Page 204 - Voice for Life Songbook 1

36. If there is to be peace
Information
This song is based on a text by Lao Tzu (B.C. 570–490), a sixth-century Chinese philosopher. It is particularly suitable for use at Remembrance, but may also be used for services on the theme of war and peace.
Teaching the song
This short, through-composed piece does not have a chorus or repeating verses.You may like to use it as a sightreading exercise the first time you sing it through.Then, as you break it down into smaller sections to teach the notes, why not start at the end of the song (from bar 30 to the end) which is largely in unison. The end of a song very often gets ignored and is often the part sung (and known) the least, so it can be really useful to sing the end first and keep adding phrases to the beginning of this.
Once you have covered the end of the song, go back and teach the section from bars 23 to 29 (the upper part first, then the lower part). Once this is secure, sing from here right to the end of the piece.
Next teach the section from bar 16 to 21, where the melody line almost alternates between the vocal parts. Encourage your singers to really enjoy the suspension at the beginning of bar 18! Again, having covered this new section sing from here right to the end of the piece so that your singers feel more and more familiar with the music.
Do the same with the section from bar 9 to 13. Make sure the singers on the lower part feel confident about where to find their first notes (e.g. bar 10, where it is the same note as the upper part is singing). If there is nowhere obvious for them to find their first note from (e.g. bar 12), ask the upper part to sing the previous bar and stop on the first beat of bar 12, while you demonstrate the note the lower part should sing.Then do the same but ask your singers of the lower part to join you this time. Continue to do this until they have internalized the sound of that note. Finally go back and teach the opening section from bars 4 to 8.
Using the voice well
There are a number of words ending in either ‘s’ or ‘c’ in this text.Your singers will need to watch you very carefully so that they all finish the word at the end of each phrase together. It will be especially noticeable if singers are not counting or watching the conductor – even one person placing this ‘s’ sound early (or late) will be heard!
The choir will also need to be very disciplined about their breathing, always going through each three-bar phrase in one breath (i.e. only breathing when they see any punctuation marked in the text.) Any unnecessary ‘sneaked’ breaths in the middle of a phrase (e.g. after the word ‘peace’) will be heard as your singers will probably put an early ‘c’ in order to take their breath.
Musical skills and understanding
At the beginning of bar 18 there is a dissonance (or clash) between the two vocal parts which only resolves as the upper vocal part moves down onto the C on the third beat of the bar. Do any of your singers know what this kind of dissonance is called? (A suspension.)
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Track 36
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