During the holidays we did a few hymn studies. These are really expanded literary studies in poetry. We spend time on vocabulary, learning any words we do not already know. We look to understand any symbolism, metaphors, etc. We point out poetic devices used and how they influence the chosen language. We pick apart and put back together, appreciating the tiniest nuances and the grandest themes. We dig for meaning and look for personal applications.
One of the hymns we focused on was "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing," which is one of my favorites. In addition to studying it literally, we listened to several arrangements and compared the musicality. Then there was an interpretive art component where the kids sought images to personally illustrate each verse for themselves.
To really understand this hymn, it's important to know what in the world "Here I raise my Ebenezer" means. I found"Raising Your Ebenezer: A Monument to Remember"which is a wonderful lesson on that which we read and talked a lot about.
Finally, though I don't think I've met a version I don't like, I'll share one of my favorite arrangements of the piece. I like the "I will sing" bridge additions. Also, I like some of the images and quotes in the following video.
You may recall that when the autumn colors come out, so does my November Playlist. (I've pretty much made all of autumn my peaceful, reflective, especially grateful time of year.) I wanted to share this year's additions to this personal playlist.
First is an entire album: David Tolk's Impressions. With pieces titled "Grateful," "October," and "Autumn Sky" you can't go wrong. I consider myself a tough critic, though, of musical selections purporting to represent ideas or, as the title suggests, impressions, as each of us has our own experiences and perspectives. I actually put this music in, closed my eyes, and tried to see if the music conjured images and feelings synonymous with the titles and, for me, they did. I have listened to these songs over and over this fall. I especially love "Old North Bridge" and "Evening on the Seine." And "Nothing Like the Sun" expertly calls to mind beams of light as they flash, flit, filter, and flare on an autumn day.
Here is the album in its entirety:
Now, if you want to experience, truly, a little bit of what Heaven must be; if you want to hear musical perfection; if you want to feel your soul weep and soar at the same time, listen to this. I cannot get enough of Karl Jenkins' Benedictus, performed by 2 Cellos.
The Benedictus, or Song of Zechariah, is a song of thanksgiving and praise in Luke 1:68-79 sung by Zechariah at the birth of John the Baptist. It is called Benedictus because the opening line in Latin is, Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel."
Here is a 2 Cellos performance of Benedictus. Theirs is my favorite.
Jambo is "hello" in Swahili, an important language in Africa. Though the official language of only three African countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda) it is widely spoken throughout East Africa and elsewhere. Swahili is a lingua franca, or a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.
We learned a little Swahili while learning about it. The following video was fun to watch, like a cultural exchange.
The highlight of our learning about Swahili was being introduced to "Baba Yetu," which is The Lord's Prayer in Swahili, put to music, written by Christopher Tin. It's hard to say which of the following two versions is our favorite.
(I loved one of the comments on the feed: "a song written by an asian guy sung in an african language about the lords prayer by a white guy in africa now thats how this world should be together fam")
I created twonotebooking pages to go with our lessons on Swahili. The first was to write a summary of the history of and facts about the language (top) and two write some basic English words and the Swahili translation (bottom) like numbers, greetings, family members, etc. The second notebooking page is for writing the words to "Baba Yetu." Over the top of the globe showing North America, the kids wrote The Lord's Prayer from Matthew 6:9-13 in English. Over the top of the globe showing Africa, the kids wrote the "Baba Yetu" lyrics.
Baba yetu, yetu uliye (Our, our Father who are) Mbinguni yetu, yetu, amina (In heaven, our, our, amen) Baba yetu, yetu, uliye (Our, our Father, who are) Jina lako litukuzwe (Let's glorify your name)
Utupe leo chakula chetu (Give us today our food) Tunachohitaji utusamehe (We need you to forgive us) Makosa yetu, hey (Our errors, hey) Kama nasi tunavyowasamehe (As we do forgive those) Waliotukosea, usitutie (Who did us wrong, don't put us) Katika majaribu, lakini (Into trials, but) Utuokoe, na yule, milele na milele (Save us, with him, for ever and ever)
Ufalme wako ufike utakalo (Your kingdom come that it be) Lifanyike duniani kama mbinguni, amina (done on earth as in heaven, amen)
Baba yetu, yetu, uliye (Our, our Father, who are) Jina lako litukuzwe (Let's glorify your name) Baba yetu, yetu, uliye (Our, our Father, who are) Jina lako litukuzwe (Let's glorify your name)
As a side, if you're thinking you've heard the song before, or you're wondering when and why it was written, it's kind of an interesting situation. Christopher Tin wrote "Baba Yetu" for the "Civilization" video game.
