The Advent Star   duration: 5’ 30’’

This piece began as a tiny one line tune and words, created by a pupil, for a Christmas project (a musical advent calendar) that all my pupils and myself were joining in together. This particular pupil had chosen the part of the Christmas story where the shepherds go to seek the infant Jesus. I decided to turn the fragment into a choral piece, to demonstrate what could be done with a tiny tune.

The line of lyrics written with the tune, “A star from a-far tells the shepherds where You are” refers to the shepherds following the star. While this may not be biblically correct, I decided to use the concept, likening us to the shepherds, being guided to Jesus’ crib-side and so extended the lyrics, asking the star to lead us to Jesus: “Star from afar, lead us to His crib, to kneel in prayer”. At bars 40-42, a significant point in the score, there is a reference that the star lead us to the point of His cross. Around bar 50, there is a climax: “star, lead us to the Christ Child, lead us through the night”, which also refers to “our times of night, when we suffer difficulty”. The piece ends gently, emphatically and prayerfully: “we with the shepherds will follow Your star.”

Permission to print as many copies as required by your choir.

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