Breathe
By Marie Barnett, Arranged by Derek K. Hakes
A favorite of mine, this is the Derek Hakes arrangement. The lyrics are simple but deeply moving. The music moves as well. At 2:45 the altos, tenors, and basses begin singing quarter note triads against the soprano melody, and I especially enjoyed that.
[These anthem postings go out to all my subscribers by default, but can be unsubscribed separately for anyone that doesn’t wish to receive them. And I do expect to have the main blog going again soon, by the way.]
We discovered at rehearsal last week that we were going to be short of altos, and we planned to borrow 2nd sopranos as needed. That was unusual, and those sopranos got to experience having the 1st tenors right in their ears. We only borrowed one on Sunday, and I noticed that she was now standing as far away as possible from the tenors. We know each other outside of choir, and had a good laugh about it.
I was the only top-row alto (the tallest of us are up there) and because we were singing in unison with the sopranos at times, high for me, I joined the tenors in a couple of places. I used to sing first tenor, but now I’m surprised at how low that part feels.
I have the demo track for that piece, and it is headed for my private music library.
Recorded at Christ Community Church, Carmichael, California
October 22, 2023
Excerpted from: youtu.be/HygbHUq51c8
"I'm lost without you." That's the truth of the song! Thanks, very much.