You may or may not want to tell your kids that. We had a discussion about what The Lord's Prayer, Swahili, and the history of the world's civilizations might have to do with each other but it led to my kids telling me that playing "Civilization" was perfectly acceptable "homework" the next day.
So I broke my own rule. I told myself it would just be ONCE, but I've been breaking it again and again.
I love Christmas music. I have raised a house full of children who love Christmas music. When I was a child, I used to start listening to Christmas music in July. My kids usually wait until September or October before they want to bust it out, but I tell them to wait. I've been telling them to wait this year for the past few weeks now. Really it's because as I've aged I've come to appreciate autumn and autumn-y grateful reflections and I've created a playlist for this time of year that I continue to add to and want to enjoy.
But all heck broke loose when I opened my mailbox and found my pre-sale copy of The Piano Guys' new Christmas album. I just HAD to listen. I was only going to listen once, but...
Here are older videos of the first two selections on the album. Watch the videos if you want, or just close your eyes and listen. They're simply wonderful.
Not sure how much longer I can hold my kids off.
Merry Christmas Anticipation. It's always a good time to think about Jesus.
Normally I do not like music videos. They tend to ruin songs for me. (I like what I conjure in my own head while listening better.) Sometimes, though, someone breaks out and impresses me.
Such is the case with the band Ok Go. My son came home one day and wanted to show me some of their videos because he knew I'd like them. And, boy, do I! They are pure creative genius. They're done in such a way that I can appreciate the songs by themselves, separate from the videos, but I can appreciate the videos for their innovation as well. These are entertaining but educational.
Ok Go has several clever music videos. The following are my three favorite.*
The first is one big Rube Goldberg machine. A few years ago one of my boys was in a biweekly science class with some other homeschooled boys and I remember on one of the days the boys were tasked with building their own Rube Goldberg. I thought it was a brilliant idea. Watching this video should make kids want to put on their thinking caps and get to work building something themselves. The link above is THE place to go for lesson plans, etc. to take the next step. I'm thinking that with winter coming and the holidays and needing a break in between some other bigger unit studies, we'll take a week or so and have some fun with this. (A Rube Goldberg lesson would be a nice addition to studying physics as well.)
Incidentally, a peppy song titled "This Too Shall Pass" is handy to have on one's playlist.
The clever video for "The One Moment" isn't just creative and fun to watch but also a highly satisfactory way to ponder the impact and importance of a single moment. (Also, HOW do they get their timing so perfect?)
Finally, the following version of "Needing/Getting" is exceptionally smart. The enormity and scale of the project is insane but impressive. The ability to nail details is inspiring.
*While I do like much of their music and many of their videos, I am not recommending everything they sing and do.
The Primary Sharing Time theme for April this year is "Jesus Christ Teaches Me to Choose the Right." Choristers are to choose a song appropriate to the theme. I will be teaching "I'm Learning the Ways of Jesus" by Janice Kapp Perry. This is a song published in the Friend magazine in 2010. You can find sheet music here.
I love this song! As nice as "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus" is, I prefer this song for this year as it recognizes and mentions choice in the lyrics and that fits so well with the "Choose the Right" theme of 2017. Further, this song is much more specific in how to be like Jesus and what His ways are.
Here is a video of the song from the Church's website:
To teach the song to my Primary children, I've prepared two banners per verse with pictures and lyrics. Using a roll of banner paper from Walmart, I cut four lengths and put four pictures on each banner, writing the words that accompany each picture with poster markers below. (I do like to mix things up with flip charts, banners, posters, actions, chalkboard drawings, etc. for learning words to songs. Sometimes flip charts frustrate me, though, because the printed words are often not big enough for children sitting in the back to see.) For the final "I try every day to give love away. I'm learning the ways of Jesus" lines, I didn't reprint; I will just point back to the previous pictures and words.
