I make no claims to be a professional composer! I have nonetheless written a number of short, mainly choral/vocal pieces, along with instrumental/choral arrangements. I’ve sold a few copies through the ArrangeMe website, and most of my pieces are on SoundCloud.
My latest choral piece, Not like Noah, was trialled at an Edinburgh Composers’ Workshop at the Charteris Centre on 25 February, 2024. Like my earlier Extinction Calypso, it’s on the subject of climate change, and again, the lyrics are my own. This is a recording kindly made by organisers Chris Hutchings and Lindsey Cotter.
Not like Noah
© Karen E McAulay, 2024
Oh, Lord, I’m not like Noah,
Tales of his ark
Distant and dark,
Oh, Lord, I’m not like Noah,
Can’t You somehow stop the rain before the rivers rise?
Agnes, meaning ‘holy’,
Babet, meaning ‘curse of God’,
Each name a warning;
Personified and named,
Their force untamed.
Oh, Lord, I’m not like Noah,
Can’t build a boat,
Houses don’t float,
Oh, Lord, I’m not like Noah,
Can’t You somehow quell the storm before the lights go out?
Ciaran, Debi –
(Strange to say, means ‘prophetess’) –
Whilst scientists predict a ravaged earth,
Unless our race
Protects this place.
Oh, Lord, I’m not like Noah,
Elements rage,
How can we gauge?
Oh, Lord, I’m not like Noah,
As the rivers overflow, where will the people go?
Elin, Fergus, Gerrit, Henk,
More floods,
Then Isha, Jocelyn, Kathleen and Minnie;
It goes on!
Oh, Lord, I’m not like Noah,
Species extinct –
This is all linked!
No dove, no olive leaf now, Lord?
For we heed this, or the earth will die before our eyes.
Images by StockSnap and G.C. from Pixabay
Extinction Calypso – words & music Karen E McAulay ( 2019)
Composer Chris Hutchings established an organisation called Choirs For Climate, using choral music to raise awareness of environmental issues arising from climate change. After an initial workshop last autumn, a choral concert of 55 voices took place in Edinburgh’s Greyfriar’s Kirk on Sunday 5 March. It was funded by Creative Scotland, and attracted about 150 in the audience raising several hundred pounds for Greenpeace.
I was delighted that my own Extinction Calypso was included. Although I wasn’t able to attend last week, Chris has shared the video with me, and I have his permission to share it here. The video is the work of Andy Henderson of ah-media.co.uk.
Fire, Fire! Fire, Fire! Our house is on fire!
See the forests burn; will we never learn?
It is nearly too late – very, very nearly!
Hope, what is hope, if it’s no more than promises?
Can’t we commit to the action our future needs?
Each individual has a duty to do their share,
For each choice we make tells the world how much we care,
Tells the world how much we really care!
Fire, Fire! Fire, Fire! Our house is on fire!
See the forests burn; will we never learn?
It is nearly too late – very, very nearly!
Hope, what is hope, if it’s no more than promises?
Can’t we commit to the action our future needs?
Factories and industries, parties and nations,
Rhetoric won’t save the next generation,
Save the next generation!
Fire, Fire! Fire, Fire! Our house is on fire!
As the icebergs melt, summer’s heat we’ve felt,
It is nearly too late – very, very nearly!
Children skip school wanting adults to put things straight,
Do something radical; this planet cannot wait!
Unfocused panic must now be directed;
Can we not collaborate, collaborate,
Can we not collaborate?
Fire, Fire! Fire, Fire! Our house is on fire!
See the forests burn; will we never learn?
It is nearly too late – very, very nearly!
Karen McAulay, Musicologist 