The Footsteps We Follow is the result of a collaborative project between members of the 2024 Pomona College Glee Club, Matthew R. Brown (Class of 2020), and Meadow Jones (Class of 2024 [SC]), both of whom are alumni of Pomona’s Glee Club and Choir.
As composer of The Footsteps We Follow, Matthew offered this reflection on the project: “The goals of this composition were unique in that Donna asked me to create a robust contemporary choral work that could be learned and sung by multiple generations of Pomona alumni. In doing so, I sought to draw on musical elements that make the Glee Club shine while emphasizing the themes of the text: although the piece explores several harmonic areas and musical textures, it ends as it starts. We return home.”
For the text, Meadow compiled and adapted phrases from speeches given by eight peer-selected students at their respective commencement ceremonies: “My goal,” she explained, “was to bring together multiple voices and class years to create a text that resonates with the broader Pomona community. Two themes persisted: the people that make this campus feel like home, and a common desire to make the world a better place. Generations of students before us, and generations to come, define the footsteps we follow.”
We are grateful to Pomona alumni Michael Bright ’10, Dominique Curtis ’17, Nirali Devgan ’22, Ashley Land ’16, Ivan Solomon, Jr. ’19, Leah Steuer ’11, María José Vides Orellana ’18, and Nasira Watts ’23, for giving Meadow (and us) permission to use their words here.
We are also grateful to Willa Albrecht ’25, whose enthusiasm and leadership convening members of the 2024 Glee Club in the early stages of the project was invaluable.
Learn Your Part
Download the score and listen to the audio tracks to learn your part.
If you have issues playing any of the below audio files, please click the three vertical dots and select Download from the menu (each file is a 3 MB MP3). (Safari users will not have the three dot menu; to download, start playing a track and right-click over the player, then select a download option.)
- Track 1: Soprano only
- Track 2: Soprano with other voices
- Track 3: Alto only
- Track 4: Alto with other voices
- Track 5: Tenor only
- Track 6: Tenor with other voices
- Track 7: Bass only
- Track 8: Bass with other voices
- Track 9: All voices
Download issues? Request materials by email.
Participate in the Premiere at Alumni Weekend!
The Pomona College Glee Club has a longstanding tradition of inviting alumni to join the ensemble at the end of its concerts. Alumni Weekend 2025 attendees will have the opportunity to sing The Footsteps We Follow alongside the current members of the Glee Club at two events: a learning session and the premiere performance during the Glee Club’s Alumni Weekend concert.
Learning Session: Friday, May 2, 2025 at 4 p.m., Lyman Hall, Thatcher Music Building.
Concert: Saturday, May 3 at 1:30 p.m., Bridges Hall of Music
See the Alumni Weekend schedule
About the composer
Matthew R. Brown (b. 1997) is a composer/lyricist, music director, and baritone based in Washington, D.C. Equally at home in theatrical and concert spheres, his compositions range from full-length musicals to single-movement chamber works. He received his Master of Music degree in composition from The Catholic University of America (CUA), where he premiered his opera Abel, and served as Composer-in-Residence with the CUA Symphony Orchestra. An experienced vocalist in both solo and choral contexts, he currently serves as a staff singer at St. Peter’s Catholic Church on Capitol Hill. Alongside his work as a musician, Matthew is a member of the Development Department of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. His principal teachers in composition are Andrew Earle Simpson at CUA and Tom Flaherty at Pomona College, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in music. He is a member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild.
The Footsteps We Follow
Pomona,
The people and places we call home.
Daring minds, compassionate souls
Generations of students to come.
Today we are transient,
Now we celebrate that home
The merit of a fleeting instance
We go through so much of this life together.
We want to see the world change.
True radical change,
Revolutionary change,
All that is worth questioning.
Pursue this dream
Without knowing what lies on the other side.
Our love is communal. Our reverence is for each other.
When there are no footsteps to follow, [we’re not] afraid to make [our] own.
Carve out a world for ourselves
[Our] path is [our] own.
You [make] Pomona feel like home.
– compiled and adapted by Meadow Jones (2025)