I spent a long time hunting for just the right pictures to use so I thought I'd share them here in case anyone wants to teach this song to Primary children or their own children, whether as a part of homeschool or in Family Home Evening or whatever.
I'm learning each day to be caring and kind.
I think of good deeds in my heart and my mind.
I try every day to give love away.
I'm learning the ways of Jesus.
So if I see someone who's lost or afraid,
I'll offer to help. That's a choice I have made.
Or if I see someone who just needs a friend,
I'll speak to them kindly and spend time with them.
I try every day to give love away.
I'm learning the ways of Jesus.
I'm learning each day to be friendly and fair.
I try to help others; I willingly share.
I try every day to give love away.
I'm learning the ways of Jesus.
So if I see someone who can't walk or run,
I'll think of some ways I can help them have fun.
Or if I see someone who can't see or hear,
I'll tell them that I'll be their eyes or their ears.
Last week I introduced "Dare to Do Right" with Dare Girl and Dare Boy. I created the symbol pictured above to be like a Superman symbol. I brought capes (dishtowels) and pinned printed symbols to the front of one girl and one boy. We talked about the meaning of the word dare (have the courage to do something) and how superheroes are supposed to be courageous in doing the right thing. Then I wrote some of the words of the song on the chalkboard (not word for word, but key words and phrases) and we started singing. Every time we sang "dare," Dare Girl and Dare Boy were supposed to pump a fist in the air.
This next week I'm going to share the medley with the kids (though probably just Senior Primary at this point). I'll let them listen to the medley with this video. First, though, I'll show the original video it came from so it has full meaning:
Just sharing visual aids I created (using the Children's Songbook illustrations) for the classic song"Love One Another". Whether you're a Primary chorister or you just want your family to learn the song, this might help.
Even though I have scores of other posts started in draft form (or in my head) I'm announcing a new "series" of posts that coincide with a new page on this blog you may have noticed: Soundtrack.
Music is one of the greatest delights of life. It builds, lifts, comforts, motivates, inspires, thrills, moves, and more. As both a musician and a poet I have a great appreciation for (and critique of) all sorts of music. Many songs have been blessed companions throughout my life and have served as great mentors. Music is a great teacher! This series of posts is my way to share my delight in music as well as the lessons I've learned from great songs, hoping to give everyone out there some everyday inspiration.
I was introduced to the song "I Can Only Imagine," written by Bart Millard and sung by Mercy Me at the closing keynote address of a homeschool conference several years ago. I don't remember a whole lot about the rest of the address, but the following video was shown and it had a TREMENDOUS impact on me. I was in tears.
At first it was the story and Dick Hoyt's incredible example that inspired me. Not only did I want to be a better mother, I wanted to be a better person in general. I also felt that if Dick could do what he did, I could do more, too, and get in better physical shape; not just for me but for my family so I could do things with them without physical limitations. I wanted to be strong. I downloaded "I Can Only Imagine" to my iPod for some motivation and it was the first song I ever ran to in its entirety.
As I ran to this song day after day, the lyrics engraved themselves on my heart. I believe in a living Father in Heaven and a living, resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ. What will it be like when I see them again? What will I feel? What will I say? What will I do?
The Resurrection is going to be glorious and wonderful. Not just for people like Rick Hoyt, who will no longer be handicapped, but for everyone. Running to this song makes me feel a little lighter, a little stronger, and a lot hopeful for that future day when my scars and pains and limitations are no more and when I'll see the Resurrected Lord. I can only imagine!
I have been the Primary Music Leader in my ward for over a year now and one thing I'm determined to do is bring back the "oldies." There have been many new songs written for children that are truly wonderful and I have fully embraced those. But I do believe it is a shame to grow up in the Church and not know the old staples. Further, there are ways to tie some of these older songs in with this new year's theme. "Primary Colors" is one such song. Here are the "Primary Colors" visual aids I just created to teach this song. I am going to make the last page (pictured above) into a flag.
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2/11/17 Update: The Primary children LOVE the flag! I highly recommend making one if you're using this song. I just printed two copies of the last page, taped them back to back and affixed them to a dowel.
