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Studies in Hope: Frederick Douglass (Mixed Ensemble)
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Studies in Hope: Frederick Douglass Program Notes
Studies in Hope: Frederick Douglass, by Andre Myers
Scored for Flute, Oboe, B-flat Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Bassoon, F Horn, B-flat Trumpet, Trombone, Drum Kit,
Two Sopranos, High School Choir, Hip-Hop MCs, Piano, Two Violins, Viola, ‘Cello, and Double Bass/Electric Bass Commissioned by the Dogs of Desire, David Alan Miller, conductor
Duration: about 20 minutes
I. Good Fred
II. Lamp Post
III. Permission to Rise
IV. He Sang for Me
Program Note:
The first movement of Studies in Hope: Frederick Douglass introduces the premise of the composition: that the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, whose instagram handle I imagined to be “Good Fred,” was the most adroit social media influencer of his time, utilizing print media, photography, autobiography, religious exhortation & public oratory, voluminous written correspondence, and coalition building to further his political agenda and moral imagination. The second movement features a quartet of young MCs who outline a narrative of his life. His struggle was a fundamentally American one, and it is important we draw courage from it in our time. The third movement features the Dogs of Desire, and reflects on how Douglass recognized the rights and liberties of women and African Americans were deeply connected. “Permission to Rise” asserts that intersectional thinking about the struggles of blacks, women, and LGBTQ+ persons is as important today as it was during Douglass’s days of coalition building with the women’s suffrage movement during Reconstruction. The fourth and final movement features the Albany High School choir, and asserts that the legacy of Frederick Douglass is for everyone. As our world gets more connected, and the challenges of our time grow increasingly intense, Frederick Douglass’s call to community action is as prescient as ever.
I moved to Rochester New York when I was 18, and taught myself very little about Douglass’s life, work, or local significance during my six years living downtown. I do not remember once visiting his grave, or reading any of his works. Perhaps if I had, I would have felt less afraid being on my own. I composed the words and music to Studies in Hope: Frederick Douglass thinking about young people today who may not be familiar with his extraordinary life and legacy. I hope the piece illustrates how History is not static, but dynamic and fluid as water; how one life lived in a community can inspire, edify, and bring solace to a generation of folks who too often feel isolated from their past, and lonely in their present. I believe Frederick Douglass can be a friend to us all.
-April 2019, Redlands, California
Scored for Flute, Oboe, B-flat Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Bassoon, F Horn, B-flat Trumpet, Trombone, Drum Kit,
Two Sopranos, High School Choir, Hip-Hop MCs, Piano, Two Violins, Viola, ‘Cello, and Double Bass/Electric Bass Commissioned by the Dogs of Desire, David Alan Miller, conductor
Duration: about 20 minutes
I. Good Fred
II. Lamp Post
III. Permission to Rise
IV. He Sang for Me
Program Note:
The first movement of Studies in Hope: Frederick Douglass introduces the premise of the composition: that the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, whose instagram handle I imagined to be “Good Fred,” was the most adroit social media influencer of his time, utilizing print media, photography, autobiography, religious exhortation & public oratory, voluminous written correspondence, and coalition building to further his political agenda and moral imagination. The second movement features a quartet of young MCs who outline a narrative of his life. His struggle was a fundamentally American one, and it is important we draw courage from it in our time. The third movement features the Dogs of Desire, and reflects on how Douglass recognized the rights and liberties of women and African Americans were deeply connected. “Permission to Rise” asserts that intersectional thinking about the struggles of blacks, women, and LGBTQ+ persons is as important today as it was during Douglass’s days of coalition building with the women’s suffrage movement during Reconstruction. The fourth and final movement features the Albany High School choir, and asserts that the legacy of Frederick Douglass is for everyone. As our world gets more connected, and the challenges of our time grow increasingly intense, Frederick Douglass’s call to community action is as prescient as ever.
