There Is No Music For Our Singing

THE MEN OF the Dartmouth Glee Club have always had traditional school songs in their repertoire: the Winter Song and the Ivy League Medley, to name two. But a new Dartmouth song written expressly for women's voices is becoming part of that tradition, thanks to the efforts of two recent graduates.

"There is spirit never dying," say the lyrics. "There is passion in the breast./ It's the place we know as mother,/ It's the place where our love rests." The chorus sings praise to "Dartmouth! Dartmouth our companion," a place "where the green pines grow."

Composer David Martosko '91 and lyricist Torrance Blaisdell '90 collaborated on the new piece, called "Dartmouth Heartsong," more than a year after Martosko started looking for a poem to set for female voices. "It was almost embarrassing that after almost 20 years of coeducation the Glee Club still didn't have a Dartmouth song written for women," says Martosko.

Blaisdell's poem evokes familiar campus images of nature and beauty, and the musical setting depicts these scenes with sweeping four-part harmonies. In the chorus, the exclamation of the word "Dartmouth!" is highlighted with a rich seventh chord. Throughout, the text is set homophonically, with well-shaped phrases and a graceful melodic line.

"There's something for everyone in this piece," Martosko says. "What makes it work so well is that it doesn't have a specific motive or demand a specific view of the campus."

The Glee Club women rehearsed the piece with director Louis Burkot before their spring tour to Florida in March, and premiered the work in Worcester, Massachusetts, the first stop on the trip. In its first performances, the song seemed to receive a favorable response from students and alumni.

Until recently, the womendidn't have their own song.