Magna Carta

On June 15th, 1215, King John of England signed the Magna Carta at Runnymede (near Windsor in South England). The year 2015 marks the 800th anniversary of the signing. The Magna Carta is a sort of bill of rights for English nobles, though the common man is mentioned as well. It is considered to be the basis for constitutional government in England. Some ideas in the United States Constitution descend from the Magna Carta. There is a great deal of turbulent history leading to and following the signing of this document, also known as the Great Charter. But for our purposes, we have kept the content basic, allowing you to bring the topic across the curriculum to reinforce studies with your students' history classes.

We opted to put this song in a medieval Celtic style, in keeping with the theme and period. It begins with an acoustic guitar, and builds into a full Celtic groove, with lots of drums, and eventually adds strings and an all-male choir sample for a cinematic effect. It's very dramatic and neat to just listen to!

The format of the song is designed to keep the lyrics from becoming too complex by having a simple, repeated chorus and a spoken section in between. The spoken section (measure 21) is broken into a series of sentences which could each be read by one person, or it could be divided up to be read by two or more, as you prefer. If you use microphones, we recommend having at least two so performers can alternate lines quickly. Choose good speakers/readers as there isn't a lot of wiggle room in the music and lines should be delivered clearly and succinctly. (You can always adapt this part if it isn't working for you, of course. Simplify lines or leave them out if needed.)

The parts that are sung are in unison and pretty easy to learn. Just be sure your students sing out with bravado!