Beat! Drums!
Beat! Drums!
Kyle Pederson (2023)
Movement II of A Vision Unfolding
SATB, Music by Kyle Pederson
Text by Walt Whitman
Instrumentation: piano, with optional snare drum and trumpet
Text:
Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!
Through the windows—through doors—burst like a ruthless force,
Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation,
Into the school where the scholar is studying,
Leave not the bridegroom quiet—no happiness must he have now with his bride,
Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field or gathering his grain,
So fierce you whirr and pound you drums—so shrill you bugles blow.
Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!
Over the traffic of cities—over the rumble of wheels in the streets;
Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? no sleepers must sleep in those beds,
No bargainers’ bargains by day—no brokers or speculators—would they continue?
Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing?
Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case before the judge
Then rattle quicker, heavier drums—you bugles wilder blow.
Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!
Make no parley—stop for no expostulation,
Mind not the timid—mind not the weeper or prayer,
Mind not the old man beseeching the young man,
Let not the child’s voice be heard, nor the mother’s entreaties,
Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses,
So strong you thump O terrible drums—so loud you bugles blow.
Commissioned by:
Sponsoring Members
Festival Singers of Florida, directed by Dr. Kevin Fenton
Tennessee Tech University, directed by Dr. Craig Zamer
University of Dayton, directed by Dr. Steven Hankle
Participating Members
VocalEssence, directed by Philip Brunelle and G. Phillip Shoultz, III
University of Mississippi, directed by Dr. Donald Trott
Northwest Missouri State University, directed by Dr. Adam Zrust
Florida State University, directed by Dr. Kevin Fenton
PROGRAM NOTE:
This iconic Walt Whitman poem was written during the Civil War. It’s an in-your-face text, exploring how ordinary daily life is impossible during war; everything is disrupted. Whitman is also rallying the listener—at the time his Union countrymen—to join the righteous fight to end slavery, and to preserve the union that was the United States. Musically, the beat of the drum, the blow of the bugle, along with meter and rhythm changes, highlight the incessancy of the Whitman text.
Optional Spoken Word:
This piece is the second movement in A Vision Unfolding, and is preceded by a spoken word prologue. In the spoken word that precedes this movement, the narrator sets this poem up beautifully by challenging us to rally around the cause of justice...to make our quest today for justice central to our lives...inviting us to think of this text not as a battle cry to fight against one another with weapons, but to fight for each other, giving all we have to make this vision of wholeness in community a reality