Rising Storm

Rising Storm was the first choral piece I ever wrote specifically intended to be sung by a younger choir. I myself didn’t join choir until late high school, so I never had any experience as to what choir was like before then. Fortunately, I had just married a middle school choir director a few months prior to beginning this piece! It was a great opportunity for me to get to know the young choral sound, as well as the students and classroom dynamic, and that helped a lot. As I began to write the piece, I wrote what I felt was the type of song I would have enjoyed at that age: something fun, strong, exciting, and epic. Soon after the music of Rising Storm had taken shape, the image of a severe thunderstorm came to mind as I listened, and that’s how the text and title were created. Try not to be blown away by the strong winds and rain as you sing!