hymnprayer

for string quartet, vocalist, and loop pedal
performed by Mivos Quartet and Mya Vandegrift

lyrics
mya vandegrift / joanne vandegrift

Rest in my heart and fortify me
Let the answers come as the days breathe
Build me some mountain, some home to keep

Rest in my heart and purify me
Let the hours play upon my body
Like the hands of my beloved
Like the hands of my beloved

Let the thunder rise again
But with the promise of the sun at dawn
Protect all I love and all I know
Thy will be done, but I pray thy will is soft

I pray thy will is soft

I pray thy will is soft

“Our God even awakes the bugs and grasshoppers
Careful crawling through the backyard”

Rest in my heart and fortify me
Let the answers come as the days breathe
Build me some mountain, some home to keep

Rest in my heart and purify me
Let the hours play upon my body
Like the hands of my beloved
Like the hands of my beloved
-

program note
In a time where unprecedented events seem to be reoccurring events, a line from a letter my grandmother wrote me in 2005 has been in the back of my head:

“Our God even awakes the bugs and
grasshoppers...careful crawling.”

I wanted to make this piece a prayer based on these words...to whatever force is behind the bugs and grasshoppers. Hymns are an accessible form of communal music-making not exclusive to a specific belief practice.

Though I'm performing this with Mivos Quartet, I am not a trained vocalist or a singer— This piece is intended to be sung by a non-classical vocalist, as those who sing hymns in their places of worship are typically not classically trained. There are no vocal directions or dynamics with the vocal line, typical for the vocal lines found in hymnals.