poor man from the Gospel of Matthew. David's words written in 2019 predict "pandemics and disease"! It's been performed by several choirs in the USA, and some of the harmonies and idioms will feel familiar to choirs who have sung spirituals. Here's the recording from our March 2023 concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bV6UkiZsJQ&list=PLF4NwU3B2664iT75JIJVTRxasjkkn04J3&index=6

"Why We Sing" (flexible 2-part choir and piano) might be my favourite piece I've written. It explains why we think singing can change the world. The third verse can be rewritten to suit whatever cause you are passionate about - versions about #singing and about #ecocide available. Suitable for all age groups/abilities. More info at https://choirsforclimate.com/2022/04/14/why-we-sing/ - includes full score and a video from our March 2023 concert. #ChoirsForClimate

If you've been following #ChoirsForClimate you might have noticed I've written a fair few pieces for it - here they all are in one place! https://hutchingsmusic.co.uk/choirs-for-climate/ They're all released free under #CreativeCommons licenses - free to download and perform, ideally to raise funds or awareness, or campaign, for climate/ecological causes. More about each of them below: 🧵Please boost if you know anyone interested in #choir / #choral music, #singing, #conducting, etc. , or send the link directly to them.

"Written in July 2023, over the course of four days in which the measured worldwide average temperature broke the previous heat record every single day, this piece is intense, repetitive and discomfiting."

If you're a #choir #singer or #conductor and think this sounds like something your #choral group might be interested in... check out "rising" at #ChoirsForClimate. https://choirsforclimate.com/2023/07/22/rising/ It's for SATB choir with a quartet or semichorus of lower voices (e.g. AATB). #ClimateCrisis #NewMusic