If you have trouble getting to the downloadable document, please let me know.
It's November. This is the month I've been both pushing to get to, seeing it as a summit, and also the month I've been dreading to come, a little sad about the view from the top once reached. It has been a full and busy fall with lots of plans and goals as well as many unexpected surprises. I've backed way off the blogging in an effort to spend time where it really needed to be spent this autumn. And now November is here. Today we dropped off our newest missionary at the Provo MTC and I'm feeling so many emotions I just can't give words to them all. Let's just say that I left a part of my heart in Provo and I'm really feeling it tonight. Even though this is the best decision my son could possibly have made and I am so proud, pleased and full of hope, faith, and gratitude, it's still a little hard to live with it.
As the calendar days have passed I've been looking forward to listening to my November Playlist. After arriving home from the MTC and feeling the need for some grace in my thoughts, I put on David Tolk's appropriately named album Grace which is my newest November Playlist addition.
The music was soothing and filling and then finally releasing. "I Need Thee Every Hour" broke the dam and I had a good, hard, mournful, grateful, prayerful cry.
Raising children is something of a paradox. You nurture and nourish, teach and train, love and lead, and give your whole soul to helping these children of God realize and reach their potential only to feel a little bit sad when they actually do. Wait. Success brings sadness?
It's just that you love these children so much and you love being a mother so much that you'd gladly hit replay and go through everything over and over again so you could hold on to every happy, hard, sweet, trying, silly, bewildering, wonderful moment with these amazing people you've been blessed to bring into the world and hold hands with.
Thank God for motherhood! The privilege! The challenge! The journey! The joy!
I inherited an old box of music from my mother-in-law when she made a long-distance move. Every now and then I go through the stack. It's interesting to me how one piece will mean nothing to me one month, but then really catch my eye another. This month, as we have been studying to topic of faith, I was delighted to come across a gem written by Samuel T. Scott and Robert L. Sande. Here are the words.
Prayer is the key to Heaven,
But faith unlocks the door;
Words are so easily spoken,
A prayer without faith, is like a boat without an oar.
Have faith, when you speak to the Master,
That's all He asks you for,
Yes, prayer is the key to Heaven,
But faith unlocks the door.
This is a poem to memorize!
I've also shared another great song with my whole family that I have been teaching to the Primary children in my ward. This was published in the Friend in 2007. I have turned more and more to music from the Friend recently as there are some fantastic pieces in there to teach doctrine, build faith, and also to mix things up.
I just have to share this video! I have watched it several times and it just makes me giggle in delight every time.
I love this girl's confidence! She has confidence in who she is and isn't afraid to just go and do and try and be. I would love for everyone to live with that kind of confidence.
(P.S. My daughter can't stop commenting about her glasses. From the 8th grade until after all of my children were born, I wore glasses that big! Once upon a time, that was normal!)
If you're ever concerned about your children's/teens' music choices, or you are looking for a Family Home Evening lesson, here are two good sources to bring to the discussion table. I like that together these combine science and scripture, a servant of the Lord bearing testimony as well as some proof via the scientific method. (Not because I or you or anyone should need science to back testimony or science to back the Spirit--we shouldn't and don't--but because it's really interesting when it does.)
First is an article recently published in the Deseret News titled "Literal lyrics? The effects of sex, violence and misogyny in popular music." This describes fascinating studies and results that aptly link song lyrics with increased instances of sex, sexualization, aggression and misogyny, and issues with self-esteem and ends with what parents can do. Here is the last quote, from Jack R. Christianson:
“Music will do exactly what it is written to do. How you put lyrics to music and what music you choose to listen to affects just about every part of your life. The thing I want to do is teach my students how to make their own decisions based on how things make you feel and act. Do they go along with your moral compass? There’s a ton of good in almost all genres, but there are some that are a subculture. They intend to be bad, and they want to drag people to a dark place. It can take you to the highest peaks and lowest valleys.”
Sometimes young people have a feeling that the music they listen to doesn’t have
anything to do with chastity. And yet, as I’ve had opportunity to interview many youth in varying countries
throughout the world, I’ve found that is just not so. I believe, without any doubt, that there is music of the Lord. I
also believe there is good music that men have created—some romantic music, maybe some good cowboy music,
and just plain fun songs, etc. Those can be okay. They can cheer you up and they’re fun to be involved with. It
ought not surprise us that the devil has his own music as well. That kind of music is found throughout the world
and has a great impact upon young people especially.
