Speak Up with Say Her Name by Alysia Lee

Say Her Name by Alysia Lee is a beautiful piece with an impactful and poignant message. Available for mixed and treble choirs, this arrangement is accessible for developing through advanced ensembles. Additionally, it opens the doors to conversations about equity, social justice, intersectionality, and more.

In this weeks post featuring Say Her Name by Alysia Lee, I examine the following:

• The Life and Work of Composer Alysia Lee
• The #SayHerName Movement
• Drawing Cultural Connections with Say Her Name
• Say Her Name Teacher Resources

“They Cannot Be Forgotten By Us”

At the end of last school year, I asked my singers for suggestions of topics, styles, and/or pieces they might like to explore this year. One student spoke up, “Let’s do something with a message – something where we are speaking up about an issue.” Seeing a lot of head nodding, I became excited because I had been wanting to program Say Her Name by Alysia Lee ever since I heard the University of Michigan’s premier of the piece in 2020.

With composer Alysia Lee’s attention to expression and cultural connections, Say Her Name not only speaks up about an issue, but does it in a way that is reverent and impactful. Read on to learn more about the composer, the #sayhername movement, and the cultural connections represented in this piece.

Get to Know Composer Alysia Lee

Although her compositions are just emerging in the choral world, Alysia Lee has made quite the impact to music education. Through her teaching, community engagement, choral editing, and arts advocacy, Lee has received national recognition.

As founder and artistic director of the Sister Cities Girlchoir, Lee has helped to provide a safe space for singers to build resilience and connection in a world-class trend-setting choral training program. Working with Hal Leonard, Lee is the editor of their Exigence for Young Voices Series. This series amplifies Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian Composers for developing choir ensembles.

Additionally, Lee is a board member for Chorus America, advises ArtsEdSEL, is the president of the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund, and was recently a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow.

Alysia Lee’s compositions include:

• Say Her Name – Premiered in the fall of 2020, this original song was written as a call to action.
• This Is Our House – Premiered in the spring of 2021, this piece encourages performers to appreciate the joy of singing in community
• Reverie – A “dream-filled” new work premiered in the spring of 2022

The #SayHerName Movement

In December of 2014, the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) and the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies lunched the #SayHerName Campaign. The purpose of this campaign is to bring awareness to the names and stories of Black women and girls who have victimized by racist police violence. All too often, the names and stories of Black women and girls are excluded from mainstream narratives. 

Kimberlé Crenshaw is an American civil rights advocate who is the co-founder and executive director of the AAPF who helped to create the #SayHerName Campaign. Discussing the many Black women who have been killed in an NPR interview, Crenshaw said, “Say Her Name is trying to raise awareness by insisting that we say their names because if we can say their names we can know more about their stories.” Learn more about the genesis of the #SayHerName campaign here.

The names we say in the Say Her Name ceremony include the following:

• Sandra Bland
• Riah Milton
• Breonna Taylor
• Michelle Cusseaux
• Rekia Boyd
• Latasha Walton

In a recent interview, Alysia Lee shared that she envisions every choir who learns this piece should learn the stories behind the names they are speaking. The links above can help begin that work. Additionally, the Green Library created a “Say Their Names” Exhibit supporting the Black Lives Matter movement that includes the stories and names of 65 individuals lost to police brutality. I encourage you to say their names, read their stories, and amplify their voices.

Cultural Connections

Composer Alysia Lee has explicitly shared so many cultural influences for those who are singing Say Her Name – detailing them in her Notes from the Composer and in an interview with Bridget Woodbury from Creative Generation, linked here. Some of these cultural connections include:

Kwanzaa Connections – Kwanzaa is a celebration of African-American culture that celebrates family, community, and culture. The composer shared that her family gathers on December 26, the first day of Kwanzaa, annually for a ceremony, reunion, and feast. More on this below.

Libation Ceremonies – In many cultures, it is common to pour out liquids in memory of deceased loved ones who have gone before. This tradition comes from ancient times, and the calling of the names in Say Her Name is rooted in this tradition.

Call and Response – An idiomatic element of Black music in which one voice makes a musical statement and another voice answers. We hear call and response in the solo call to the small group and finally large group response of the melody at the beginning of Say Her Name.

Ascending 4th Wail – Right at the beginning, the ascending slide on the second “name” is meant to evoke the wailing sound that the composer has heard at Black funerals many times

Downward Slide – Evoking a “West African guttural sound“ (Lee, Creative Generation).

Vocal Percussion – Lee shares that the “whoo” and “hah” vocables reinforce the idea of a chain gang, and the “synchronicity that develops from people when united in a struggle” (Notes from the Composer).

To read more about the genesis of Say Her Name and additional cultural connections, check out the Creative Generation interview here.

Complementary Pieces

Want to listen to other pieces like Say Her Name? Or planning a concert and need some programming ideas? Here are a few complementary pieces!

Here are some Songs about Women by Women:

• What Happens When A Woman by Alexandra Osavsky
• Lineage by Andrea Ramsey
• Quilt Songs: Women Weaving the Fabric of Life: A larger work with pieces by Alice Parker, Libby Larsen, Gabriela Lena Frank, Ysaye Barnwell, and Carol Barnett

Other repertoire I’ve programmed with Say Her Name this concert cycle:

• On My Journey Now arranged by Brandon Waddles
• My Heart Be Brave by Marques L. A. Garrett
• Algo Me Dicen Tus Ojos by Rosephanye Powell (Post Coming this Spring!)
• Here’s the whole “How Sweet the Sounds” Repertoire Roundup

I’d Love to Hear from You!

Have you sung or conducted Say Her Name with your choir? What names and stories did you share and say as you learned and performed this piece? How did you address the cultural connections and connections to the #sayhername movement? Let me know in the comments below!

Say Her Name Teacher Resources!

FREE Say Her Name Reading Comprehension Worksheet

Reading Comprehension Worksheets pull key points from the blog post above. Additionally, they ask singers to consider musical decisions they can make with the info from this post. Fill in the form below and get a link to a folder including the Say Her Name worksheet and all 2023 Jan/Feb pieces.

Say Her Name by Alysia Lee Teaching Guide

Check out the Inspired Choir Shop for the Say Her Name Teaching Guide, which includes the following:

• Learning objectives specific to Say Her Name
• Key Vocabulary and Definitions
• Discussion Prompts
• Three Learning Activities
• Suggested Teaching Sequence
• Additional Teaching Resources

Looking for a Say Her Name Lesson Plan Bundle? Send a request to hello@inspiredchoir.com!