Composed by Stuart Chapman Hill

Commissioned in 2019 by Mr. Nicholas Dogas, the choir director at Ellicott Mills Middle School, in Ellicott City, Maryland. Mr. Dogas wanted a piece that would be uplifting to his students, who helpfully provided me with short journal entries to help inspire ­­­the text I wrote for them.

One of the beautiful things about singing, of course, is the way it brings people together, and this truth was observed thoughtfully by many of the EMMS students in their writing. My effort in crafting this text is to reflect as nuanced a sense of that unity as possible. Even when something like choral music brings us together "as one," that does not mean that each individual loses her own identity, her own voice, her own way of being. We do not, when we unite, suddenly become a bland, characterless mega-being; rather, our separate beings are woven into a tapestry, as the text describes, "where each thread can shine."

The EMMS students and their teacher have provided me with beautiful threads to weave together in the construction of this piece, and I hope they-and you-feel empowered by this end result. -Stuart Chapman Hill

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