Cardinal Feather - Treble Chorus and Piano

Ensemble: Treble Chorus (Unison), Piano

Duration: 2 Minutes

Written: Fall 2018

Text by Composer

Premiere: Dec. 2018,
-Jireh Swift and Elwyn G. Campbell
Elementary Schools, New Bedford, MA

Cardinal Feather was written for my elementary choirs at both Swift and Campbell Elementary Schools in New Bedford, MA. The song was written for our 2018 winter concert performance, where of course, the bulk of the audience was at least a generation apart from every student in the ensemble.

I wanted a musical landscape full of the anticipation and innocence I had felt in the late 20th Century, and to fill the text with things I had imparted to all my students. Birdsong, being appreciative, less concern with consumerism, and creating moments to be with yourself and your thoughts, rather than looking for quick distractions.

How does experience and tradition change from generation to generation? Is there any way to know, secondhand? Our century is much quicker than the last, and while it’s easy to record and capture just about anything, there’s no way any of us will ever know exactly how the quiet moments of winter felt to those who were here before us.

I wanted my students to question how tradition changes, and understand while they may never really know the answer, it's still important to ask, exercise curiosity, contemplate. I hoped the caregivers and families in the audience would do the same.  

To get the students in the mindset of visualizing and questioning these kinds of things, I brought in random objects to show them over the course of our rehearsals. I asked them what and where the objects were in the past, and where they may end up in the future. The title “Cardinal Feather,” refers to the act of seeing something, and wondering what it was, and what it could be; the cardinal, where it had been, and where it went.