As You Walk Through This World

This very beautiful song was originally written as our tribute to Earth Day for this March/April issue. And certainly, you can hear how it could be used as a focus for that important and special day. However, the lyrics and the message are such that it can have a broader meaning and usage, if you so desire. Again, life lessons and character development come to mind.

Go over the lyrics with your students and discuss them if you have time. Bring the classroom teacher in to share the discussions. What meanings could be gleaned from the words? What contexts could they be applied to? The bottom line message is to leave the world well. Does that have more than one possible meaning?

Though the song is slow and meant to be sung in a head voice, it is still accessible to your younger singers. In fact, it is good practice for singing with a pretty tone. The melody is not difficult, the one high note (the D in the second ending) is optional, and the whole song is unison.

If you are concerned that a song as slow as this one might lose the interest of some of your students, you're not alone. That is why we have added sign language. Indeed, the use of sign language is one of the reasons the song is as slow as it is. It gives students more time to form each sign. We have provided illustrations (by artist Cathy Blaski) for the words on pages 44 and 45 of this issue for your convenience. Use them all, or select key words only.

Ideally, students will sing the song the first time through. On the repeat, they will begin to use the sign language. Let everyone do the signs, or select a group of signers to feature. As the singers come back in on the pick-ups to measure 17 the second time, they may continue to sign, if you like. Or you could have them stop signing for a while and bring them back in, say, at the pick-ups to measure 25.

The piano part for this song is nice to play. It's lush and lovely and gives your pianist a chance to ebb and flow artistically. The song will certainly work very well with just piano if you want to do it live. We do, of course, include a wonderful arrangement on the recording as well, if you prefer to use that background. You will hear a small orchestra, complete with strings, playing the rich and tasteful accompaniment. The second time at measure 9, the strings give way to a lyrical flugelhorn solo for your students to sign along with.