Genre: Secular Choral Pieces

Recording by the Adelaide Chamber Singers, conducted by Carl Crossin, 2021.

This piece is based on the text of award-winning American poet Jane Kenyon’s poem by the same name, which contemplates the end of the day, and alludes to the parallels in life and death. With a quiet, reflective beginning, listeners are transported to the peaceful countryside in the late afternoon. Voice parts in turn bathe the listener in rays of light as they “shine through the chinks in the barn”. The piece culminates in an affirming declaration – “let evening come, as it will, and don’t be afraid. God does not leave us comfortless.”

The recording above is performed by the Brisbane Chamber Choir (2011), directed by Graeme Morton. This recording is of the SATB version, also available for purchase.

This piece is based on the text of award-winning American poet Jane Kenyon’s poem by the same name, which contemplates the end of the day, and alludes to the parallels in life and death. With a quiet, reflective beginning, listeners are transported to the peaceful countryside in the late afternoon. Voice parts in turn bathe the listener in rays of light as they “shine through the chinks in the barn”. The piece culminates in an affirming declaration – “let evening come, as it will, and don’t be afraid. God does not leave us comfortless.”

The recording above is performed by the Brisbane Chamber Choir (2011), directed by Graeme Morton.

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Written after Perth’s first lockdown due to Covid-19, this simple yet lush setting of Coleridge’s poetry expresses a first glimpse of hope and return to normality. Both an expressive longing and a gentle dreaming to be with someone far away resonates through the harmony and melodic gestures.

Graeme Morton’s piece “In Flanders Fields” is a poignant setting of the poem by John McCrae. The touching piece swells emotionally, with moments of word painting and an overall sense of serenity. A highly recommended addition for memorial events.

The recording above features the University of Queensland Chamber Singers (2018).

A wonderfully uplifting piece with solos throughout, We Are The Future is highly recommended for youth choir. With text adapted from year 8, Brighton Secondary Student, Paris Maddern’s poem “The Future”, this joyous piece for SATB or SSA choir carries a strong, youthful voice and sings of their hope for the future, and their role in it.

“And I cry at the glowing blaze of disaster in this world

Yearning to reshape it, let goodness be unfurled

Perhaps I am not good enough

Perhaps my strength exceeds me,

The world will see me.”

“We Are The Future” is also available in SATB voicing.

A wonderfully uplifting piece with solos throughout, We Are The Future is highly recommended for youth choir. With text adapted from year 8, Brighton Secondary Student, Paris Maddern’s poem “The Future”, this joyous piece for SATB or SSA choir carries a strong, youthful voice and sings of their hope for the future, and their role in it.

“And I cry at the glowing blaze of disaster in this world

Yearning to reshape it, let goodness be unfurled

Perhaps I am not good enough

Perhaps my strength exceeds me,

The world will see me.”

“We Are The Future” is also available in SSA voicing.

A fresh take on an Aussie classic.

This poignant piece, written for the Seymour College Chamber Singers, is based on the poem by the same name by Robert Frost. The text tells of a traveller who comes across a fork in the road and decides to take the road less travelled – a moving reflection on life’s decisions. Composer Carl Crossin’s decision to include violin adds a further element of emotion to an already very stirring piece. Highly recommended.

This poignant piece, written for the Seymour College Chamber Singers, is based on the poem by the same name by Robert Frost. The text tells of a traveller who comes across a fork in the road and decides to take the road less travelled – a moving reflection on life’s decisions. Composer Carl Crossin’s decision to include violin adds a further element of emotion to an already very stirring piece. Highly recommended, particularly for youth choirs.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Carl Crossin writes that the brief given to him in the commission of this work was that the song be “uplifting and life affirming” – and that it certainly is. A wonderful piece for secondary choir.

“Rise” is also available for SSAA voicing.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Carl Crossin writes that the brief given to him in the commission of this work was that the song be “uplifting and life affirming” – and that it certainly is. A wonderful piece for secondary choir.

“Rise” is also available for SATB voicing.

Part Needle, Part Thread was composed in 2020 for the Adelaide Chamber Singers, though due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was unable to be performed at the World Choir Games in Belgium as intended. It was later video recorded by the Adelaide Chamber Choir for online release.

The text by Ann Nadge explores the delicate connection between love and time, describing that connection as an entity, a process and a protection against emotional darkness. Carl Crossin, effortlessly weaves the voices between each other, painting the metaphor of needle and thread before time seemingly stops in the dramatic B section. Listen below.

