How Do You Tell A Veteran "Thank You"?

How do you tell our veterans "thank you"? You make them feel like every day is Veterans Day. That is the message of this simple and sweet song. The sacrifices that the men and women of our Armed Forces made and are making impact every day of our lives. It's very worth our time and effort to make sure that each and every one of them feels that they are appreciated. They are truly American heroes.

This song features a gentle piano part that could be played for a live performance with a choir or a soloist. You can, of course, use the recorded accompaniment that features a piano, guitar, bass, and solo violin. Simple, yet poignant. As an option, consider having the first verse (measures 5 through 12) sung by a soloist, as we did on the full performance track on the recording for this issue. Then, at measure 13, the full choir can come in along with the optional second vocal part. To help your singers learn the second part, there is an isolated rehearsal track available on our web site. If you choose to have this sung by just a soloist (with or without the optional second part), we have a great example for you to listen to. It's also available on our web site. This solo version was sung by our amazing vocalist (and our equally amazing choreographer), Melissa Schott.

To further add to the performance of this piece on Veterans Day, or really any time, consider using sign language with it as well. Our expert Judi Thomas has once again created videos that you can use to teach the signs to your students. Note that these are just for part 1, as part 2 is only the syllable, "ooh." You can find these at our web site, too.

Editor's note – We have decided to include this song for Veterans Day in the first issue of the year instead of the second, which would be more typical for us. We wanted to be sure you had plenty of time to prepare the song for your Veterans Day program, especially if you are planning to use the sign language.