Credo (from The Lost Country of Sight) for unaccompanied soprano
Text by Neil Aitken, Music by Juhi Bansal
Credo
The notation consists of unstemmed noteheads and grace notes, without specified rhythms or durations. Use natural speech rhythms to dictate the rhythms and pacing of each phrase, which is demarked by a breath mark. The effect should be that of musically reciting a simple melodic line with ornamentation. Two signs are used to show the relative stress upon a note and . The first marking indicates a sort of pickup gesture - i.e. notes marked with the sign are leading towards a note that has emphasis, but have none themselves. Notes marked with the sign are stressed in the manner of downbeats. . , , and are used to indicate microtonal inflections of a pitch. E.g. preceding an 'F' means to sing an F#, but one that is slightly 'sharper' than usual. The actual size of each microtone is not important - use your musical sense to decide how much to bend the tone.
The overall effect is intended to be similar to sung arabic recitations of religious texts. Do not be afraid to bend the pitches slightly, inflect or ornament them in different ways. Use a variety of vocal tones and colours, natural devices such as scooping into notes, etc, to create a lyrical, expressive effect, without being tied down to western classical conventions.
Credo Not so much the world, but what it signifies: last year's rain still sleeping in the deepest wells, or cherry trees arched over stone walls. Yearning. The earth bent around a weathered pine. Old stoves tipped and sleeping, iron rusting into green. Forgetting. God is always in the places I cannot reach, be He blackbird or raven. Even the geese guillotining the sky mean something to the girl laid down in weeds. Someone is speaking in darkness, a voice like sorrow, something like tin, the sun, even in sin, even then, I believe. All night, our prayers rise like dust. Our voices reach like seed for rain.
Credo
Freely, expressively
Voice Not
so
rain
arched
ning.
much
the
still
o
-
world,
sleep
-
-
-
The
earth
ing
ver
but
in
what
the
deep
stone
bent
a
it
sig
-
walls.
-
round
a
est
-
ni
-
wells,
Yearn
fies:
or
-
wea - thered
last
cher
-
-
pine.
year's
-
ry
-
trees
-
-
Old
stoves
tipped
and
sleep
ing,
get
ting.
i
-
ron
rust - ing
God
is
in
al
-
-
to
green.
ways
in
For
the
pla
( ces
I
can
en
the
geese
laid
down
-
not
reach,
guil
in
-
lo
be
-
tin
-
weeds.
He
black
ing
the
Some
-
-
bird
sky
mean
one
is
or
ra
-
ven.
speak
-
-
) Ev
some - thing
to
-
ing
-
-
-
the
girl
in
dark
-
-
ness,
a voice
( sin,
like
sor
-
row,
some - thing
like
tin,
the
sun,
ev
-
en
in
night,
our
) ev
-
en
then,
I
be - lieve.
(Hum)
All
attacca
pra
-
-
-
yers
rise
like
dust.
Our
voi
-
ces
reach
like
seed
for
rain.