Thompson, Walter - Colors (3-part Treble Voices)

The Transient Glory series presents new choral works by some of America’s most engaging contemporary composers, specially written to celebrate the art of children’s choirs and the transient but glorious nature of young singing voices. The works, which were all commissioned for a concert performance series by the Young People’s Chorus of New York, promise to make a significant addition to the repertoire for children’s and youth choruses.





The composer writes:


Colors is a Soundpainting.  Soundpainting is the composing/conducting language created by New York composer Walter Thompson for musicians, dancers, poets, actors, and visual artists working in the medium of structured improvisation.  At present this language includes more than 700 gestures signed by the composer/conductor indicating the type of improvisation desired of the performers.  Soundpainting is live composition.


Colors incorporates 15 gestures from the Soundpainting language and can be easily and quickly learned by a conductor.  Colors enables a choir director to both inspire and guide the innate creativity of his or her chorus.  As a choral composition based on structured improvisation, Colors allows for each performance to be fresh and unique while maintaining an overall structure.  This is a wonderful and accessible piece for learning about improvisation, composition, and notation systems in a new music context.


-Walter Thompson