Description
Voicing - Two-Part Chorus and piano
Level - Easy-Intermediate
Language - English
Duration - 3:00
Category - Secular, Winter, Snow, Storms, Night
Winter Storm is an accessible piece for treble choir commissioned and premiered by the Elk Neck Elementary School for their 2013 December Concert. This setting of Emily Bronte's poem, "The Night Is Darkening Round Me", provides a great contrasting piece to your Winter program or conert. The largely minor setting of this secular text provides a mysterious and atmospheric flavor. Elementary or middle school kids will also enjoy improvising and creating the sounds of the storm at certain points in the piece. The melodic phrases of the voices soar easily over a flowing piano accompaniment. Orff instrumental improvisation is also a possibility and is a good tool for teaching the different modal passages students will encounter in the song.
Text
By Emily Bronte
The night is dark'ning round me
The wild winds coldly blow
But tyrant spell has bound me
And I cannot go
The giant trees are bending
Their bare boughs weighed with snow,
The storm is fast descending
And yet, I cannot go
Clouds beyond clouds above me
Wastes beyond wastes below
But nothing drear can move me
I will not, cannot go.