Blessing of Light (SAB)

Audio Sample

Blessing of Light is an excerpt from a Scottish-Irish benediction of anonymous authorship, which may have originated from old Celtic traditions. The rich, poetic language encourages hospitality for both friends and strangers and a charge to cultivate the inner spirit as a beacon of light for others. This SAB setting offers additional options for soprano or alto divisi and comfortable ranges for men.

Drawing primarily from the soundscape of a gently sweeping Mixolydian mode, this piece is designed to remind the listener of the distant past and its connection to our present. Modes have been utilized in many cultures at least since the earliest days of recorded history. Ancient Greek musical modes were revived and explored during the Middle Ages, and are sometimes considered the “fathers” of the scales we use today in what is often labeled “tonal music,” or music rooted in Western European musical practices.

Blessing of Light is an accessible introduction to modal harmony for mixed choirs. Modes are characterized by combinations of half or whole steps that form a unique scale. The Mixolydian scale in this piece, for example, is identical to the major scale with the exception of a lowered (or flatted) 7th scale degree. For ease of use in sight-reading, key signatures are indicated by the melodic tonal center with the chromatically altered lowered 7th.