"The Shapes of Home" • Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir

"The Shapes of Home" by Dan Walker was commissioned by Dr. Janet M. Hostetter, artistic director for the Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir in celebration of the organization's 30th anniversary. SVCC warmly dedicates the composition and video to beloved volunteer Ethan Zook for his 26 years of extraordinary service. Lyrics: I hear the shapes of home, I feel as they dance around us, their rise and fall, moving us to melody, bonding us in harmony, making us whole. I hear whispers on trees, bird song fills the air above us, the colours of fall, stories of our history, woven in a tapestry, a patchwork of home. And on the valley floor the Shenandoah shimmers in the radiant sun, a golden thread unwinding binding us together here as one, each embroidered piece within our patchwork shares a common edge, shares a mem’ry, lives connected, intersected, sewn together. And on the valley floor the Shenandoah shimmers in the radiant sun, a golden thread unwinding binding us together here as one. I hear the shapes of home, I feel as they dance around us, their rise and fall, moving us to melody, bonding us in harmony, making us whole. Background of the work: In May 2021, Australian composer Dan Walker video chatted with SVCC choristers to solicit their ideas on the open-ended theme of “home.” Choristers talked about the beauty of the Shenandoah Valley! When the practice of quilting was mentioned as a heritage of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham area, Walker decided to merge the varied ideas about “home” into clever song lyrics that depict the loveliness of the Shenandoah Valley with metaphorical quilter’s terms. In the spring of 2022, members of SVCC’s Concert Choir collaborated with professional musicians and quilt artist Nancy Hershberger to make this music video featuring the beauty of the Shenandoah Valley.