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Choral Review
Choral Review

Rollo Dilworth’s Weather

By Sarah Campbell

Music has a powerful influence over how we think, can American musical styles including spirituals, jazz,
feel, and express ourselves. We can be influenced by the blues, and gospel. The poem “was written in reflection
movement of melodies, richness of harmonies, pow- of the tragic and unnecessary death of George Floyd in
er of lyrics, and styles that transport us to a different May of 2020, influenced by racism and social injustice
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world, connecting us with people and stories outside that remains in the United States today.” Rankine’s
our own lived experiences. words are striking and paint a clear picture of the Afri-
Culturally relevant music in education aims to “af- can American experience during the pandemic:
firm diverse cultural characteristics, perspectives, and
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experiences and use them to form bridges” among Weather
performers and the audience. This type of music often
brings styles from outside perspectives into a different On a scrap of paper in the archive is written
setting, exposing its audience to a new point of view I have forgotten my umbrella. Turns out
on both the music and context from which that style in a pandemic everyone, not just the philosopher,
can be found. Composers such as Omar Thomas, Mi- is without. We scramble in the drought of informa-
chele Fernandez, and Mark Camphouse have pushed tion
this idea even further by using their music as a way to held back by inside traders. Drop by drop. Face
highlight important social conversations. Topics such covering? No, yes. Social distancing? Six feet
as the Civil Rights Movement, child neglect, and social under for underlying conditions. Black.
injustice have all been subjects of recent culturally rel- Just us and the blues kneeling on a neck
evant pieces, and Rollo Dilworth’s Weather, composed with the full weight of a man in blue.
in 2021, is a powerful addition to this classification of Eight minutes and forty-six seconds.
music. In extremis, I can’t breathe gives way
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Weather is a setting of New York University profes- to asphyxiation, to giving up this world,
sor Claudia Rankine’s poem of the same title to var- and then mama, called to, a call
ious musical settings that all reflect traditionally Afri- to protest, fire, glass, say their names, say

CHORAL JOURNAL October 2025 Volume 66 Number 3 69