Why the Caged Bird Sings
by Judith Shatin
Divisi - Sheet Music

SATB choir (divisi) and piano - Intermediate

SKU: EC.7149

Composed by Judith Shatin. Martin Luther King Day, 21st Century. Octavo. Duration 4 minutes, 45 seconds. E.C. Schirmer Publishing #7149. Published by E.C. Schirmer Publishing (EC.7149).

ISBN 600313471490. UPC: 600313471490. English. Text: Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Why the Caged Bird Sings for SATB chorus and piano, is a setting of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, Sympathy. His poem speaks through poetic metaphor of the suffering of repression. It inspires us to lift up our voices and to speak out in sympathy. Author Maya Angelou used the line, “I know why the caged bird sings” as the title of her autobiographical novel, and also of her own poem of the same name.

 

Commissioned by the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, this setting is energetic and colorful, with skillful painting of the text and a deft piano accompaniment which moves things along without obscuring the vocal writing. Duration: 4:45.