Rise, Shine!

SATB divisi choir, unaccompanied
SATB choir, opt. piano
Negro Spiritual

Click here for perusal score and to purchase unaccompanied version.
Click here for perusal score and to purchase accompanied version.

Commissioned by Abendmusik at First-Plymouth Congregational Church (Lincoln, NE) for a combined performance featuring several local choirs plus the American Spiritual Ensemble, this arrangement is dedicated to Roland Carter. Since his days as an undergraduate student at Hampton Institute (University), he has championed and performed the choral music of black composers and been one of the greatest forces in preserving the Negro spiritual. The Hampton University Choirs, during my undergraduate tenure, performed his arrangement of this spiritual which serves as inspiration for this arrangement.

Oh, rise, shine! for the light is a-comin’,
My Lord says He’s comin’ by an’ by.

This is the year of jubilee,
My Lord says He’s comin’ by an’ by.
My Lord has set His people free,
My Lord says He’s comin’ by an’ by.

Wet or dry, I intend to try,
My Lord…
To serve the Lord until I die,
My Lord… 

I intend to shout an’ never stop,
My Lord…
Until I reach that mountaintop,
My Lord…