“My Love and I” is a fresh reimagining of the beloved folk song “The Water Is Wide,” arranged by Casey Wood, with lyrics by the composer and his brother Kory Wood. Blending folk inspiration with pop and jazz influences, this piece offers choirs a contemporary yet deeply expressive sound. With piano, electric bass, and drums in a pop/R&B style, the arrangement balances accessibility with sophistication – perfect for ensembles eager to bridge choral tradition with modern musical energy.

My Love and I – SATB Choir

My Love and I is a contemporary SATB choral setting inspired by the traditional folk song “The Water Is Wide.” Arranged by Casey Wood, with lyrics by Casey Wood and Kory Wood, the piece brings the familiar folk melody into a musical setting shaped by elements of pop, jazz, and R&B. Written for SATB choir with piano, electric bass, and drums, it combines the expressive character of a traditional song with a rhythmic and harmonic language that feels distinctly contemporary.

Rather than simply presenting The Water Is Wide in a conventional folk-song arrangement, My Love and I uses the traditional melody as the foundation for something new. The recognizable tune remains an important part of the piece, but the accompaniment, vocal textures, and contemporary stylistic influences give it a character of its own.

The result is an SATB selection that can feel familiar to an audience while offering singers a musical experience that extends well beyond a traditional folk-song setting.

The Folk Tradition Behind “The Water Is Wide”

The Water Is Wide comes from a much older British folk-song tradition and is closely connected with the family of songs commonly associated with “O Waly, Waly.” As is often the case with traditional folk music, there is no single composer or definitive original version. Melodies, verses, and related texts circulated orally for generations, changing as they traveled between singers and communities.

Versions of the song were collected in Britain during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including by the influential English folk-song collector Cecil Sharp. Over time, The Water Is Wide became one of the most widely recognized songs to emerge from this tradition.

Much of its lasting appeal comes from the simplicity of its central imagery. Water represents distance or separation, while the desire to cross it becomes a powerful metaphor for love, longing, and human connection. Those ideas have allowed the song to remain relevant through many different musical interpretations.

My Love and I participates in that continuing tradition of reinterpretation. Rather than attempting to recreate an earlier folk style, the arrangement places the melody in a modern musical environment. The combination of choral writing, piano, electric bass, and drums gives conductors an opportunity to program a piece with historical roots while offering singers a sound that belongs much more clearly to the present.

Accessible SATB Repertoire for a Wide Range of Choirs

The SATB voicing makes My Love and I practical for many mixed choirs. Soprano, alto, tenor, and bass remains the most commonly used configuration for high school, collegiate, community, church, and adult mixed ensembles, so directors can introduce the piece without requiring unusual divisi or specialized voicing.

The accessibility of the writing is particularly valuable for choirs that want to explore contemporary styles without taking on music that is unnecessarily difficult.

At the same time, accessible does not mean musically uninteresting.

The familiar melody allows singers to focus attention on other important elements of ensemble singing, including phrasing, balance, rhythmic accuracy, tone, stylistic awareness, and communication of the text. The presence of a rhythm section also encourages singers to listen differently—to understand how their vocal lines interact with groove, pulse, and instrumental texture.

For a developing high school SATB choir, the piece can provide an introduction to singing with contemporary instrumental accompaniment while reinforcing traditional choral skills. For more advanced ensembles, the music offers opportunities to refine stylistic details and create a performance that feels relaxed and natural without losing ensemble precision.

That combination makes My Love and I especially useful for directors searching for accessible SATB choral music with a contemporary sound—repertoire that singers can learn successfully but that still has enough musical character to hold a meaningful place on a concert.

Performed by the All-Virginia SATB Chorus

My Love and I was selected for performance by the 2025 All-Virginia SATB Chorus, placing the work within an honor-choir setting alongside repertoire chosen for some of Virginia’s accomplished high school choral singers.

Its inclusion in the All-Virginia program also demonstrates an important quality of the piece: accessibility does not limit its usefulness to developing ensembles.

A piece can be approachable enough for a strong school or community choir while still offering the musical and expressive possibilities needed for an honor choir. My Love and I occupies that useful middle ground. Singers can connect with the music relatively quickly, allowing the conductor to spend more rehearsal time developing style, ensemble sound, phrasing, and musical communication.

For directors looking for SATB honor choir repertoire, festival choir music, contemporary high school choral music, or All-State-style repertoire, that versatility is worth considering.

Where Can “My Love and I” Be Programmed?

Because the music and text are not tied to a specific holiday, sacred observance, or season, My Love and I can fit comfortably into many different concert programs.

It is particularly well suited for:

High school concert choirs looking for approachable SATB repertoire with contemporary musical influences
College and university choirs exploring connections between traditional folk material and modern choral styles
All-State, honor, and festival choirs seeking repertoire that singers can engage with quickly while still offering opportunities for musical refinement
Community and adult choirs looking for a recognizable folk melody presented in a fresh setting
Spring concerts featuring themes of love, relationships, journeys, or human connection
Fall concerts where directors want an accessible piece that can help establish ensemble sound and rhythmic confidence
Folk-song programs examining the ways traditional melodies continue to evolve through new arrangements
Contemporary choral programs incorporating piano and rhythm section
Love-themed concerts where a director wants something more nuanced than a conventional popular love song
Festival or adjudication programs needing stylistic contrast from more traditional choral literature
Programs centered on distance, journeys, belonging, or connection, themes that naturally relate to the imagery inherited from The Water Is Wide

The piece could also be especially effective on a program that includes a more traditional folk-song arrangement. Placing different treatments of traditional melodies alongside one another gives singers and audiences an opportunity to hear how the same musical material can take on a very different character when viewed through the perspective of a contemporary arranger.

Traditional Melody, Contemporary Choral Language

One of the most appealing qualities of My Love and I is the meeting of two musical worlds.

The melody connects singers and audiences to a folk tradition that has survived for generations. The accompaniment and arrangement move that melody into a contemporary setting through influences from pop, jazz, and R&B. Piano, electric bass, and drums give the music rhythmic energy and a different kind of foundation than singers encounter in a standard piano-accompanied concert work.

For choir directors, that creates useful programming possibilities.

My Love and I can introduce stylistic variety into a traditional concert without feeling disconnected from the rest of the program. It can also give students an opportunity to discover that folk music is not a fixed historical artifact. Traditional melodies have always been adapted, reshaped, and passed from one generation of musicians to another.

This arrangement represents another chapter in that process.

Published by Gentry Publications as part of the Brandon A. Boyd Choral Series, My Love and I is a strong choice for conductors searching for a contemporary SATB arrangement inspired by The Water Is Wide, accessible mixed-choir repertoire, folk-inspired concert music, or an SATB selection that successfully brings contemporary popular influences into the choral setting.

For high school choirs, collegiate ensembles, community choruses, honor choirs, and festival ensembles, My Love and I offers an attractive balance: a melody with deep roots in the folk tradition, an accessible SATB structure, contemporary instrumental support, and enough stylistic character to give both singers and audiences something distinctive to experience.

My Love and I
Arranged by Casey Wood
Lyrics by Casey Wood and Kory Wood
Inspired by the traditional folk song The Water Is Wide
Voicing: SATB
Accompaniment: Piano, electric bass, and drums
Difficulty: Easy
Use: Concert / General
Catalog Number: JG2797
Publisher: Gentry Publications
Brandon A. Boyd Choral Series