Let me try to bring this principle alive by relating a true story that happened with an individual of whom you
probably have heard. How many of you have heard of Mick Jagger? I think almost everyone has as he is one of the
most famous rock stars in the world. Well, you might be surprised to know that I had about 2-1/2 hours with him on an airplane and it was quite an experience. I’m going to relate part of that to you to try to illustrate this important
point about selecting wholesome music.
Mr. Jagger and I were on a flight that originated in Mexico and were headed, I believe, to either Houston or Dallas.
As I sat down in the plane, the seat next to me was empty. Later a man came and sat down by me. I noticed
immediately that he was reading a rock magazine. I offered a silent prayer as I often do when I try to talk to people
about the Church. I prayed that the Lord would inspire me in what to say as I talked to this man. After the prayer, I
said something like, “My name is Gene Cook, I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
What’s your name?” And he said, “My name is Mick Jagger.” Not realizing then who he was I said, “Well, I’m glad
to meet you, Mick.” And then he said, “I said my name is Mick Jagger.” I said, “I heard you, Mick.” And then he
opened up the magazine and pointed to his picture and said, “This is me.” Of course, then I finally realized who he
was. I just hadn’t ever thought about sitting next to him, but it was so.
What I’m going to say is, in no way, speaking evil of Mick Jagger himself. Please understand that. I’m not speaking
evil of the man, but I am of what he represents because it is wrong. It is of the devil himself, in my opinion.
Even before I knew who Mick was, I noticed that his pant leg was pulled up a little on his calf. As I looked at his leg
I thought for some reason, “This fellow looks a little sick.” I’m not sure why, but that caught my attention before I
even knew who he was.
After we visited back and forth a minute or two about what we were doing and all, I finally said something like, “You
know, Mick, I have a question for you that I’d like you to answer for me.” He said, “Well, I’ll be glad to try.” Then I
said to him, “I have opportunity to be with young people in many different places around the world, and some of
them have told me that the kind of music you and others like you sing has no effect on them, that it’s okay, and that
it doesn’t affect them adversely in any way. Then other young people have told me very honestly that your kind of
music has a real effect on them for evil and that it affects them in a very bad way. You’ve been in this business for a
long time, Mick. I’d like to know your opinion. What do you think is the impact of your music on the young
people?”
This is a direct quote, brothers and sisters. He said, “Our music is calculated to drive the kids to sex.” Those were
his exact words. I’m sure I had a real look of shock on my face in receiving such a bold response. He quickly added,
“Well, it’s not my fault what they do. That’s up to them. I’m just making a lot of money.”
Then he told me he’d been in Mexico making a video because he could make it for about one-third of what it would
cost in the United States. He told me this was a great day for them because now instead of just having audio where
they could portray some of what they wanted to about sex and all, they now had videos and could have the people
both hear it and see it portrayed. He said this would have much more impact on the youth, that his music was
selling much more, and thus he was making much more money.
As I said, we talked for a couple of hours. Let me just share a few things that happened because it teaches the
importance of what we are discussing with respect to music. As we chatted, I told him that I was married and had
eight children. He told me that he was not married but that he had three children and was proud of it. He told me
that he had one woman pregnant in Virginia, one in New York, and one in England, as I recall. He told me that it
didn’t matter what you did in life, that you could take whatever you wanted, and that you could do whatever you
wanted. He said there were no commandments, there was no God, and nothing really mattered. He indicated there
was no judgment day and that you could just do whatever you felt like doing. Whatever I told him in our
discussion was white he said was black.
And whatever he said was white I told him was black.
He indicated that he had had the missionary lessons. In the beginning I didn’t believe that, but as we talked further
I think he probably had. He told me he had had two or three lessons, and I think that was probably true because of
some of his responses to me. According to him, he had been taught by missionaries in England.
He said, “As I listen to you Mormons, your problem is that you think you have all things figured out. Life isn’t that simple.” Then he would go on and explain some complex things, some theory of man. I would answer him in a very
simple way from the scriptures, and he would say, “See what I mean?” He was always trying to make things much
more complex than they really were.
