Songs Are Thoughts was selected to be part of the Canadian Chamber Choir Series. This work, winner of the 2010 ACCC Choral Composition Competition for Original Composition, addresses the nature of music and the potential it creates within us. Inuit inspired rhythmic motives juxtaposed with flowing melodic lines mirror the text in both English and Inuktitut. Written for a fine choir and a skilled piano player, Songs Are Thoughts can be deeply moving. The piece can be characterized by Orpingalik’s poignant words: Songs are thoughts, sung out with breath when people are moved by great forces and ordinary speech no longer suffices. . . . I sing as I draw breath.