Singing Day is becoming a very special time for us. We enjoy sitting at the piano to learn a new hymn, or watching a video of our new folk song on the computer. And then we sing. Oh! Do we sing. The children sing at the top of their lungs. Or, at least, E. and A. sing. Q. dances all around, humming a little tune.
She has perfect pitch, which is strange for a two-year-old, but I plan to cultivate that and make a great singer out of her someday. Maybe that stint as a music major will come in handy after all.
What is wonderful is to later hear the children enjoying the music on their own. It is not uncommon to hear my children belting out How Firm a Foundation while swinging on the swingset. They also march around the backyard while singing The Drinking Gourd.
The folk song for Term Two is The Cruel War. It is incredibly beautiful. The challenge will be for me to teach it to them without crying. This song gets to me every time. Here is the best YouTube clip I’ve seen:
He left out the last verse. I’m only going to teach it to the six-year-old {it’d be too much for the girls}, but I’ll have to take a deep breath before teaching it:
They marched into battle.
She never left his side
‘Til a bullet shell struck her
And love was denied.
A bullet shell sruck her.
Tears came to Johnny’s eyes
As he knelt down beside her,
She silently died.
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