Unison - Key of C Archives - Donna & Andy https://donnaandandy.com/voicing/unison-key-of-c-songs-by-donna-rhodenizer/ Music by Donna Rhodenizer and Andy Duinker Wed, 04 Feb 2026 20:38:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://donnaandandy.com/wp-content/uploads/cropped-Logo-Red-Castle-Publishing-Music-by-Donna-Andy.png Unison - Key of C Archives - Donna & Andy https://donnaandandy.com/voicing/unison-key-of-c-songs-by-donna-rhodenizer/ 32 32 The Love of the Sea https://donnaandandy.com/product/the-love-of-the-sea-song-by-donna-rhodenizer/ https://donnaandandy.com/product/the-love-of-the-sea-song-by-donna-rhodenizer/#comments Sun, 07 Jan 2024 20:39:35 +0000 https://donnaandandy.com/?post_type=product&p=517608 The roll of waves and tangy salt sea air are a strong force and influence on those who grow up / live near the ocean. The ever-changing interaction with the elements creates many moods and colours. Above all, the ocean is a masterful and unchanging force that calls us back if we stray too far from her.

The Love of the Sea is a fine example of Donna Rhodenizer’s ability to craft elegant poetry supported with rich and melodic harmonies. This art song is a favourite of the choirs and soloists who sing it. An optional violin/flute descant adds an additional harmonic layer to the celtic feel of the song.

The Love of the Sea is available for vocal solo/unison choir, and for multiple voices (see videos below) in SSA and SATB choir arrangements (TTBB pending).

Listen to Donna & Andy performance:

Listen to melody + accompaniment:

Download includes:

  • Vocal score
  • Director/piano score
  • Lyrics
  • Accompaniment – piano
  • Donna & Andy - performance track

The post The Love of the Sea appeared first on Donna & Andy.

]]>
0 shares
Share this page with your Teacher Friends 0
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin 0
Share 0
Post 0
Post 0

The Love of the Sea

by Donna Rhodenizer

SATB - Key Of E♭

Context             Choir: high school, adult/community

Level                 High school, adult

Audio Sample   See video below

SSA - Key Of E♭

Context             Choir: high school, adult/community

Level                 High school, adult

Audio Sample   See video below

Unison - Key Of E♭

Context             Choir: high school, adult/community

Level                 High school, adult

Unison - Key of C

Context             Choir: high school, adult/community

Level                 High school, adult

Composer Notes

The Love of the Sea

I am often asked which comes first, the music or the lyrics? When I write, I often sit at the piano where I play various chord progressions or try out a melody line. Once I get the beginning idea, thinking of words and the music together, helps shape and direct the process. Sometimes a phrase or an interesting word combination strikes my fancy and I create the melody to fit that. The process is quite organic and really goes back and forth quite a lot as the writing progresses. 

The Love of the Sea started out as a melodic phrase. I was in my elementary music classroom waiting for my next class to arrive. Small intervals of time between classes do not happen often and I went to the piano to play something while I waited. I picked out a melody that lasted for only two bars. I liked the interval jump, I liked the 3/4 feel and I decided it was worth writing down to mull over later. I rolled the phrase around in my mind a few times and thought, “the love of the sea” fit nicely with both the melody and the timing. Then my class arrived. I scurried to my desk to write down those five notes and the corresponding five words so that I could remember them to work on them later. (A word to the wise, you may think you will remember these bits of inspiration, but more often than not, they get lost in the rest of the day. My advice is, write it down, even if you end up throwing it out!)

When I finally had time to work on my initial inspiration, the melody and the words were sculpted and crafted back and forth as I filled out the melody and form of the song. I spent a long time wrestling with what I wanted to say about the ocean. As a Nova Scotian, the sea is a very big part of the culture, the landscape and the very air we breathe in our Maritime location. (I lived for a year in Manitoba and I desperately missed the salt air and the ocean that I felt was “in my blood” and my very soul.) The form of the song turned out to have a double verse, a chorus, another double verse and two final choruses. Strangely enough, the lyrics do not rhyme in the verses. The lilt of the 3/4 time carried the lyrics without confining them to a rhyme scheme, although I must admit, I didn’t really make a conscious decision NOT to rhyme the words. In fact, I didn’t really notice that they didn’t rhyme until well after the process was underway. In any case, The Love of the Sea eventually came to its final form and started on its journey into the world.

