The Future's Calling Us

As the lines between rock and pop music become more and more blurred, tunes like this one come into being more often. Heavily based on the use of synthesizers, it also derives its pulse from a good old-fashioned rock rhythm section. To sweeten it up, an alto sax alternates between the melody and a wailing solo line throughout the tune. And, oh yeah. There's a string orchestra in there, too. They have some pretty cool parts that you can hear better if you listen to the instrumental accompaniment version on the Performance/Accompaniment recording. (Special thanks to Jim Farrelly for his outstanding sax playing.)

The subject of this piece is, as the style marking implies, forward thinking. So it's a good tune to use for graduations, moving up ceremonies, and similar functions. It's also a nice option for general end of the school year use, especially as it talks about accomplishments. Always a good thing to celebrate.

The melody lays pretty low for the most part, so we encourage you to let your singers use their chest voices as they can. This is particularly easy to do at the chorus (measure 17) where it also becomes fortissimo. At measure 13 where it stays a bit higher, we have the melody split into octaves so that lower voices can fully participate. Plus, it just sounds good. Add the style markings we've indicated – scoops and slides – to make it feel confident and casual.

At bar 31 when the chorus repeats once more, there is an optional part 2 that joins in. This is just the same line as everyone sang back at the beginning, so there's nothing new to learn.