The Sobbing of the Bells for SATB and piano was written in 2004. The piano in this work acts as a delicate and steady bell wash underneath the choir texture. A grade 4-5 composition, this work utilizes glissando, vowel colors, and other techniques to showcase the choir. Text from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (1819-1892) The sobbing of the bells, the sudden death-news everywhere, The slumberers rouse, the rapport of the People, (Full well they know that message in the darkness, Full well return, respond with their breasts, their brains, the sad reverberations,) The passionate toll and clang--city to city, joining, sounding, passing, Those heart-beats of a Nation in the night.