I Hear America Singing for Mixed Chorus (SATB) and Snare Drum [optional]

I Hear America Singing uses as text a poem with the same title by Walt Whitman from his collection, Leaves of Grass. It was commissioned by the Philadelphia Boys Choir and Chorale and premiered by the group at the Philadelphia Music Academy on June 6, 1985. The work also was selected for a reading-performance at a festival by the Dale Warland Singers in Minneapolis.

The piece is in ABA form and uses sound effects derived from the children’s story, Tikki Tikki Tembo. The middle section contains echoes of the nursery rhyme Rock-a-bye Baby. Children’s material was deliberately employed for this piece because it was written for and dedicated to child performers.