Commissions

Composer: Gay Holmes Spears

Arranger: Not Applicable

Publication: No Information Available at this Time

Duration: 3:56

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Program Notes:

This piece was meant to express the desire of the Chorale to raise awareness of important women's and human rights issues. As inspiration for the piece, Gay Spears used a quote by Mother Teresa of Calcutta: "I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples." She was also inspired by the "Day of Affirmation" speech given by Robert F. Kennedy at the University of Cape Town in South Africa on June 6, 1966.

 

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Score Sample:

 

Voicing:

SSAA

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Accompaniment:

Piano

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Themes:

Hope​, Women's Rights, Human Rights

 

Lyrics:

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Gay Holmes Spears

I see a lake shining in the sun, surface glossy, smooth, and still.

I take a pebble, toss it in the water.

I watch a circle form and spread.

Ripples flowing, ever widening till they reach the other shore.

I cast a stone to create many ripples.

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Beyond the lake a world awaits.

A world of darkness, a world of fear, for there are many victims.

Victims of violence.

Victims of abuse.

Victims of oppression.

Victims of injustice.

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I lift my voice and cry,

I lift my voice, and I cry: 

"No more! No more!"

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Lift your voice and cry with me,

"No more violence, no abuse."

"No oppression, no injustice."

"No more darkness, No more fear, No more hate! No more!"

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Lift your voice, cry with me:

You and I alone cannot change the world.

But we can cast our stones across the waters.

We can cast our stones across the waters to create many ripples.

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Ripples of hope, flowing.

Hope to live, to love,

hope to learn, to dream,

hope to be free!

Hope to be all we can be!

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Cry with me:

"Hope! Hope where there's no hope."

Cry, "Hope to live."

Cry, "Hope to love."

Cry, "Hope to learn, to dream, be free, to be all we can be."

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You and I alone cannot change the world.

But we can cast our stones across the waters.

We can cast our stones across the waters to create many ripples.

Ripples of hope, flowing, flowing ripples.

Ripples, ripples of hope.

Ripples of hope.

Hope.

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