I moved to Rochester New York when I was 18, and taught myself very little about Douglass’s life, work, or local significance during my six years living downtown. I do not remember once visiting his grave, or reading any of his works. Perhaps if I had, I would have felt less afraid being on my own. I composed the words and music to Studies in Hope: Frederick Douglass thinking about young people today who may not be familiar with his extraordinary life and legacy. I hope the piece illustrates how History is not static, but dynamic and fluid as water; how one life lived in a community can inspire, edify, and bring solace to a generation of folks who too often feel isolated from their past, and lonely in their present. I believe Frederick Douglass can be a friend to us all.
-April 2019, Redlands, California
Lyrics:
Studies in Hope I: Good Fred
[Rappers:]
“No race on earth have greater incentives to exertion then we. Not only our equality as a race is denied, but we are even denied our rank as people; we are enslaved, oppressed, and even those most favorably disposed towards us, are so from motives more of pity than respect. For the first time since the dawn of history, is there a chance afforded us to prove our equal personhood. What noble work is here before us then, to redeem an entire race from the obloquy and scorn of the world, and place it up on the same level as the rest of humankind.“ – Frederick Douglass, 1856
Coming from slavery (yeh)
rising to freedom (yeh)
born into hatred, told to be lesser he would defeat him (yeh)
Sold into evil (yeh)
corruption and heartbreak (yeh)
he moved in the wind, muscle and skin writing and reading (yeh)
So you cannot talk (nah)
say I am inferior (nah)
poverty’s lies (nah)
man I don’t need ‘em (yeh)
Instead I’m inspired by
American Africans (yeh)
finding a voice when Frederick Douglass wrote and reflected (yeh)
[Singers:]
He held his head up high
He spelled his name with Freedom
[Chorus:]
Good Fred is a friend of mine he’s a very good friend of mine
Unsmiling in photographs
he’s a very good friend of mine
He lived in America too
for abolition, and a freer mind
He spoke on behalf of me
he’s a very wonderful friend of mine
Studies in Hope II: Lamp Post
[Rappers:]
Shining light like a lamp post
Bearing witness to his past
Living his life to the fullest
Strong voice like a cyclone
Oratory like a flame
Singing fire into pain
Telling truths of the innocent
Frederick Douglass was his name
Born in American slave
Lived in American saved
Fighting for women to vote
Slavery’s death and American change
Spoke of American nightmares
Embodied a trafficker’s worst fears
They tried to brand him his property
But he was a man
[Chorus:]
I am strong in my mind
And I’m here to flourish
And learn to be wise
Determined to stay alive
[Rappers:]
Crossed into Philly via steamboat
On the underground railroad like a holy ghost
Douglass set himself free
With the help of Anna Murray went to NYC
Asked black men to fight
For Civil War and human rights
Never backed down to a hater
Beholden only to his maker
“North Star” was his paper
Writing truths to relate to
Making America greater by
working with others in open debate
He helped American state
By crushing American hate
Now in our current predicament
Let’s not make America wait
[Chorus:]
I am strong in my mind
And I’m here to flourish
And learn to be wise
I am strong in my heart
So don’t be dissuaded
Find courage to try, and courage to thrive
[Rappers:]
Said aloud “you don’t own me”
Stood tall in the world he
Traveled extensively speaking
For Africans held in captivity
Held his own against bigotry
Bought a home down in DC
Was General Counsel to Haiti
How many lives did this man lead?
Spoke up for school integration
Knew there was value in good education
He powered a movement to live
Gave everything he had to give
An abolitionist and a preacher
A scholar orator and a teacher
An enslaved man said himself free
So tell me now what do you want to be?
