Anyway: SATB Choral Octavo
Words and music by Martina McBride, Brad Warren, and Brett Warren / arr. Greg Gilpin
Item: 00-PO-0001461
$2.10
Minimum order quantity: 20 copies
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Description
Martina McBride's #1 single from her album Waking Up Laughing is the ultimate uplifting ballad, especially for year-end concerts. "Build it anyway . . . Dream it anyway . . . Believe it anyway . . . Love 'em anyway . . . Sing it anyway."
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Additional Details
Series:
Alfred Pop Choral Series
Publisher:
Alfred Music
Page Count:
12
SKU:
00-PO-0001461
More about this title
About the Composer: Martina McBride
Martina McBride is a country music artist and recording songwriter whose career spans three decades of platinum-selling albums and chart-topping hits. Beyond her success as a performer, she has co-written or contributed to the composition of numerous songs that resonate across generations, bringing authentic storytelling and emotional directness to popular music.
Why we love this
Greg Gilpin's arrangement captures the resilient spirit of "Anyway" without losing the intimacy that makes this song so moving. The piece sits naturally for mixed voices and builds momentum through the repeated affirmations in the text, making it a powerful closer for any year-end concert where you want audiences to leave inspired rather than sentimental.
What to expect
Honest and unguarded. The song invites singers to inhabit vulnerability and defiance simultaneously, offering a quiet meditation on perseverance that builds into something anthemic without becoming saccharine. There's a country ballad's warmth here, along with the directness of someone speaking hard-won truth.
Who it's for
High school and community choirs looking for contemporary material with universal appeal and emotional substance. This arrangement works equally well for experienced singers and mixed-ability ensembles, since the vocal writing is idiomatic and the message transcends technical difficulty.
How to get the most out of it
- Keep the opening verses restrained and intimate; the power of this piece emerges through the cumulative weight of repetition, not from forcing dynamics early.
- Shape the phrase "Build it anyway, dream it anyway, believe it anyway" as a gentle building arc within each section rather than treating all statements as equal in energy.
- Use the recorded accompaniment to anchor intonation on the recurring melodic figures, which can drift if the choir relies only on internal tuning.
- Balance the soloistic moments (if your arrangement includes them) against the full choir sections so the piece feels like a shared testimony, not a spotlight performance.
How to use it
Save this for a concert's final movement, where it can serve as a reflective sendoff or as a powerful response to a more turbulent opening set. It also works beautifully in spring or graduation programs where the text's message about continuing forward regardless of circumstance lands with particular resonance.
Skills your students will build
- Sustaining legit vocal tone through repeated melodic statements without thinning
- Balancing individual voice parts while maintaining awareness of the unifying message across the whole choir
- Singing through vulnerability without indulging in affected sentimentality
- Shaping long phrases that build gradually rather than through sudden dynamic shifts