With Joy We Sing!

From Plank Road Publishing

by Mike Wilson, Karl Hitzemann, Paul Jennings, and John Riggio

An Inspirational Collection For Young Voices

With Joy We Sing! is an outstanding collection of inspirational songs that are fitting for any concert or celebration. Our unique settings of these traditional songs and text are done in a wide variety of styles that your students and audience are sure to enjoy. Includes:

What Child Is This? - John has done another Christmas arrangement in a Celtic style, and we're thrilled! It's the original song with traditional lyrics as you know it, but with a few tweaks including a new bridge section.
In Judah's Land - Here's a lovely folk arrangement of this traditional Appalachian carol. It has a rangy melody line, but is catchy enough to grab onto fairly quickly. If you can do it, part 2 is well worth the additional work, though it is optional.
Song Of Mary - "Song Of Mary" is a new musical setting of the old Basque text known as "Gabriel's Message" or "The Angel Gabriel." This 3-part mixed arrangement allows the young men in your older choirs to be involved, though parts 2 and 3 are optional.
Baloo Loo Lammy - The title of this beautiful, old Scottish cradle song translates as "Hush, Little Lamb." Originally with eight verses, we have chosen three verses for this arrangement. An optional part 2 and part 3 enter in a "round" style, and allows the flexibility for the piece to be performed as 3-part mixed, 2-part, or unison.
Ein Lichtlein Brennt - An old, well-known Advent poem in Germany, we have set it to music and made it into a beautiful little round, giving your students a great opportunity to sing in German. You could sing it in unison and use the English translation that we have provided.
Give Up The Glory - Imagine an old southern bayou spiritual. Now imagine it remade in a current rock style yet maintaining that old flavor. In our setting, we use traditional rhythm section instrumentation with the addition of a dobro, to capture that bayou essence.
O Little Town Of Bethlehem (The Forest Green Melody) - We've used the alternate English hymn tune, "Forest Green," for a 2-part arrangement of this lovely melody. In our version, we begin with a soloist, but you could take the solo further into the piece, if you'd like. Or, feature a few different soloists (or small group) throughout the entire first verse.
Ode To Joy - For our version of the finale from Beethoven's renowned 9th Symphony, we have adapted the fairly well-known English lyrics by Henry van Dyke. We've also made it primarily a vocal work, with an optional second part, but also foreshortening the ending a bit. It makes a powerful finale to any performance year round.