There Shall Be Wings: SATB Choral Octavo

Jonathan Adams has created something rare here: a graduation piece that honors the solemnity of the moment without resorting to bombast or hollow sentiment. The text drawn from da Vinci's reflections grounds this arrangement in genuine intellectual and emotional depth, making it as rewarding to rehearse as it is to perform. Singers feel the weight of what they're singing about, and audiences genuinely listen.

The music carries a sense of quiet contemplation tinged with hope. There is dignity in the voicing and pacing, neither rushed nor heavy. The arrangement respects the gravity of leaving one chapter behind while gesturing toward possibility ahead.

Choirs preparing a graduation ceremony or milestone concert need repertoire that speaks to transition and aspiration without resorting to cliché. This octavo serves advanced high school and college choirs who can handle the textual and harmonic sophistication that makes the piece moving rather than saccharine.

• Balance the text clarity across all four parts from the start of rehearsal. The poetry deserves to be heard, not buried under competing vocal lines.
• Shape each phrase with the breath, not just the bar line. This allows the meaning of da Vinci's words to emerge naturally rather than mechanically.
• Attend to the harmonic movement carefully. Even small intonation drift will blur the intended sonority, especially in sustained passages.

Close your graduation ceremony with this piece, or anchor a spring concert as the final number before intermission. It works equally well as part of a program exploring Renaissance thought and art, or alongside contemporary settings of classical texts where the blend of old ideas and fresh musical interpretation creates resonance.

• Text declamation across multiple syllabic settings
• Harmonic listening and intonation in sustained sonorities
• Phrase shaping independent of metric stress
• Blended ensemble tone in slower tempos