Our conversation continued. He told me he believed in evolution and that he also believed he had descended from
a monkey. I told him, with a smile, “That might be the only thing you’re right about.” We pursued the idea of
evolution and the fact that if one is going to subscribe to the philosophy that he did, then he’d have to believe there
was no God and that he must have evolved. And if there is no God, there are no commandments. There are no
rules, and thus you can do whatever you want. He told me the importance, in his view, of freeing up the youth. He
felt that they ought to be able to do whatever they wanted in spite of their parents. He said that parents were
inhibiting them too much and controlling things and they ought not be doing that. It was truly astounding to me.
He told me he was thankful the family, as an entity, was being destroyed. And I gathered from what he was saying
that he was doing his best to help that along.
I have been greatly blessed the past few months to be the new Primary chorister at church. The previous chorister introduced a song that, in my opinion, is one of the most wonderful ever written so, I picked up where she left off to finish teaching it to the children. The song is Shawna Belt Edwards's "The Miracle."
I really cannot fully express how much this song has blessed me personally, as well as every child and adult in Primary. The children love this song so much and sing it with such faith that the Spirit tangibly permeates the room. We are all super excited to share it with the rest of the congregation this Easter season.
I hope you'll listen and let the Spirit testify to you that truly nothing is impossible to Jesus Christ.
In all of my years of public school English (and History) I never once heard of cowboy poetry. It wasn't until we did a Westward Movement unit study in our homeschool that then narrowed into a unit on cowboys (and horses) that I became aware that cowboys have their own genre of poetry all to themselves, which is worth taking a look at.
At one of our many stops along the Oregon Trail I picked up this entertaining CD to help us pass the drive time:
It's a combination of cowboy banjo, fiddle, and yodel, with some tracks of poetry in between. "The Lady in the Church" by Jared Nesset and "Diaper Rodeo" by Bill Boycott are giggle poems to break the ice with kids who think they don't want to listen.
Charlie Daniels made a fantastic CD for kids that is really great to use with a Cowboy or Westward Movement unit study; not only is it toe-tapping good music but he also narrates some bits that teach history. Most of the songs would be classified as ballads by poetic standards and thus perfect in our current study of poetry. For our poetry studies, we specifically focused on the ballad of John Henry on this CD, and "Cowboy Logic" as part of the genre of cowboy poetry.
Cowboy poetry is like Shakespeare in that it is meant to be performed. Believe it or not, there are a lot of professional and hobbyist cowboy poets out there and several midwestern and western states have a lot of large gatherings for shows, sharing, and appreciation.
One up and coming cowboy poet on the performing circuit is twelve-year-old Thatch Elmer, the Bear River Buckaroofrom Wyoming. Click that link and you can listen to some of his stuff.
We also checked out a book of cowboy poetry, both for the genre and for some more balladsto add to our studies. I previewed it and flagged some specific poems for the kids to read (along with the introduction).
The poems I felt suited our purpose best were "The Cowboy's Soliloquy" by Allen McCanless, "The Flyin' Outlaw" by Curley Fletcher, "The Cowboy's Prayer" by Curley Fletcher, "Tribute to Freckles and Tornado" by Jon Bowerman, and "Easy Chairs and Saddle Sores" by Ross Knox.
I told the kids that after they read all of those they needed to choose one of them to read aloud to me since they're meant to be shared that way. Interestingly, "The Cowboy's Soliloquy" was the favorite for this activity. This old poem was first published in 1885, but was certainly recited long before that. It's thoughtful, figurative, and includes an interesting commentary on the similarities between cowboys and Biblical patriarchs.
I hope that more teachers will incorporate cowboy poetry into both their literary studies and their explorations of the culture of the American West. From descriptive ballads telling a range of stories to anecdotal, legendary, and downright funny verse, to pensive appreciation for life and work and nature, cowboy poetry isn't just for cowboys.
It's about that time of year again--time to focus onActs of Random Kindness! If you need a little inspiration to get you going, look no further than the awesome example of the cast of Annie in New York City. (I LOVE Sia's arrangement of "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" so much!)
