Feliz Día De La Madre

If you're looking for a song for your younger choirs for Mother's or Father's Day, and you want to teach the kids how to say it in Spanish, and you want some clapping, unison vocals, and upbeat rhythms, then this is the song for you. The instrumentation is simple: standard rhythm section plus Latin percussion. If you have non-pitched percussion instruments sitting around your classroom, this would be a great time to let the kids play along. And about that clapping – start in m. 21 at the end of the bridge (just before the D.S.) then continue on beats "two-and, four" to the end. As the writer listening back, Mike says he wishes he had added claps in bars 15 and 17 on the beats "one-and, and three." Feel free to add those if you like.

We sang this song with the lyrics, "Feliz día de la madre." The optional lyrics for Father's Day would be "Feliz día del padre." We have recorded a version for padres, too, and put it on our web site as well as a pronunciation guide. (See details in the box on page 58.)

(Note: This song includes a Diving Deeper Into The Music learning assessment PDF.)