Page 28 - Voice for Life Songbook 1

7. Rejoice in the Lord always
Information
This short two-part canon is simple enough to teach to the congregation in a church service, school assembly or at a concert.The text is from Paul’s letter to the Philippians 4:4.
Teaching the song
Teach this song in a call and response pattern in four-bar phrases.There’s no need for the singers to use the music. From the start encourage your singers to sing four bars in one breath by demonstrating this yourself. Once the song is secure, try singing it as a two-part canon.
Using the voice well
The word ‘rejoice’ contains a diphthong – a combination of two vowels in the same syllable. In order for the choir to be unanimous when singing this word, they will need to change vowel at the same time. Singers usually leave the change of vowel as late as possible. In this instance it means hanging onto the ‘aw’ sound in ‘rejoice’ and then changing onto the ‘ee’ sound just before the ‘ce’ sound needs to arrive. Practice this slowly and gradually increase the speed as it becomes easier.
Singers may be tempted to slide between the first two notes of bars 9 and 10, 13 and 14.While the notes need to be connected in order to achieve a legato sound, the movement between them should be imperceptible.
Musical skills and understanding
The melody of this song mostly moves in step (tones and semitones) but there are a few bigger leaps. Can the singers identify where these occur and can they name the intervals (e.g. a perfect fourth between the first two notes)?
Can anyone name the key of this piece? Does anyone know a rule to help them identify key signatures containing flats? (The penultimate flat in the key signature is the tonic – with the exception of F major that has only a B flat.)
28
􏰀
Track 7
o