Christmas Wishes

by Mike Wilson

Take your kids and audience on a nostalgic journey back to the mid-1960s with "Christmas Wishes." This song incorporates the instrumentation and orchestral style of the era (although we featured an electric piano which would not have been typical) including brushes, acoustic bass and guitar, piano, percussion, and strings.

Our singers picked up the scale oriented, unison melody very quickly. Yours will too, allowing you to focus on musicality rather than intervals.

Teach your choir to use the melody line as a signal for dynamics. A crescendo comes naturally as the line ascends followed by a decrescendo as the line comes back down. In addition to a little stylizing, this makes for great phrasing as well as a very musical presentation.

If you are looking for a solo piece for one of your stars, this could serve nicely. Or you might consider this as a closer for your Christmas program unless, of course, "Silent Night" fills that slot.

Text is taken from Music K-8 magazine.