Someone once told me they loved how the words just fell into place, like they were meant to be that way. I have a fairly thick file of rejected lyrics to prove that the lyrics had many versions and revisions before arriving at their final form. I guess that is part of the writing process.

The Love of the Sea has been around since 1996 and it is still being sung by choirs and soloists around the world. It has been recorded multiple times, it has been sung by singers of all ages. This song has been sung in many locations and for a wide variety of reasons. My singing partner, Andy Duinker was on an airplane heading to Newfoundland and struck up a conversation with the person next to him. He asked her:

Where are you heading?   Home for my Dad’s funeral.

What kind of music will you have at the service?   We are singing one of my Dad’s favourite songs, "The Love of the Sea".

How does that go?   She hummed a few bars.

That song was written by my singing partner, Donna Rhodenizer – what a small world! 

We may not be able to explain inspiration, but composers talk about “receiving” a song. I remain grateful that The Love of the Sea was entrusted to me. Thankfully, I had a moment of silence in my usually busy music classroom to receive the opening notes, the time to write it down and the inclination to work at crafting the rest of the song. It has been almost thirty years since I wrote it and it is still being sung around the world. That is music to my composer’s heart!

Stream or purchase audio track

Stream or Purchase The Love of the Sea from many streaming sites including:

Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon, Pandora, Deezer.

Andy's Fine Company  CD (on which you will find The Love of the Sea) is available for download or physical CD on this website.

You are invited

You are invited to send us your performance of Call of the Ocean. Maybe your video will be featured here on this page.

Please drop by again and leave a Review on this page. Thanks!

The Love of the Sea - SATB

Performed by:

Ann Arbor Singers from the University of Michigan

&

Thomas Burton - Conductor

The Love of the Sea - SSA

Performed by:

Northern Arts Academy Choir

The Love of the Sea - SSA

Performed by:

The Fredericton Ladies Choir

Send us your video of The Love of the Sea and perhaps we can post it here.

Girl returns to Store - by Donna & Andy.com

The post The Love of the Sea appeared first on Donna & Andy.

]]> https://donnaandandy.com/product/the-love-of-the-sea-song-by-donna-rhodenizer/feed/ 2 Call of the Ocean https://donnaandandy.com/product/call-of-the-ocean-by-donna-rhodenizer/ https://donnaandandy.com/product/call-of-the-ocean-by-donna-rhodenizer/#respond Mon, 05 Dec 2022 01:04:28 +0000 https://donnaandandy.com/?post_type=product&p=514405 Anyone who has grown up near the ocean will identify with the sentiment of “Call of the Ocean.” Nova Scotia is a small province on the east coast of Canada. It is a peninsula, almost completely surrounded by the ocean. No community in the province is more than 60 kilometers (approx. 38 miles) from salt water. Many people who move away from the east coast find that it is the ocean that calls them to return. Although this song is a personal point of view from its Nova Scotian composer, it is a sentiment that is understood by all those who share the same “salt water” heritage.

Call of the Ocean is available for Vocal Solo / Unison choir, and for multiple voices in SSA and SATB choir arrangements.

Listen to The Annapolis Valley Honour Choir (SSA) performance:

Listen to accompaniment SAMPLE (key of Eb):

Listen to Donna & Andy performance (key of C):

Download includes:

  • Vocal score
  • Director/piano score
  • Lyrics
  • Accompaniment – piano
  • Bonus: Donna & Andy Performance track

The post Call of the Ocean appeared first on Donna & Andy.

]]>
0 shares
Share this page with your Teacher Friends 0
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin 0
Share 0
Post 0
Post 0

Share this page using these social links!

