Character

This is probably the most important song in the revue because while the title is Good Thinking, the goal of that good thinking is to be a good person – a person with good character. Actually, every quality named here could be a song itself. But that would make for a particularly long revue. So we chose a simpler approach, one that will at least bring them all to light. Your students may know most of these, or just heard of some of them. If you have a chance to take time to discuss all or some of them, it would go a long way toward reinforcing what all children need to learn, preferably at a young age. But truly anytime is a good idea. Because let's face it, we all know this, and even adults forget sometimes.

The music for this song borrows the chord progression (sort of) to an oldie, but a goodie: Johann Pachelbel's "Canon In D." It's a charming backdrop which we have used many times in the past few decades, but always uniquely. In this case, the instrumental accompaniment on the recording is kept light and transparent so that the words are what shine. For the same reason, it's all in unison, and it repeats. That way, memorizing becomes a little easier. The arrangement does have a slight build as one section progresses to the next, but it does not get too big, again keeping the focus on the message. However, to add a touch of fun, kids get to snap crisply every other bar, in keeping with the sparse halftime groove.

There is one little moment we want to mention in case it means anything to you. The second time at bar 27 and going into the coda, we introduce a gentle countermelody. It may just be a nice little addition to your ear, or you may recognize it as the melody to a song we published ages ago called "Harmony." Given the simpatico topic of decency, we couldn't resist.

One more thing about this song is that it is not specific to this revue. So you can mix and match it with other programs, collections, or revues as you like. You could also share it with the regular classroom teacher to make it a cross curricular activity, always a positive for music classes.

This song includes a "Diving Deeper Into The Music" learning assessment PDF.