One Song: SAB & Opt. Solo Choral Octavo

Mark Hayes has arranged this track with restraint and genuine musicality, letting the melody breathe rather than overloading the texture. The optional solo at the top gives you flexibility to feature a strong vocalist or run it as a full choral entrance, and that choice alone makes this piece work across different ensemble configurations. Programming a R&B-rooted ballad in a concert of classical choral work signals to your audience that your singers own contemporary idiom with the same care you give to Renaissance motets.

Soulful and introspective at first, the piece gradually opens into something affirming and genuinely inspiring. The R&B roots of the original recording give the harmony a warmth and slight earthiness that feels contemporary, while Hayes's arrangement honors that quality rather than smoothing it away into generic choral polish.

This octavo suits choirs comfortable with contemporary idiom and looking to program meaningful secular repertoire that connects to 1980s and 1990s popular music. Directors building concerts around themes of unity, hope, and brotherhood will find a piece that resonates emotionally without sentiment or triteness. It works equally well in a mixed high school choir, a community chorale, or a collegiate pop choir setting.

• Establish the opening solo (if used) with intimate clarity; this moment sets the emotional temperature for everything that follows, so the soloist needs space and a sensitive accompaniment balance to shine.
• Shape the choral sections with long, unhurried phrase arcs rather than clipping syllables or rushing into the harmony changes; this music thrives on warmth and sustained tone.
• Let the final build to the uplifting finish happen organically through dynamic layering and vocal blend rather than pushing tempo or volume prematurely.
• Work the inner voicing (the alto part in particular) so it supports without doubling the melody; SAB voicing benefits from independence in the middle voice.

Place this in a concert program where you want to acknowledge popular music as legitimate choral repertoire, perhaps in a set with other contemporary works or as a bridge between classical and modern material. It pairs well thematically with spirituals, gospel-influenced arrangements, or other pieces emphasizing collective hope. The soulful character also makes it a natural closer or penultimate number when your concert needs an emotional peak.

• Performing in contemporary harmonic language with jazz and R&B inflections
• Balancing soloistic and choral roles within a single piece
• Sustaining long phrase lines through dynamic and harmonic change
• Blending SAB voicing with emphasis on independent inner voice writing
• Interpreting lyrics with emotional authenticity in secular context