Music Opens 3.jpg

Music Opens

 

This choral work fragments text from the quote:

“Music acts like a magic key, to which the most tightly closed heart opens,” by Maria Augusta von Trapp.

Listening to how all the voices come together, music opens.

Scrolling Sheet Music Video

Score (scroll inside frame)

Composer
Byron Au Yong

Details
Duration: 4 minutes
SATB, a cappella

Performance
ASUSF Voices 30th Anniversary, conducted by Rick Roberts
Presentation Theater at the University of San Francisco
San Francisco CA, April 14,, 2019

Dedication

In 1989, Rick Roberts started a choir after a College Players performance at USF. The choir fulfilled a need students had to sing together more often. 30 years later, ASUSF Voices provides multiple choral ensembles for students of all skill levels from any major. I composed this work to honor Rick’s love of choral music and musical theater.

Performance Notes

Open Notation (Incantation, Rehearsal B)

  • Singers vocalize as individuals to create an evocative aural collage

  • Conductor shapes these sections to last as long as needed

  • Singers watch Conductor for cue to continue to next section

Western Notation (Rehearsals A, C to H)

  • Arrow è indicates Open Notation vocalizations continue

  • Repeat signs are for one repetition

  • Leaps of a 6th and an octave are based on yodeling

  • Each portamento vocal slide lasts the entire length of the note

Lyrics

  • English and IPA are used

  • IPA sounds are indicated in brackets [ ]

  • The lyric related to the IPA pronunciation is on the right side of the score

  • The composite of musical utterances provides the meaning of the quote

Previous
Previous

Water Partitas

Next
Next

The Truer History of the Chan Family