Are Women People?

Song Cycle: A Suggested Campaign Song; Without The Power To Vote; Take Pity; Warning to Suffragists; Relic; The Most Ignorant; Home and Where It Is; The 19th Amendment

2016 | SATB Vocal Quartet with Piano 4-Hands

Poems by Alice Duer Miller; and Text from Susan B. Anthony and The United States Constitution.

This cycle contains a miniature, excerptable a cappella cycle with text by Susan B. Anthony and The US Constitution. It was commissioned by The Hanson Institute for American Music at The Eastman School of Music and the Susan B. Anthony Center for Women's Leadership, to celebrate 100 years of Women's Right to Vote in New York State

The premiere took place on March 5, 2017 at The Eastman School of Music at 3 pm in Kilbourn Hall.

I recorded this cycle with the Fourth Coast Ensemble and pianists Maria Sumareva and Andrew Rosenblum on January 19, 2020 for inclusion on my next CD release. 

ERRATA for editions prior to July 9, 2020:

Are Women People? 

Errata as of July 9, 2020 

SONG 1: A Suggested Campaign Song 

Piano 1:  

m. 2: add staccatos to beats 3 and 4 in both hands 

m. 3: add accent to downbeat 

m. 4: add crescendo 

Piano 2: 

m. 4: add crescendo

m. 5 add f on beat 1

ALL:

m. 7: change MM to q=152.

m. 30: Tenor and Bass: erase the tie and in m. 31, erase beat 1 note and put in a quarter rest instead.

m. 49: Soprano and Alto: erase the tie and in m. 50, the first two beats are now a half.

m. 58: Soprano: the “ble” of “suitable” should only be tied over to an 8^th note. Then rest the rest of the measure. 

m. 60: Tenor: change dynamic to forte. Bass: stay forte for whole measure.

m. 61: Soprano and Alto: change mf to forte and stay forte the whole measure.

m. 72: If the pianist isn’t loud enough to shout, one of the singers can be the optional shouter.

m. 113: Alto: Change dynamic to forte, and don’t tie the “one” over. Then the rest of the measure is rest.

SONG 2: Without the Power to Vote

m. 5 Tenor: change this dynamic to ff, then back to forte in the next measure.

SONG 3: Take Pity

ALL:

m. 16: 

Soprano: add a fermata for the first two beats on “you”

Alto: change pitch of beat 2 to a Db (down a M3 from the existing F) and add a fermata

Tenor: add a fermata to beat 3 on the word “you”

Bass: add a fermata to beat 3 on the held “you”

Last measure: Bass: leave the hairpins but erase the mf in the middle. Erase the mp destination dynamic.

NEW CHANGE on 6.24.20: Tenor, m. 22. Change duration of "works" to a quarter, followed by an 8th rest.

SONG 4: Warning to Suffragists

m. 14: All voices: change the word “women” to “woman”. 

m. 18: All voices: change the word “women” to “woman”.

m. 31 Piano 2: RH enter on beat 1+ and change duration of the Bb to a quarter (instead of 8th)

m. 54: Soprano: Change the rhythm on beat 1 to two 8^th notes. 

SONG 5: Relic

m. 5: All voice: change the duration of beat 1 (“York”) to a quarter note, followed by an 8^th rest (instead of a dotted quarter).

m. 8: Soprano: add an accent to the downbeat

m. 10: All: add a poco rit.

m. 11: All: add a new MM of q=82 and add an accent to the downbeat.

m. 16: Bass: change dynamic from mf to f

SONG 6: The Most Ignorant

All:

m. 1: Change MM to q=120

m. 9: Bass: erase beat 2 and put in a quarter rest. Put in a forte on beat 3, and erase mf in next measure.

m. 11: Bass: write in a mf

m. 24: Soprano: tie the Ab on beat 2+ to beat 3.

SONG 7: Home and Where It Is

m. 24: All: put in Slightly Slower (which will go until m. 26)

m. 42: Alto: keep existing notes but place the “ner” of “corner” on beat 2, creating a new melisma.

m. 81: Alto: change beat 3 to an Eb (instead of F).

m. 83: Soprano: the slur for the melisma should extend to beat 1 of m. 84

m. 109: Soprano: the last 8th has an optional note now: Eb (down 3rd from the existing Gb)

SONG 8: The 19^th Amendment – both with and without piano

m. 10: All voices: change beat 2 to a quarter note, followed by quarter rest in Alto, Tenor and Bass, but by an 8^thnotes in soprano, so that pickup to m. 11 remains the same.

m. 21: Soprano and Alto: change the half note duration to a quarter note and quarter rest (to match tenor).