A Pirate's Life SATB

Voicing: SATB a cappella

Item: 2025.06

ISMN: 9790900969972

Duration: 3:20 min

PDF file: 16 pages to print at size A4, includes front cover, information about the work and composer, music pages, back cover

Composer’s note

This choral work by Kirsten Duncan is an original rollicking sea shanty for intermediate unaccompanied mixed choirs, about a pirate’s life at sea.

This rollicking sea shanty paints a grim picture of a sailor’s life aboard a clichéd 18th-century pirate ship, from hammocks and rum to scurvy and walking the plank. But, despite all the hardships, a life at sea has its attractions.

The words for this song floated through the window to me in a “big magic” moment* whilst waiting for my laptop to reboot, probably a result of recently watching ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘Outlander’, although the more wistful second half of the song is inspired by my own years at sea in the Royal Australian Navy – the magical moment when the sun rises golden above an endless horizon is both humbling and awe-inspiring. Far from this romanticised version, though, modern piracy is a serious threat faced by those who voyage on our oceans, and it is still the job of navies and coast guards to protect against it.

Musically, this original song for unaccompanied mixed intermediate choirs has all the hallmarks of traditional sea shanties, except that I have given women’s voices the lead in recognition of the typically unsung contribution of women at sea. In the first half, the soprano part often sits below the alto part, working with the tenors and bases to accompany the melody, then leads the more joyfull later verses, so conductors might like to mix up their women to draw out the character of the story. The more boisterous and expressive the storytelling – and interjections! – the more fun it will be for audiences at a family concert.

I dedicate this choral work to women at sea.

* ‘Big Magic: creative living beyond fear’, Elizabeth Gilbert, 2015, Riverhead Books