Lesson: Just Enjoy the Music - Amazing Grace

For a while here … I’ve been mulling music … and songs from my childhood.  Much loved songs.  Some songs I remember with one voice, and others I remember from several records, church choirs and many more.  But I thought, it would be fun to feature some of those songs … into a song study for homeschools.

You can consider this a Free Curriculum if you like - or just something fun.

Compare and contrast the different groups singing the song.

Is the music all the same or did they change it?

Do you like the changes?

Did they change the speed of the song?

Did changing the speed change your emotional response to the song?  Do you feel sadder?  Happier?  Want to dance?  Go to sleep?

Are the voices high or low?  Do you like the song better sung at a higher pitch or a lower pitch?

Which version did you like the best?

Memorize this song as sung by your favorite group.  Try to imitate their pitch and tone.

Do the singers move around?   Did that add to your enjoyment or the emotional feel of the song.

Write out the words to the song.  What do they mean to you?

What is the history of the song?  Who wrote it?  Why?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDjGS45llIM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Cv5P9H9qU

What other things can you learn from these songs?

SONG OF THE WEEK

AMAZING GRACE

Of all of the songs that I’ve ever sung or heard, this has to be one of my favorites, probably in the top 5.  It is in some of my earliest memories and was featured in over a dozen of the records that my mom set up for us to listen to every night while drifting off to sleep.

I’ve marked a star beside my favorite versions.

Some are not marked because it was the first time I had heard it.  It may become a favorite later.

  In the comments - which were your favorites?  Do you have another favorite not listed?

*Celtic Thunder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qni5bIN5qmU

Chris Tomlin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbe7OruLk8I

Celtic Women

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsCp5LG_zNE

BYU Women’s Group

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6Mtpk4jeVA

Alan Jackson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogxLNlgKM8c

*Rhema Marvanne (her story had me in tears)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDDlxmsciqY

Peter Hollens  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n145-J8ejg

Aretha Franklin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM02ZP13fPk

*Ray Charles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6HSkP9oGRA

*Dolly Parton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4-MyGsLl9A

**Johnny Cash (this was the first voice that I ever fell in love with)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khhTpugsmHc

*Willie Nelson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkb2nuEYyng

Soweto Gospel Choir  (first time I’ve heard them)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoJz2SANTyo

*Wintley Phipps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNuQbJst4Lk

*Elvis Presley (another voice I fell in love with as a child)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3XdXEJEI4E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEgG63MCa0I

Andrea Bocelli

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYqwYpko6po

Michael W. Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLZhQHuQQFE

Guy Penrod

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8UdgnQLC58

*Loretta Lynn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIm6_oLPZyM

*Anne Murray

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-HT4kKSekM

Acappella

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhcWX9VQW-M

* The Statler Brothers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWC9hrfc6Jo

* The Oak Ridge Boys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNDNTo7SNFQ

Straight No Chaser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx8cgqxBxz0

***George Beverly Shea (loved his base voice from my earliest memories)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSNlbAazuXY