Page 22 - Voice for Life Songbook 1

4. When the Spirit of the Lord
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Track 4
Information
This song is in a traditional Jewish klezmer style. It refers to David, a Jewish King from the Old Testament who was a musician and probably wrote some of the songs in the book of Psalms.The Bible records (in 2 Samuel) that David once praised God by dancing wearing only a linen ephod – the equivalent of his underwear! In the last verse of this song, as the music gets faster and more frenzied, you can imagine David losing his inhibitions and dancing before the Lord with all his might.
Preparation
Ask your singers what key the music is in. Have they noticed that even though it shares a key signature with G major, it is actually in E minor? The big clues are the D sharps throughout the piece and that it starts and ends on an E minor chord.Try singing an E minor scale before you begin the piece. More advanced singers may know the difference between a harmonic and melodic minor scale. Can they sing them both?
Teaching the song
This song can easily be taught without the music, in four-bar phrases. Learn it in unison first then, if appropriate, try adding the lower part at bar 11. It follows the same pattern as the melodic line but is a third lower throughout (the only exception being the last two notes). Don’t forget that when you perform the song you should start slowly and get faster with each successive verse – experiment to see how fast you can sing at the end of the song without losing the ensemble.
Be creative
In verse 2 you may like to clap a rhythm in bars 6,10,14 and 18 to illustrate the words.Ask your singers to suggest something suitable.
Can they think of actions for any of the other verses? (You will need to consider how easily these actions can be performed while singing, before asking the whole choir to do them!).
Using the voice well
See if your singers can sing each four-bar phrase in a single breath. Every time they fill up with air they should think about keeping the breath low in their body, rather than taking a shallow gasp. Remind them that their shoulders should not move as they take a breath and that their body needs to stay poised but relaxed during the process.
Musical skills and understanding
Ask your singers to identify the lowest and highest notes that they sing in this piece. Do they know the names of the pitches?
Check that your singers know the Italian term for ‘get faster’ (accelerando). 22
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