Let All the Nations Praise the Lord {New Music Monday}

Our spring program at school is coming up in a little less than a month. The students have been learning and practicing their songs since late in January. They did such an excellent job for the Christmas program that we’ve been working on some fun extra things as well. The theme of the program is “Let All the Nations Praise the Lord.” Here’s a summary of what my students will be performing for the spring program this year.

Dona Nobis Pachem

We’re beginning the program with “Dona Nobis Pachem,” a lovely canon, or round, meaning “grant us peace.” This song fits the theme of the program because it’s written in Latin. All of my music classes learned this song, but only a few classes are singing for the program. We’ve also been practicing this song with the metronome (at 88 bpm)–a helpful learning exercise for all my classes, including me.

Kindergarten through 2nd Grade: O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

For this program the Kindergarteners are singing along with the 1st and 2nd grade class. They’re learning the first verse of “O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” and some hand motions we created. This doesn’t exactly fit the theme of the program, but it’s a wonderful hymn about Jesus’s love for his people, which come “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” ¹

3rd & 4th Grade: What Wondrous Love Is This

“What Wondrous Love Is This” is one of my favorite hymns. It fits the theme of the program in the same way as “O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus,” and it’s also an American folk hymn. We are singing all four verses; I broke verses two and three into solos at the request of the students. Here is a link to the music available for free through the RUF Hymnbook.

5th & 6th Grade: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Martin Luther wrote “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” during the Protestant Reformation, which explains the battle imagery of the hymn. Leland Ryken says, “Three ingredients form the content of the poem, and they converge in each stanza. They are as follows 1) The certainty of God’s presence and power in the world; 2) The terrible opposition that Christians face in the world; 3) The confidence with which Christians can confront opposition through the strength of God.” ² This hymn fits the theme because Martin Luther, being German, wrote it in German. The hymn was translated by Frederick H. Hedge in 1852.

To make the song more dynamic the students are standing in one line and then alternating students are stepping forward on the first beat of the first eight measures of verse one. When they end their steps they are all in one line again. A soloist (the first student in line) is beginning the third verse and then after each phrase one or two students is joining the soloist, so that by the time the students sing “The prince of darkness grim” they’re all singing again in full voice. Finally, a different soloist is ending the song by singing the first line again, but a capella this time. I admire the courage of both soloists; it can be challenging to sing in front of your peers!

7th & 8th Grade: The King of Glory Comes

This is probably the most exciting hymn of all the hymns we’re singing for the program. The hymn fits the theme of the program because it’s an Israeli folk song, which means the music sounds different than what the students are used to hearing at school and at church. It’s also typically sung around Easter and tells the story of Jesus’ lineage, ministry, death, and resurrection.

We also added some fun steps to this song. The students are standing in three rows, the front and back rows on one side of the stage and the middle row on the other. During the refrain the students are stepping sideways in such a way that they stomp on the offbeat, which is the second beat, of the third and seventh measures. We have a guitarist and a violinist playing for this hymn, so I don’t even have to accompany the students. They sound great and their steps add extra emphasis to the rhythm and meaning of the hymn.

Rhetoric: Children of the Heavenly Father/ We Need Not Fear (A Medley)

The Rhetoric (high school) students were up for learning another one of my songs, but I also hoped they could sing a hymn that fit the theme of the program. I decided to combine the hymn “Children of the Heavenly Father,” originally written in Swedish, with my original composition “We Need Not Fear.” (I previously posted “We Need Not Fear” here at Teacher by Nature, but I called it “Through This World’s Lonely Pass.” I have such a hard time naming my songs–which name do you like better? Here’s a link to the post.) One of my 7th & 8th grade students is playing the violin with me. I’m so thankful for the students who are willing to play their instruments for our programs.

We’re not doing anything extra for this song except dividing up the boys and girls at certain points during “We Need Not Fear.” The boys are singing verse two and then the girls are singing verse three, which sounds beautiful with the lyrics.

I posted a video on YouTube for my Rhetoric students to use to practice since my song doesn’t have notes for them to follow. Here’s the video for this New Music Monday. I hope you enjoy it!

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1. Revelation 7:9-10 ↩
2. 40 Favorite Hymns on the Christian Life, Leland Ryken, P&R Publishing, pg. 90, 2019. ↩