Studies in Hope III: Permission to Rise
[Sopranos:]
I don’t need your permission to rise
I don’t need your permission to rise
I don’t need your permission to show
I don’t need your permission to glow
I don’t need your permission to rise, rise, to rise, rise, rise,
I don’t need your permission to rise
You will not hold a gun to my head
And tell me I am dead to the world
My heart it beats as strong as a drum
For every woman and every girl
The day you try to tell me I’m dead
Is when I reach a hand to your throat
My will belongs to me and it comes
In time to fight for women to vote
In time to fight for women to vote
In time to fight for women to vote, vote, to vote, vote, vote
I don’t need your permission to rise
By day you try to hold me with laws
By night you try to hold me with paws
I will not let misogyny win
I am a human being with a cause
And silence is complicity’s friend
So say it loud and never give in
You fightin’ just for power and greed
It’s time you fight for women to live
It’s time you fight for women to live
It’s time you fight for women to live, live, to live, live, live
I don’t need your permission to rise
Your days of steppin’ on me are through
It’s time I hold you into account
I have a mind and with it I choose
To breathe into my soul and come out
I won’t consent to losin’ my mind
But strengthen with the passage of time
And find a way for women to heal
And grow a little closer to fine
By day we make a movement for change
Like Quakers up in Seneca Falls
By night embrace the haters within
Console them and we let the tears. . . fall
For I am woman they’re all in me
In every other woman I see
A fire and a vision for dreams
It’s time we fight for women to lead
It’s time we fight for women to lead
It’s time we fight for women to lead, lead, to lead, lead, lead
It’s time we fight for women to lead
I’m takin’ my permission to rise!
Studies in Hope IV: He Sang for Me
[Choir:]
He sang for freedom and softened sunlight
He sang for me
He sang for me
He rose from bondage
Forged loving friendships
He sang from shadow
He sang for me
He sang from Blackness
And held his head high
He fostered courage
And sang for me
[Rappers:]
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
[Choir:]
He spoke out for his people
And sang out from his soul
He worked to grant us freedom
That he would never know
He rose from bondage
Forged loving friendships
He sang from shadow
He sang for me.
[Rappers:]
“Contemplating my life as a whole, I have to say that, although it has at times been dark and stormy, and I have met with hardships from which other men have been exempted, yet my life has in many respects been remarkably full of sunshine and joy. Servitude, persecution, desertion, and depreciation have not robbed my life of happiness or made it a burden. I have been, and still am, especially fortunate, and may well indulge sentiments of warmest gratitude for the allotments of life that have fallen to me. While I cannot boast of having accomplished great things in the world, I cannot on the other hand feel that I have lived my life in vain.”
-Frederick Douglass, 1893
[Rappers:]
“No race on earth have greater incentives to exertion then we. Not only our equality as a race is denied, but we are even denied our rank as people; we are enslaved, oppressed, and even those most favorably disposed towards us, are so from motives more of pity than respect. For the first time since the dawn of history, is there a chance afforded us to prove our equal personhood. What noble work is here before us then, to redeem an entire race from the obloquy and scorn of the world, and place it up on the same level as the rest of humankind.“ – Frederick Douglass, 1856
Coming from slavery (yeh)
rising to freedom (yeh)
born into hatred, told to be lesser he would defeat him (yeh)
Sold into evil (yeh)
corruption and heartbreak (yeh)
he moved in the wind, muscle and skin writing and reading (yeh)
So you cannot talk (nah)
say I am inferior (nah)
poverty’s lies (nah)
man I don’t need ‘em (yeh)
Instead I’m inspired by
American Africans (yeh)
finding a voice when Frederick Douglass wrote and reflected (yeh)
[Singers:]
He held his head up high
He spelled his name with Freedom
[Chorus:]
Good Fred is a friend of mine he’s a very good friend of mine
Unsmiling in photographs
he’s a very good friend of mine
He lived in America too
for abolition, and a freer mind
He spoke on behalf of me
he’s a very wonderful friend of mine
Studies in Hope II: Lamp Post
[Rappers:]
Shining light like a lamp post
Bearing witness to his past
Living his life to the fullest
Strong voice like a cyclone
Oratory like a flame
Singing fire into pain
Telling truths of the innocent
Frederick Douglass was his name
Born in American slave
Lived in American saved
Fighting for women to vote
Slavery’s death and American change
Spoke of American nightmares
Embodied a trafficker’s worst fears
They tried to brand him his property
But he was a man
[Chorus:]
I am strong in my mind
And I’m here to flourish
And learn to be wise
Determined to stay alive
[Rappers:]
Crossed into Philly via steamboat
On the underground railroad like a holy ghost
Douglass set himself free
With the help of Anna Murray went to NYC
Asked black men to fight
For Civil War and human rights
Never backed down to a hater
Beholden only to his maker
“North Star” was his paper
Writing truths to relate to
Making America greater by
working with others in open debate
He helped American state
By crushing American hate
Now in our current predicament
Let’s not make America wait
[Chorus:]
I am strong in my mind
And I’m here to flourish
And learn to be wise
I am strong in my heart
So don’t be dissuaded
Find courage to try, and courage to thrive
[Rappers:]
Said aloud “you don’t own me”
Stood tall in the world he
Traveled extensively speaking
For Africans held in captivity
Held his own against bigotry
Bought a home down in DC
Was General Counsel to Haiti
How many lives did this man lead?
