Weather: Stand the Storm

Historically, the arts have always fulfilled the dual roles of responding to change while at the same time creating change. “Weather” is a poem that gives voice to the voiceless, especially those who have been and continue to be marginalized because of difference. It responds to and reflects realities that are both culturally specific and humanly universal.

Professor Claudia Rankine challenges all of us (no matter your background or lived experience) to know better, to do better, to take action, and to become agents of social justice and social change. This work for choir, narrator, piano with optional Wind Symphony or Chamber ensemble, is to be a learning and growing experience for the singers, the audience, and the conductor teacher in all ways emotional and intellectual.

There is a companion resource for “Weather” that is intended for students, educators, conductors, and audiences to learn more about the social, political, and historical context of this work. This guide offers an opportunity for everyone to deply engage with “Weather” and understand its critically important social and historical context.

The guide, created by Dr. Colleen Sears, Professor of Music at The College of New Jersey, encourages us to honor the intent of Claudia Rankine's poetry and Rollo Dilworth's music; to become better citizens in our communities and to bridge divides through our shared humanity.