Music for Life (an original song for SATB a cappella with optional audience participation) by Kirsten Duncan 4-Part - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1818075

Words and music by Kirsten Duncan. Contemporary choral SATB a cappella, with optional audience participation. Duration 3:15 mins. Score: A4, 12 pages (including covers). Published by Shrub Creative. Item number 2026-01. ISMN 9790902290005.

This uplifting original song celebrates the essential, life-affirming joy of singing with friends, paying tribute to composers, conductors and choirs for their roles in sharing choral music with their communities: “as long as we have music, our hearts onwards will go”!

I wrote this song for a 2026 concert to celebrate the 80th birthday of Helen Swan, Founder and Director of award-winning Canberra choir The Resonants, as a tribute to her many decades as a choir director, music teacher and professional singer who continues to share her love of vocal music with her community. Her dedication, passion and drive for excellence in choral music have gifted generations of singers with vocal techniques, knowledge of a wide variety of choral repertoire, and social connections that foster wellbeing. Thank you, Helen, from the bottom of my heart!

The lyrics “To sing together is sunshine that brightens the darkest night” were inspired by a quote from the heartwarming British movie ‘Bank of Dave’ (2023), which Helen shared with The Resonants in a rehearsal in late 2025.

Musically, this original song for unaccompanied mixed intermediate choirs is bright and harmonically quite straightforward in G major. The verses and interludes for SATB choir should be sung with plenty of expression and freedom for maximum choral beauty. They are interspersed with a chorus written for audience participation, with the Conductor and choir teaching four simple 4-bar parts to four audience groups on the go (divide the room into sections 1, 2, 3 & 4 before starting): a melody, a harmony, a rhythm section and a counter-melody. These parts are scored for SATB for simplicity, but can be sung at whatever octave individuals find most comfortable. Alternatively, the choruses could simply be sung by the choir, building the four parts in quick sequence (i.e. skip each “audience group join in” repetition) on the first occurrence [B].

Share your choir’s love of singing with your audience at a celebratory family concert – the sense of achievement and connection from singing ‘Music for Life’ together should leave everyone with “spirits aglow”!

Kirsten Duncan has had a lifelong passion for choral singing. Now based in Canberra, Australia, she has performed with Gaudeamus (Judith Clingan), Hamburg International School (ISH) Singers, the choirs of Christ Church St Laurence Sydney (Dr Neil McEwan), The Resonants (Helen Swan) and others. Kirsten started composing choral music in 2015, contributing to the musical community that has been a stabilising thread throughout her life.

Visit shrubcreative.com.au to notify about performances of this music, and find more choral works and information.

Copyright © 2025 KIRSTEN DUNCAN. All rights reserved.