Composition Details
- Composed by: Edie Hill
- Published by: Self-Published - contact the composer/arranger
- Canadian Work: No
- Duration: 3:00
Performed in Concert
In Collections
Program Notes:
American composer Edie Hill lives in Minnesota, where mile after mile of rolling cornfields create a playground for children in summer. The piece moves with a child’s reckless abandon from the still heat of the summer day to plunging through cornfields on a bike.
Conductor Notes:
SSAA and piano. A virtuosic and dazzling piece to learn and perform. Challenging piano part. The most challenging aspect for the choir is the many small but crucial changes of tempo to reflect the action of the poem. Well worth the work!
From the composer’s website: “A bright, athletic piece for women’s choir and piano. “The Bike Let Loose” uses rapid notes and soaring melodic lines to create a fantastical ride for both singer and listener.
Text:
july in the heartland
the bike let loose
on empty road
speeding through
tall corn at
the bottom of
immense sky
wrapping around
the world’s rim
the sun shimmering
and the air
like a bell
with perfect pitch
bathing us in
the heat that
swells the ears
in their green
jackets spilling
silk. Miles and
miles of corn
the towns –
populations eight
hundred nine hundred
two thousands souls –
marooned islands
in a green sea;
we pause at
the single stoplight
crossing the highway
plunge back into
corn.
(Serena Fusek)