AS WAVE DRIVES WAVE for choir, opus 115 (2021) by Andrew Schultz is an unaccompanied setting of memorable lines from Ovid’s Metamorphoses which he in turn drew from Pythagoras’ The Eternal Flux. The motion of the waves and their restless renewal is used as a metaphor for the certainty of perpetual change in the universe. The imagery in Ovid’s text is very beautiful and possibly even a little melancholy – or maybe granitic and philosophical and hence, sadness is irrelevant. In this choral setting the text has been adapted and personalised by the composer. This six minute piece is based on slow-moving harmony with sequences of overlapping and interlocking chords – as if unresolved suspensions were waves pushing waves. The work is an eight-part SATB choir setting but a lot of the work is really in four parts with pairs of voices starting in unison and then splitting apart. As wave drives wave was commissioned by the Brisbane Chamber Choir and their Artistic Director, Graeme Morton, and was composed in late 2021. They perform the work here at Christ Church North Adelaide, South Australia as a part of the Adelaide Chamber Singers Festival in October 2023. The video was recorded by Australian Digital Concert Hall. TEXT Since I have embarked on endless sea and set my sails, I now do know this: As wave drives wave, And each, pursued, Pursues the next. For what was before is left behind; And what was not, now is; And each moment is new. So time, flies on and follows, Always, forever new, And is always new. For neither the river Nor this tide can Can stop their flow. I say: There is nothing In the whole universe, Nothing that persists. For that which once was is now gone. Text is adapted by the composer from Ovid, Metamorphoses, Bk XV:176-198, “Pythagoras’s Teachings: The Eternal Flux.”

Recording from the Brisbane Chamber Choir at the Adelaide Chamber Choir Festival, October 2023, via The Australian Digital Concert Hall.

Three songs from the Torres Strait Islands to the north of Australia. Comprises Monkey and Turtle, Trade Winds and Morning Tide. Good for use in classrooms or with choirs at elementary or high school level.

The SATB version is for unaccompanied choir. The treble version (SA) has a piano accompaniment.

Monkey and Turtle:

Trade Winds:

Recordings are from Great Southern Spirits (1994) by The Australian Voices.

SATB divisi choir a cappella or accompanied (by optional Tubular bell & String Orchestra). Originally part of a 30 minutes work Childers Shining which helped bring healing to a community after a fire tragedy caused the loss of 15 lives, this work was written to bring healing, transformation and upliftment.

Simple voice parts, yet a powerful piece with a powerful message surely more necessary now than ever before. This piece brings together many cultural influences from the “earth tribes” – Native American, African, Celtic, Aboriginal and Mongolian as well as the music of nature herself – birdcalls and flowing streams.SA divisi a cappella or accompanied.

An ideal song for Festivals & whole school performances including massed choirs. SA divisi a cappella or accompanied (by Small Ensemble or Concert Band, Orchestra, String Orchestra or Cello Ensemble).

Demonstration Recording: Montclair State University Singers directed by Dr. Heather J. Buchanan from the 2012 ACDA Eastern Division Conference.

Simple voice parts, yet a powerful piece with a powerful message surely more necessary now than ever before. This piece brings together many cultural influences from the “earth tribes” – Native American, African, Celtic, Aboriginal and Mongolian as well as the music of nature herself – birdcalls and flowing streams.SATB divisi a cappella or accompanied.

An ideal song for Festivals & whole school performances including massed choirs. SATB divisi a cappella or accompanied (by Small Ensemble or Concert Band, Orchestra, String Orchestra or Cello Ensemble).

Also available in SA voicing here.

Accompanied Recording from CD ‘Childers Shining’ ~ music by Sarah Hopkins performed by massed community choir with the Bundaberg Youth Orchestra conducted by Robert Rotar.

Hullayha (pronounced ‘Hull-ay-ha’) for SATB divisi choir a cappella or accompanied (by optional percussion, String Orchestra or Full Orchestra). The soulful opening gradually transforms into abundant joy. All the melodies are very ‘singable’ & supported by sustained drones which ‘birth’ out of the melody line.

Hullayha (pronounced ‘Hull-ay-ha’) for SA divisi choir a cappella or accompanied (by optional percussion, String Orchestra or Full Orchestra). The soulful opening gradually transforms into abundant joy. All the melodies are very ‘singable’ & supported by sustained drones which ‘birth’ out of the melody line.

Available in SATB voicing here.

A lovely setting of this beloved text by Mary Frye, which speaks comfort as it were, beyond the grave. For unaccompanied SATB choir, Joe Twist wrote it for Graeme Morton and the National Youth Choir of Australia. Highly recommended.

A highly imaginative choral piece for SSAA choir and piano. In it a young child who lives in the dry central Australian outback and has never seen rain dreams of what it would be like to be in a thunderstorm. The work eventually becomes a sort of rain dance with chanting of “Wandjina”, an Australian Aboriginal rain spirit.

Recording by Gondwana Voices, January 2013 at Verbrugghen Hall (Conservatorium of Music in Sydney).

A lyrical and charming Australian folksong set for SATB choir and piano. This is a simple arrangement that brings out the grace and charm of the melody. The score gives and explanation of all the Australian slang in the song, arising as it does from the Australian colonial period and the vast sheep-raising properties that were characteristic of this history.

This song makes a great contrast with Bullocky-O, also arranged by Graeme Morton.

