LISA NEHER | MEZZO-SOPRANO | COMPOSER
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  • I Want to Be Soft for voice & piano

I Want to Be Soft for voice & piano

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PDF score of I Want to Be Soft for voice & piano

Music & poetry by Lisa Neher


Commissioned by Denise Bird for her Art Songs for New Beginnings Anthology


Length: 3 minutes


Vocal Range:

High Key: D4 - A5 (ossia G5)

Medium Key: B-flat 3 - F5 (ossia E-flat 5)

Low Key: A-flat 3 - E-flat 5 (ossia D-flat 5)

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Recording 

Score

Preview the Score (Medium Key)
Preview the Score (High Key)

Program Note

This is a song about being our true authentic selves, with all our vulnerabilities, imperfections, and messy needs. So many of us are exhausted by performing capability, success, and happiness constantly, in person and online. It’s easy to worry that if we stop doing that, people won’t like the squishiness they see. I fall into these traps on a regular basis. But the entire reason I make art is to open myself up and share, and to receive and empathize with the experiences of my community. We weren’t meant to go through life walled off from one another. We can’t do it all alone. My wish is that we all can be more permeable, like the salamander and the sponge. I Want to Be Soft was commissioned by Denise Bird for her Art Songs for New Beginnings Project.

Text

I Want to Be Soft
by Lisa Neher

I want to be soft
like a moon snail outside its shell
like the underbelly of a porcupine.
​
I’m run down from resilience
camouflaging as confident
walking under the weight of a carapace.
mask on, defenses up.

The arboreal salamander breathes through its skin
water circulates through the pores of the sponge
I want to be permeable, like that.
Copyright Lisa Neher 2025, All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
  • About
    • Biography
    • Eblast Newsletter
    • Testimonials
    • Discography >
      • Of Wind and Waves
    • Press Kit
  • Sheet Music Store
    • Shop All
    • Chamber Music
    • Choir
    • Coaching
    • Educational
    • Guitar
    • Harp
    • Large Ensemble
    • Opera
    • Percussion
    • Piano
    • Solo Voice(s) >
      • Art Song
      • Opera Arias
      • Unaccompanied Vocal
      • Chamber Vocal
      • Young Singers
      • Spoken Word/Narrator
    • Strings
    • Woodwinds >
      • Oboe
      • Saxophone
      • Flute
      • Clarinet
      • Bassoon
    • Brass
  • Calendar
    • Calendar
  • Singer
    • Listen and Watch
    • Repertoire
  • Composer
    • Report a Performance
    • List of All Compositions
    • Southern Resident Consortium
    • Commission Me!
  • Actor
  • Contact