We Rise Again: notes on our arrangement

We Rise Again is a beautiful song made popular by the Juno-award winning Rankin Family, as Rise Again on their third album, North Country. The inspiring and moving song, written by Leo Dubinsky, a native of Nova Scotia, is about immigration.

Our version starts with a solo, which Kristen has agreed to sing for us. Heather is her back-up and will sing with the First Sopranos (Sop1 is a challenging descant part. Preview it if you can).

The Second Sopranos and the Tenors move a bit, from their usual lines down to the Alto line for the Second Sopranos and down to the Bass line for the Tenors. Make notes and draw arrows or lines where you move down and back up. I am assigning letter names to the sections of the song so we can refer to them easily. The beginning up to bar 13 is section A.

Section A: Solo (Kristen) alone

Section B: bars 13-19: Kristen's solo on the top line, SATB in the choir bracket, as usual, except 16-19, Tenors sing the top part of the Bass line (nobody will sing the tenor line there) and Basses are on the bottom (Bass is the bottom throughout).

Section C: bars 19-27: No solo**. Kristen moves down to the Soprano line with the First Sopranos. This is a descant part. Second Sopranos move down to the Alto line to sing the melody with the Altos. This is a very high Alto part, so I'm not taking away the Alto's special moment, I'm giving them a hand.

Section D: bars 28-39: Like Section B, Kristen's solo, plus choir oohs SATB, as usual.

Section E: bars 39-43: No solo. Like Section C, Soprano 1 is on the Soprano line, Soprano 2 and Alto sing the Alto line. Bass divides here, so Tenor takes the top and Bass the bottom. Nobody sings the tenor line in section E.

Section F: bars 43-51: No solo. This is where Alto, Tenor and Bass have melody! Everyone is in unison, except First Soprano.

Section G: bars 51- end. No solo. Almost exactly like Section F, but higher and louder. There's a special Tenor bit at bar 53/54 so they have to watch out for that. First Sopranos have a special bit in bar 58, and then there's the ending. Bars 62-65: Second Sopranos move up to the Soprano line where they're supposed to be, the lower part there. Altos are alone on the Alto line, Tenors sing the top of the Bass Line, and Bass sings the bottom of the Bass line. Nobody on the tenor line there.

**Where there is a solo line on the music and I've indicated that there is no solo, that is because the solo line is identical to the Alto line (except bar 43, where it's in Sop1).