Christmas Makes Me Sing!

A little gospel two-beat ought to get your students moving while singing about the season! In fact, this lively song is so easy to learn that you might even have your audience joining in after the first couple of verses.

The song starts in D, is played through four times at measure 5, and then modulates to Eb, where it is performed another two times before ending. At the key change, the addition of off-beat claps will really add to the uplifting gospel style. They are, however, optional as usual.

In a way, you might consider this song a call and response piece. The chorus calls and a selected group of performers responds accordingly. We used a group of younger singers for the responses, but you can use another class, older students or whatever works for you. Each of the responses is indicated the first time in the music as it occurs. Afterwards, the response locations are labeled on the piano/vocal score. For clarity, just listen to the recording and you will see how it all fits together.

You will note that the title has an asterisk (*) in it on the piano/vocal score. The asterisk refers to the note that follows: Substitute any occasion, place or person for Christmas. In other words, you could say, Birthdays make me sing. Or, Texas makes me sing. Or, Miss Williams makes me sing. How about the name of your school or town? Insert the name of anything or anyone that you and your students might want to sing about. That way, this song can be used for any occasion any time of the year. Talk about versatile!