Call of the Ocean

by Donna Rhodenizer

Unison - Key Of E♭

Context       Choir: elementary, middle school, high school, adult/community, vocal solo

Level                Age 12 and up, middle school, high school, adult

Vocal Range     B♭4-E♭5 

Audio Sample   Performed by - Kings County Academy (KCA) Choir

SSA - Key Of E♭

Context             Choir: elementary, middle school, high school, adult/community

Level                 Age 12 and up, middle school, high school, adult

Audio Sample   Performed by Annapolis Valley Junior Honour Choir (AVJHC) & Coastal Sound

SATB - Key Of E♭

Context             Choir: high school, adult/community

Level                 High school, adult

Audio Sample   Performed by Annapolis Valley Honour Choir (AVHC)

Unison - Key of C

Context      Choir: elementary, middle school, high school, adult/community, vocal solo

Level                Age 12 and up, middle school, high school, adult

Vocal Range     G3-C5

Audio Sample   Performed by - Donna & Andy

Composer Notes

Call of the Ocean

Andy Duinker and I perform together as the singing duo, Donna & Andy. We have performed together since 1996 and have done thousands of concerts for young audiences. We also sing and play traditional, original, and easy listening music for adults in a variety of settings.

We had a gig playing in Chester, a beautiful village in Nova Scotia that borders on the Atlantic Ocean. We were playing in a gazebo overlooking the water where we could see sailboats moored at the yacht club, children playing on the beach, and a view of the basin opening to the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. We played for an hour or two, breathing the brisk salt air and enjoying the warmth of the sun. The sun was dipping its face into the ocean before disappearing below the horizon as we packed up and headed for home.

With all the sun and salt air, I was ready to drop into bed when I got home. However, sleep would not come. As I lay there reflecting on the day, phrases and word combinations started to form. I turned on the light, grabbed a pen and a piece of paper (I always try to have these things handy!) and I started to write. I wrote the words and melody at the same time. I jotted down the melody using solfege syllables and I wrote lyrics for two verses and a chorus. I returned my paper and pen to the nightstand, turned out the light, and finally drifted off to sleep.

In the morning I got up and went to the piano to try out the song that had “arrived” in the night. It still felt right and I spent some time inputting it into my music-writing program so it was in more usable form. I called Andy to let him know I had a new song for us to sing when he came to the next rehearsal at my house. I often discuss ideas for lyrics with Andy. We have joked that sometimes it seems like his main contribution to my lyrics is to take words out of the song. Regardless of taking words out or adding them in, it is a valuable asset to have someone with whom you can bounce ideas around.  Andy suggested that he would be happy to help me finish the song when we got together. I assured him the song didn’t need any deletions or additions and that it was fine as written. When he arrived and we sang through the song, there were not really any spots to “fix” or change and we left it pretty much as it was written.

Anyone who composes knows that songs can be a lot of hard work as one takes the initial inspiration and then crafts and molds the song using a variety of skills and techniques. It is not often that a song “arrives” intact and complete in one swift, writing session. These songs seem to write themselves and composers talk about being open to receive the song that is being delivered. This is one reason why it is always a good idea to have a pen and paper close by! Call of the Ocean is one of those songs. I consider it a gift. I’m glad I was willing to put off sleep, turn on the light and write down what “needed” to be written.

Donna & Andy - accordion and guitar at Upper Clements Park

Stream or purchase audio track

Stream or Purchase The Love of the Sea from many streaming sites including:

Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon, Pandora, Deezer.

Andy's Fine Company  CD (on which you will find Call of the Ocean) is available for download or physical CD on this website.

You Are Invited

You are invited to send us your performance of Call of the Ocean. Maybe your video will be featured here on this page.

Please drop by again and leave a Review on this page. Thanks!

Call of the Ocean - Unison, SSA, SATB arrangements - by Donna Rhodenizer

Call of the Ocean - SSA

Performed by:

Annapolis Valley Junior Honour Choir

&

Coastal Sound Children's Choir

Call of the Ocean

SSA & SATB combined

Performed by:

Annapolis Valley Junior and Senior Honour Choirs

&

Coastal Sound Children's Choir

Call of the Ocean 

Performed by:

Andy Duinker &  Donna Rhodenizer

Please send us your video of Call of the Ocean. Perhaps we can post it here.

Return to Store - by Richard Bennett

The post Call of the Ocean appeared first on Donna & Andy.

]]> https://donnaandandy.com/product/call-of-the-ocean-by-donna-rhodenizer/feed/ 0