Spoke up for school integration
Knew there was value in good education
He powered a movement to live
Gave everything he had to give
An abolitionist and a preacher
A scholar orator and a teacher
An enslaved man said himself free
So tell me now what do you want to be?
Studies in Hope III: Permission to Rise
[Sopranos:]
I don’t need your permission to rise
I don’t need your permission to rise
I don’t need your permission to show
I don’t need your permission to glow
I don’t need your permission to rise, rise, to rise, rise, rise,
I don’t need your permission to rise
You will not hold a gun to my head
And tell me I am dead to the world
My heart it beats as strong as a drum
For every woman and every girl
The day you try to tell me I’m dead
Is when I reach a hand to your throat
My will belongs to me and it comes
In time to fight for women to vote
In time to fight for women to vote
In time to fight for women to vote, vote, to vote, vote, vote
I don’t need your permission to rise
By day you try to hold me with laws
By night you try to hold me with paws
I will not let misogyny win
I am a human being with a cause
And silence is complicity’s friend
So say it loud and never give in
You fightin’ just for power and greed
It’s time you fight for women to live
It’s time you fight for women to live
It’s time you fight for women to live, live, to live, live, live
I don’t need your permission to rise
Your days of steppin’ on me are through
It’s time I hold you into account
I have a mind and with it I choose
To breathe into my soul and come out
I won’t consent to losin’ my mind
But strengthen with the passage of time
And find a way for women to heal
And grow a little closer to fine
By day we make a movement for change
Like Quakers up in Seneca Falls
By night embrace the haters within
Console them and we let the tears. . . fall
For I am woman they’re all in me
In every other woman I see
A fire and a vision for dreams
It’s time we fight for women to lead
It’s time we fight for women to lead
It’s time we fight for women to lead, lead, to lead, lead, lead
It’s time we fight for women to lead
I’m takin’ my permission to rise!
Studies in Hope IV: He Sang for Me
[Choir:]
He sang for freedom and softened sunlight
He sang for me
He sang for me
He rose from bondage
Forged loving friendships
He sang from shadow
He sang for me
He sang from Blackness
And held his head high
He fostered courage
And sang for me
[Rappers:]
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
[Choir:]
He spoke out for his people
And sang out from his soul
He worked to grant us freedom
That he would never know
He rose from bondage
Forged loving friendships
He sang from shadow
He sang for me.
[Rappers:]
“Contemplating my life as a whole, I have to say that, although it has at times been dark and stormy, and I have met with hardships from which other men have been exempted, yet my life has in many respects been remarkably full of sunshine and joy. Servitude, persecution, desertion, and depreciation have not robbed my life of happiness or made it a burden. I have been, and still am, especially fortunate, and may well indulge sentiments of warmest gratitude for the allotments of life that have fallen to me. While I cannot boast of having accomplished great things in the world, I cannot on the other hand feel that I have lived my life in vain.”
-Frederick Douglass, 1893