https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=g-c4-IEAmuY
Frank Tichelis Earth Song possesses a haunting sound that lodges
itself in your mind and continues to recur for hours after first listening
to it. The texture of the piece firmly sets it apart and makes it
continually interesting to listen to. Written for SATB choir, Earth Song is
frequently performed by advanced secondary school groups.
The lyrics start off describing the often painful nature of living a normal
life. The beginning of the song has a darker, more haunting sound that
directly matches the ideas of the scorched earth [crying] out in vain
and the torn heart [crying] out in pain. The sound and timbre are
generally somber throughout the piece. Even when the lighter ideas
come to the surface, there remains a level of darkness in the timbre.
The sound changes slightly when the more lighthearted lyrics come in,
especially in terms of texture.
The song has a fairly uniform texture for most of its duration. At the
very beginning, all four voices are syllabically in unison, which
establishes a sense of stillness. Since all four voices move together,
the texture seems somewhat thinner than in later sections. As the
lyrics about the pain that comes with life begin, the sopranos have
either extra syllables or faster rhythms that create more contrast
between all of the voices. The bass, alto and tenor parts remain very
similar to how they are at the beginning. When the song arrives at the
lyrics relating how music has been the comfort in contrast to the pain
involved with living, the bass drops out. The upper voices have a
soaring quality to them and the removal of the bass makes a
representational statement of the pain being the core of life and music
being what uplifts the living. The basses are slowly reintroduced, but
are highlighted at the lyrics a light of song, shining strong, Hallelujah.
The strong reintroduction of the basses at that particular time suggests
that music can also serve as a base or core for life.
The rhythm stays fairly uniform throughout and is used sparingly to
reinforce the ideas of internal turmoil that people feel. Rarely does the
rhythm introduce or speed an idea; rather, it usually interferes. The
moments of clarity in the piece all feature rhythmic unison in all of the
voices. If the rhythm is different in any voice during those moments of
clarity, that voice is often the only one present. With the through
darkness and pain and strife lyrics, the sopranos create a sense of
faster motion that quickly ends with the resolution of the struggle.
The song means to portray a dichotomy between light and dark, at its
most basic level. However, the light vs. dark lyrics do not mirror each
other neither melodically nor rhythmically. By the end of the piece, the

light has mostly banished the dark with only tinges of the darker
timbre present in the two final chords. The structure basically
reinforces the idea that the light that music brings to our lives can
supplant the inherent darkness that life brings.
The articulation remains legato throughout the piece. Largely, this
piece has a subdued quality that reflects the nature of the struggle. No
part of the song is meant to be a wild and strong declaration, just an
important but personal realization. The general ease of the song lends
itself to the idea that the entire struggle happens within us. There is no
real external push from any source; it all just works itself out inside of
our daily lives and thoughts.