Right Here! is an expression of the struggle most of us face between the desire to “climb every mountain” and the commitment to home and our place in it. In fact, I was tempted to include a quote from Sound of Music (as a minority opinion, since I'm making the opposite point from that of the Mother Abbess!).
Our dream may in fact lie over the next mountaintop, but I'm convinced that part of fulfillment also lies in dedication to our place and home - perhaps my piece is a version of a prodigal son story. A searching for something “new” is part of life for most of us, but can also become disguised escape; this piece expresses the opposite, and celebrates intentional commitment to our situation. The text is my own.
Right Here! was commissioned by the Association of Male Choruses of Ontario, and written in Waterloo, Ontario over the spring and summer of 2009. It was premiered by the AMCO mass choir in Cambridge, Ontario, on 8 May 2010.
Right here, that's the place to be, right here!
Right here, that's the place for me, right here!
Don't let me hear you say
that the grass is greener
on the other side of the way,
'cause you know I've been there
and it's here, right here, that's the place to be, right here!
Right here, that's the place for me, right here!
You can walk ten thousand miles
sail the seas explore the isles
find the highest mount' to climb and feel sub-lime!
But some day you'll hear the voice,
that calls you with one clear choice to follow
along the road that leads back home
that leads right back to here!
-Leonard Enns (text & music)