“Common Dust” is the second of five songs from the cycle “When I Rise Up.” The musical setting reflects evocative imagery of the text, questioning as it pertains to equality amongst humanity, “And who can separate the dust?” After a dramatic pause, the original theme returns changed in subtle ways to reflect the changes in textual meaning. This text is perhaps the most poignant of the entire cycle.

“When I Rise Up” is a cycle of five songs for medium voice and piano composed between January and March of 2020 while living in Leipzig, Germany just before the start of the COVID pandemic. I began the project earlier in 2019, but when I arrived in Leipzig in January of 2020 to begin my study-abroad program, I took the opportunity to select and set the four other texts of this cycle.

Writer and poet Georgia Douglas Johnson lived in Atlanta in the early 1900’s, and was one of the first female African American playwrights in the U.S, playing an important role in the Harlem Renaissance movement in the early 20th century. Her writings center around a foundational theme of dreams and the persistence in pursuit of them. She wrote of her struggles against inherent racism, sexism, and classism that she regularly faced, but also a hope for a better world. You can hear these sentiments reflected in the music through widely-spaced harmonies, expressive melodies, and subtle shifts in tonality. The music was meant to reflect not only the form and spirit of the poetry, but also my own experiences of experiencing a brand new culture amidst a rising uncertainty of the future.