The Listening – SSATB, soloist/rapper, opt. Children Choir

Known primarily for his fantastic instrumental music, Cheryl Engelhardt gives us his third published choral work. ‘The Listening’ in the Song of the World Choral Series series for unaccompanied mixed chorus, the composer’s text could be used in a number of concert settings–American music, earth day, peace, etc.
About the Work, “The Listening” by Cheryl Engelhardt

The Listening was written in December 2017 after careful study of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.!s speech titled “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” The speech was given on April 4, 1967, at Riverside Church in New York City, a year before his assassination. It was a denunciation of America!s involvement in the Vietnam War, in addition to a cry for the American people to listen to the unheard voices. King was criticized for bringing politics to his civil rights platform. What intrigued me most about this speech is the “silence” to which he referred. The world, certainly, was
not silent. There was madness (as he states, “somehow this madness must cease”), there was war, there were atrocities being committed both abroad and at home in the United States. The “silence” to which he referred was not that of global society and events; it was a complacency of the individual, an avoidance.

In breaking silence, King was not, in my opinion, suggesting that revolutionaries and anti-war supporters grow louder than their opposition. On the contrary, he was encouraging those who had not spoken up to
speak. He believed that those who could speak should break silence for those who could not.

Dr. King urged listeners to embrace “unconditional love for all mankind” and made clear that love is neither weak nor sentimental, but rather the means of initiating change and making history. In my opinion, Dr. King
started listening – to the oppressed, the abused, the poor, the scared, and the unloved. In The Listening, I set out to recreate how he listened. This is the recreation of the listening. Musically, I drew on rhythmic inspiration
from Dr. King!s speech. Though straightforward in nature, it was extremely poetic. With alliteration such as “…rendering our priorities so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war,” there was
a heartbeat pulsing through it. I wanted to translate this heartbeat to the staff.

The addition of the children!s choir came after the February 14, 2018, school shooting in Parkland, Florida. The students protesting for stricter gun control had a similar narrative to Dr. King!s: we will no longer be
silent. Enough is enough. The children!s choir is meant to represent the peace of childhood, interrupted by violence. When the children!s choir enters again at letter H, they are joining the adults, lifting us up,
interrupting our ineffective past ways of merely wanting reform and turning it into action. In June 2020, just weeks after George Floyd!s murder and a few months into the pandemic, several choirs reached out to me saying they wanted to do a virtual recording of The Listening. We combined forces and created one video of the piece and included Donzaleigh Abernathy as the alto soloist, Dr. King!s own goddaughter.

The piece premiered in Boston, Massachusetts on March 2, 2018 at the Massachusetts Music Educators Conference by VOICES 21C, directed by André de Quadros.