Miniwanka or the Moments of Water

R. Murray Schafer's "Miniwanka or the Moments of Water" is part of or popular series "Music for Young Players". "Miniwanka" is an imitative piece describing the various states of water. The text consists of words for water, rain, stream, river, fog and ocean, in the following North-American Indian languages: Dakota, Wappo, Crow, Chinook, Achomawi, Otchipwe, Salish, Natick, Klamath and Luiseno. It may be sung by a choir of S.A. or by a mixed chorus of S.A.T.B. (…) The effect of the total piece should be to chronicle the transformations of water, from rain (letter B) to streams (D), to quiet lakes (E), to broad rivers (F), to the ocean. (R. Murray Schafer)