Page 38 - Voice for Life Songbook 1

11. Dona nobis pacem
􏰀
Track 11
Information
The Latin text ‘Dona nobis pacem’ means ‘grant us peace’.This short round may therefore be used as a prayer response in times of war or on Remembrance Day.
Preparation
The melody of this song is made up of passages based on scales and arpeggios. It would help to practise these before attempting the piece.
1) Sing a scale of F major to the numbers 1–8.
2) Make up some patterns using the note numbers of the scale, to increase tonic awareness and to help singers gain familiarity with the different degrees of the scale:
1, 1 2 1, 1 2 3 2 1, 1 2 3 4 3 2 1, 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1, 1 2 3 4 5 6 5 4 3 2 1 etc. 8, 8 7 8, 8 7 6 7 8, 8 7 6 5 6 7 8, 8 7 6 5 4 5 6 7 8 etc.
3) Teach singers to internalize sounds by devising patterns of notes that leave out one or more scale degrees. This will force them to think each of the missing notes in their heads in order to be able to pitch the next note that they sing:
                1234567887654321
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, 1 - 3 4 5 6 7 8, 1 2 - 4 5 6 7 8, 1 2 3 - 5 6 7 8, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, - 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, - - 3 4 5 6 7 8, - - - 4 5 6 7 8,
4) Try singing patterns that make up arpeggiated chords: 1 3 5 8 5 3 1, 2 5 7 5 2, 2 4 6 4 2 etc.
Teaching the song
1 2 3 4 - 6 7 8 etc. - - - - 5 6 7 8 etc.
Now that the F major scale is familiar it will be easier to teach the opening bars of this song, which are based on arpeggiated chords.The passages of the song that move in stepwise motion are easy to sightread.
Musical skills and understanding
Ask singers to identify which passages are based on scales and which are based on chords. Can they name the chords outlined by the melody in bar 1, 2 and 23?
The widest leap in the melody of this song is an octave. Can they find two examples of an octave leap? 38
o