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Rise Up, Shepherd: SSA Choral Octavo

$1.75 USD
$1.75 USD
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Rise Up, Shepherd Cover Image
Rise Up, Shepherd: SSA Choral Octavo

Rise Up, Shepherd: SSA Choral Octavo

Traditional Christmas Spirtual / arr., with new words, Sally K. Albrecht

Item: 00-33118
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Description
A rousing gospel 3/4 swing bursts into a kickin' and energized 4/4 tag ending. What a fresh approach to this favorite familiar Christmas spiritual! Also appropriate for church choirs.

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Additional Details
Series: Alfred Choral Designs
Publisher: Alfred Music
Page Count: 12
UPC: 038081360263
SKU: 00-33118

More about this title

About the Arranger: Sally K. Albrecht

Sally K. Albrecht

Sally K. Albrecht has shaped American choral music for over four decades as a composer, arranger, conductor, and clinician with a distinctive focus on movement and energy in choral performance. Since earning ASCAP Special Music Awards annually since 1987, she has published more than 600 choral works and 75 larger musicals and songbooks, while conducting honor choirs at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and The Kennedy Center. Her career in music publishing spanned three decades as Director of School Choral, Vocal, and Elementary Publications, most recently at Alfred Music.

Albrecht holds degrees from Rollins College (B.A. in Music and Theater, 1976), the University of Miami (M.A. in Drama, 1977; M.M. in Accompanying, 1979), and has taught at Oakland University, Jersey City State College, and Meredith College. She received the Distinguished Alumna Award from both the University of Miami Frost School of Music and Rollins College in 2021, and served as Chair of the Board of Trustees for Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society, earning their "Pillar of Leadership" award. She lives in North Carolina with her composer and arranger husband, Jay Althouse.

Why we love this

Albrecht's arrangement strips away reverence and injects genuine joy into a familiar carol by shifting the metric and harmonic foundation entirely. The swing of the 3/4 gospel section paired with the energized 4/4 tag feels contemporary without losing the spiritual's soul, and the SSA voicing sits comfortably in a range that allows your singers to project with confidence rather than strain.

What to expect

Infectious energy wrapped in familiarity. The gospel swing pulls you in with its conversational groove, then the sudden pivot to 4/4 delivers a jolt of contemporary joy that lands exactly where you want it. This is gospel arranged for singers who want to feel the rhythm in their bodies, not just their heads.

Who it's for

Church choirs and school ensembles looking to program a Christmas spiritual that feels fresh and alive, not historical. This works equally well in secular holiday concerts and liturgical settings, especially when your singers need permission to move and smile while singing.

How to get the most out of it

  • Lean into the rhythmic swing of the gospel section; the 3/4 meter should feel conversational and groove-oriented, not stiff. Let your singers breathe with the syncopation rather than fight it.
  • Mark the metric shift to 4/4 as a genuine gear change in your rehearsal. This tag landing is the payoff, so build energy through the gospel section and hit it with renewed intensity.
  • Take advantage of the recorded accompaniment to lock the ensemble into the swing feel early. This arrangement benefits from rhythmic precision that the track can model clearly.
  • Balance your voice parts so the melody doesn't disappear in the fuller moments; SSA voicing can muddy quickly if upper voices aren't singing through the chord.

How to use it

Pair this with a more reverent Carol reading or instrumental arrangement of another spiritual earlier in the concert, then use this arrangement as your moment of lift and celebration. It's equally effective as a closer in a mixed-genre holiday program or as a companion piece to jazz or contemporary numbers that share its rhythmic language.

Skills your students will build

  • Singing in swing rhythm within a 3/4 meter
  • Navigating metric modulation (3/4 to 4/4)
  • Balancing SSA voicing across a fuller harmonic texture
  • Listening for and maintaining groove while ensemble singing

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