A New Day

The beginning of the song, "A New Day," is very dramatic. It starts with just a piano playing lightly and freely and is joined by a young soloist who states the case of the entire song - and the revue - in the first phrase. As always, the solo is optional, but if you have a student who is capable of performing it, it will be very effective. If you have control over the circumstances at all, try to get the performance area as serene and quiet as possible before beginning. Perhaps turning down the lights to a gentle glow will help the audience become still. Having all of your student performers already in position on stage will also help.

As the solo ends and the music goes from 3/4 to cut-time, bring the lights slowly up to full. Have your soloist step back into the full ensemble. Make sure the first entrance of the entire group is strong and enthusiastic to contrast the beginning.

From this point until almost the end, the song is in unison. The melody is in logical eight bar phrases which are repetitious enough to remember despite the variable lyrics through the verse. At the chorus, the lyrics basically reiterate the beginning solo lyrics. The song flows into a bridge at measure 73 which helps to lift the singers into a new section and a new key. Be sure to have them really emphasize the words, "Oh, I'm, I'm on my way! I'm on my way!" to help with the emotional impact of this section. (There's even a soaring horn gliss on the recording to help with this part.)

After the key change, the verse repeats exactly from the previous key so there are no new lyrics to memorize. The energy level should really be up there now! Remind your singers that they are expressing their excitement over this wonderful gift that we all receive with each sunrise - a new day! They want their audience to also get caught up in the feeling of joy. Enthusiasm is contagious!

The first occurrence of an optional divisi occurs the second time at measure 119. If you have a few singers who can comfortably go to the high E, by all means, let them. It will add to the energy of the moment. The last few measures of the song also indicate an optional divisi. If you would rather not divide your singers, choose either the high D or the low G to sing. If you only have a few singers sing the high D and B and let everyone else sing the low G, it will still come off very nicely. Continue the divisi line in the last two bars accordingly, if possible.

The best suggestion we have for you for this song is to use our Performance/Accompaniment Compact Disc or Cassette. If you subscribed to Music K-8 this year, you received the recording free. Put it in your stereo and listen. The orchestration on this song is so nice, we think you and your students (and audience) will enjoy it very much. Besides using our usual complement of talented rhythm, winds, and strings, we added an oboist to this recording session. There is an ongoing counterpoint in oboe, flute and flugelhorn (check out measure 73) that we feel is extremely tasteful, if we do say so ourselves. There's also a bit of a brass choir with a hymn-like quality in one section while another section is more orchestral. We even added a larger string ensemble to this session (having realized that there is simply no substitute for the sound of a large string section). This is one of those songs that we would encourage you to play for your students without the vocals just so they can hear the wonderful instrumental tracks.

Another advantage to using the recording for this song is the ability to demonstrate it for your students. The professional singers on the recording do a very nice job of performing this song. Our soloist at the beginning, Katy Gentry, was particularly pleasant. Your students might find it useful to listen and emulate what they hear.