Keep The Candles Going

This song was written with flexibility in mind. While it works nicely for the holiday season, it is also usable any time of year, depending on your needs. It is another one of those songs that will work well with the beautiful orchestration on the recording, but which would also be very nice if played live on the piano.

At the beginning of the song, you have the option of featuring one or more soloist. On the recording, we featured Kevin Colvin and Grace Morgan. (Grace also sings the optional solo at the end of the piece.)

If you are using one or more soloists, have them light their candles before singing. Or have a "helper" light a candle for the soloists and stand near them as they sing. If you can have the lights turned down or off, it would produce a nice effect. Perhaps only other distant lights could be on as well, such as the lights of a Christmas tree (if you are using the song during the holiday season). Have the rest of your singers light their candles when they join the verse the second time through. If you prefer, you can have them light their candles when they enter at the pick-up to measure 13 the first time.

The divisi at measure 13 is optional as always, but we feel it adds so much to the tune. If you are shy about part-singing with younger students, ask some older ones to help out. Our singers really enjoyed the parts and how they sounded when blended. For older students, consider adding harmony notes, too. The piano part and chords can be used as reference to determine what notes would sound best. Let students write their own parts as part of a study in harmony.

If you find that using the lyrics "going" and "glowing" are confusing to some of your singers, go ahead and use the same word in every instance (your choice). Also, though the correct use of the word "bright" should be "brightly," we have tapped into our poetic license for the sake of the flow and rhyme. (Forgive us.) One other note: We have indicated the use of optional lyrics at measure 9 the second time. They are indicated on the bottom of the music.

Though we refer to "lighting" candles, we actually recommend the use of battery-powered candles as opposed to real ones. If you choose to use real candles, be sure to take proper precautions and get some advice - and even some hands-on assistance - from your local fire department.