Peace And Farewell

"Peace And Farewell" is a lovely song that offers a fitting way to end a concert, or a music class, or a way to say goodbye at the end of a school year. The melody is gentle, with stepwise motion, which makes it easy to learn. The first time through, beginning at measure 5, it's sung in unison. The second time at measure 5, it becomes a 2-part round. Rounds are an excellent way to introduce part-singing to your young singers. By singing the same tune at different starting times, singers develop independence, listening skills, and confidence without needing to learn separate parts. However, this piece also features a small bit of part-singing from measure 24 to the end. That's optional, of course. If you wanted to keep it simple, the entire song could be sung in unison both times through.

The recorded accompaniment features a piano, nylon guitar, bass, wind chimes, and suspended cymbal, along with a beautiful string quartet. You could easily perform it live with the provided piano part. In that case, you'd have the option of fluctuating the tempo and adding another time through to extend the piece. A live performance could also include your own wind chimes and other rhythm band instruments like a triangle, tambourine, small hand drum, etc. If someone in your school is a decent guitar player, that would add a nice touch as well.

As mentioned, this is a 2-part round with the same melody sung by both groups, but because it does go into 2-part harmony at measure 24, we decided to put a part 2 rehearsal track on our web site for you. (See details on page 8 for accessing this extra track.)

Signs of Peace - and Farewell

This lovely message is a perfect candidate for using sign language. In performance it's also a beautiful visual enhancement, not to mention a cross curricular element that demonstrates something more that students are learning through music. Teacher and sign language expert Nate Jones has created video demonstrations that you can use to teach your students signs for this song. You will find these videos at our web site, free to subscribers.