Duration: 9-10 minutes
Difficulty: Intermediate-Advanced
Instrumentation: 5.0 octave marimba
 
Program Note:
Inspired by the last words spoken by abolitionist Harriet Tubman, “I go to prepare a place for you” was created while imagining and remembering the world of Harriet Tubman — the ground she traveled, the battles she fought, and the perseverance and spiritual fortitude she embodied and inspired within others.
 
Out of the spacious beginning of the piece emerges a programmatic narrative communicated through contrast between the low and high registers of the marimba, signifyin[g] the British-American slave society/economy and the self-emancipation of enslaved Africans, respectively. From this contrast, a story of persistence, collective action, faith, escape and expedition, confrontation, and legacy is told. Bright and dreamy textures represent Tubman’s visions in which she convened with the divine; a long and winding melody played over an ominous bass line represents the dangerous escape routes that Tubman and her passengers traveled from south to north; a quotation of the traditional African American spiritual “Deep River” recalls what it was like to dream about a home over Jordan, a metaphor for crossing over into freedom. The end of the piece represents the last breaths taken by Harriet Tubman and the weight of responsibility we inherit as freedom fighters.