Green

Here's one that's just plain fun to sing and to listen to whether you are using it to celebrate the beauty of spring or not. From the lively fiddle ensemble to the contemporary four-on-the-floor electronic kick drum to the rhythmic pulsings of the guitars and mandolins, there's a wonderfully catchy and lively energy that invites participation. The verse makes that easy enough in unison, but the chorus keeps singers focused with the duet. The second part is optional, but we suspect your older singers (particularly girls who like to sing higher) will enjoy it. Because the two parts are always sung at the same time on the recording, we have isolated them to be used as rehearsal tracks. You can find them for free on our web site.

For a little extra panache, you could also add the optional claps. These are just offbeats which happen to coincide with the mandolin during the intro and later in the song, so they're pretty simple. Our suggested pattern and form is on the music. Keep it or change it up.

If you do use this song in performance, make the color green a focus visually as well. Have performers wear something green. Have green decorations and/or lighting. Let some or all singers do gentle movements with green scarves or ribbons. This would be particularly nice during the choruses, which are already smooth and would work well with the smoothness of a flowing scarf or ribbon. Another option would be to have a projected slideshow of springtime scenes that contain a lot of greenery. As a matter of fact, this would even work for St. Patrick's Day programs. The proximity to the start of spring and the celebration of the glorious color of green fits quite well, we think. You might even want to connect it to your Earth Day program, if you're doing one. Another meaning of "green" lends itself well to that usage, too.