Description

Voicing: SSA choir, violin, harp, piano

duration: 3 minutes

Level: 3

This piece is dedicated to a very special young woman who lost her life way too early: Heather Michelle Menzie. She was a violinist, and the violin part in this song represents her. My favorite musical moment in the entire song is at the very end, in the last four measures, when the tonality shifts to an F major chord, a chord that has not yet been heard in the piece. The violin floats up and away at this moment, signaling her ascent, and the piece ends with a beautiful flourish from the harp and piano.  ~ Jocelyn Hagen

Program Note

“I Count It All Joy” celebrates the wonder and happiness in life, even through times of struggle. This piece is dedicated to a very special young woman who lost her life way too early:Heather Michelle Menzie. She was a violinist, and the violin part in this song represents her. My favorite musical moment in the entire song is at the very end, in the last four measures, when the tonality shifts to an F major chord, a chord that has not yet been heard in the piece. The violin floats up and away at this moment, signaling her ascent, and the piece ends with a beautiful flourish from the harp and piano. -Jocelyn Hagen (2019)

About the Commission

Clements High School Chorale Women have been selected to perform at theSouthwestern Division of the American Choral Directors Association (SWACDA) conference inMarch 2020 in Little Rock, Arkansas. The conference is the premier choral music educator conference in the Southwestern United States. The Clements HS Chorale Women, conducted byJanet Menzie and Ryan Bogner, is the first high school choir in Fort Bend ISD selected to perform for this prestigious convention. The Clements HS Choir’s remarkable success also includes the Clements HS Chorale’s invitation to perform at the 2020 Texas Music EducatorsAssociation Centennial conference this February.

In honor of this auspicious performance, Fort Bend ISD Department of Fine Arts has commissioned a work from nationally renowned composer Jocelyn Hagen. The work is entitledI Count It All Joy and is in memory of Heather Michelle Menzie, daughter of the ChoraleWomen’s conductor Janet Menzie. Heather Michelle Menzie (8/18/1991-5/13/2015) had two passions—the violin and research science. She was a second year doctoral student at theUniversity of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and her work continues to live on in the research being done and in the Heather Menzie Endowed Memorial Fund and the HeatherM. Menzie Endowed Excellence Fund for FRI.

The composition,I Count It All Joy, is scored for SSA Chorus, violin, harp, and piano.The text, the music and the texture of the instruments beautifully weave a song that celebrates the life and work of Heather Michelle Menzie. The text chosen is 1 James 2-4, NIV “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything,” selected for its emphasis on perseverance and joy amidst life’s trials.

I Count It All Joy will receive its Houston premiere on March 2nd, 2020, at Christ Church Sugar Land at 7 PM. The concert will also feature the Garcia MS Varsity Treble Choir, conducted by Kelsey Appleby. Garcia MS is the first FBISD Middle School Choir invited to perform for the SWACDA Conference as well. The SWACDA premiere of I Count It All Joy will be on Friday,March 6th at 3:45 PM at the Robinson Center in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Text

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

1 James 2-4, NIV