PROGRAM NOTES:  

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In My Father's Eyes

Composed for The Alabama Winds, Randall O. Coleman, Conductor

Dedicated to the 1963 bombing victims of the

16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama

 

Four little girls who lost their lives in the 1963 Sixteenth Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.  23 other people were also injured in the blast. The bombing was an act of racial terrorism. The church was also a gathering place for Martin Luther King, Ralph David Abernathy and Fred Shutterworth, leaders of the equality movement.

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We remember and honor all of you. We have made strides but not enough. We will praise your lives with instrument and voice. We shall cry again, tears for you, for your family and for the senseless violence that silenced your voices. You were perfect. You were loved. You are missed. Hallelujah.

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I dont mind saying it is hard for me to listen to this work. I said their names, I cried for them, wept for them as I composed.

I channeled as much sorrow and beauty as I could into every note and phrase. I left nothing on the table. Even so, it is not enough, will never be enough.

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Four little girls lost their lives in unimaginable violence.

We can only pray that our efforts are found worthy by the surviving family members, that we are found enlightened by their sacrifice, that we can come together as brothers and sisters

in a mutual gift of healing through music.