Give Me Wings: SAB Choral Octavo

Sprunger has written a piece that truly earns its occasion without resorting to sentimentality. The vocal writing sits naturally for mixed voices at this level, and the text delivers genuine emotional weight at the moments that matter most. Directors consistently report that singers connect to this piece immediately and perform it with real conviction.

A moment of genuine reflection and hope. The piece moves with the quiet confidence of a ballad that trusts its melody to carry meaning. There's warmth here, and an underlying sense of courage that builds without becoming bombastic.

Choirs preparing graduation concerts, end-of-year performances, or festival programming will find this piece emotionally resonant and vocally manageable. The SAB voicing works equally well for treble-dominant ensembles that want to include lower voices, making it flexible for schools with mixed participation levels.

• Balance the SAB voicing by doubling alto lines with sopranos in unison sections to ensure harmonic clarity without sacrificing blend.
• Let the dynamics breathe naturally; resist the urge to drive hard through phrase peaks. The piece speaks loudest when given space.
• Work the piano accompaniment early and often with your singers so they internalize where the musical weight lives.
• Shape the text with specificity. "Wings" and "soar" need genuine vowel space and forward placement to land emotionally.

This works beautifully as a penultimate piece on a graduation concert, following something more energetic and allowing the program to close with something equally meaningful but different in mood. It's also an excellent choice for spring festival seasons when choirs are looking for literature with real emotional stakes.

• Sustaining long phrases with consistent breath support
• Balancing SAB voicing to achieve blend while maintaining harmonic definition
• Interpreting text-based emotional dynamics rather than relying solely on markings
• Coordinate ensemble entrances and alignment in a slower harmonic context