The arrangement of a traditional song comes from Michael Tyack and George Torbay, and was commissioned by the New South Wales department of Education and Training. Arranged for SA and piano, it is a welcome addition to the repertoire for school or community performance.

Australia’s most iconic choral work to date, and featured on the Hollywood film Boychoir. This version is for SATB divisi choir a cappella. MM2003 is a treble version and MM2004 uses the treble voice version of the score for choir and an accompaniment for celli only.

The work distinctively features Harmonic Overtone Singing. A rehearsal guide to Past Life Melodies, also available through Morton Music, shows you how to teach this technique to your choir.

Commissioned by Graeme Morton’s high school choir, the work can be performed by choirs of modest training, and yet has made it all the way to Chanticleer, and other professional groups, such is its broad appeal.

Accompaniment available for Full Orchestra or Concert Band, String Orchestra or Cello Ensemble.

This piece owes much to Henry Purcell since it uses Ruth Watson Henderson’s lovely paraphrase of “Come Ye Sons of Art”. The music is simple (in 2 parts), with metre changes that always follow the flow of text and underpinned by constant eighth notes in the accompaniment. The piece is energetic and vibrant and makes an excellent start to a program or bracket for your choir.

Recording of “Weary Will” from ‘Animals Noah Forgot’ (Set 2)

Six unison songs with piano using poems by Banjo Paterson. Sing in set 1 about The Mountains, Old Man Platypus, Flying Squirrels, and in set 2, Weary Will, White Cockatoos and Frogs in Chorus. These texts first appeared in 1931 in a collaboration between Banjo Paterson and artist Normal Lindsay (of Magic Pudding fame). Their book proposes that Australian animals are so different from animals elsewhere that perhaps they refused to go into the Ark with Noah in the great flood. Fun to sing – fun to listen to.

Recordings of two of the pieces are provided by Noel’s own choir, the Australian Boys Choir. The accompanist in the Animals is Charlie Sdraulig.

Recording of “Old Man Platypus” from ‘Animals Noah Forgot’ (Set 1)

Recording of “Flying Squirrels” from ‘Animals Noah Forgot’ (Set 1)

Six unison songs with piano using poems by Banjo Paterson. Sing in set 1 about The Mountains, Old Man Platypus, Flying Squirrels, and in set 2, Weary Will, White Cockatoos and Frogs in Chorus. These texts first appeared in 1931 in a collaboration between Banjo Paterson and artist Normal Lindsay (of Magic Pudding fame). Their book proposes that Australian animals are so different from animals elsewhere that perhaps they refused to go into the Ark with Noah in the great flood. Fun to sing – fun to listen to.

The sound files are provided by Noel’s own choir, the Australian Boys Choir. The accompanist in the Animals is Charlie Sdraulig

Another Australian work with that characteristic “Orlovich sound” – fresh, buoyant, vital and energized, but without weight and drama. It is always clean on the palate. The sample recording is by the National Youth Choir of Australia.

Composer Joe Twist writes,

On The Night Train sets the scene of a train dashing through the Australian bush at dusk, as described by Henry Lawson’s graceful poetry. The emptiness of the Australian outback is represented by long, sustained pitches in the opening and closing sections of the work, above which a simple, folk-like melody is sung. This melody is also used throughout a rhythmic contrasting section where the singers create the impression of a moving train with ‘scat-like’ nonsense syllables and whispered vocal effects.

Wake Up! is a rhythmic and energetic piece that re-imagines the choir ensemble as a contemporary band. Amongst the global frenzy of contemporary culture, hip-hop and urban music has become the ‘folk music’ that resonates strongly with our current generation. This piece captures the vibrancy of those rhythms and melodies through the imitation of driving hip-hop beats and vociferous rap vocal.

Sing Out! was commissioned for Australian Society of Music Education Conference 2005 as the opening massed work. It is a short, fun, rhythmic piece to be sung ‘with joy’.

This seven page compendium of information and resources helpful to choir directors, choristers and music students. Much of the material in this booklet is different from that in the CD. There is biographical information, a discussion on the process of composition and suggestions for rehearsal. It includes information on Sarah’s compositional process, Rehearsal suggestions, frequently given feedback to Choirs plus bio info.

Orlovich has a keen ear for the way different texts resonate with each other. This piece uses the traditional Latin text Dulcis Jesu Memoria and Victor Carrell’s Voice of the River which draws on a series of images which address “love” as it is found in some of its myriad manifestations. Commissioned by Graeme Morton’s St Peters Chorale and suitable for a good high school or college choir. It could also be used in church situations as an anthem.

This wonderful piece portrays three phases of the day: Sunrise, emerging in the stillness of the dawn, Birds, reflecting the vitality of the noonday, and the vibrant bird calls in the “Australian) bush, and Sunset, where the conclusion to the set of songs is a slow chordal diminuendo as the sun sets. Each movement can be performed separately.

Watch the full score preview video here.