My Robe Is New
Composer
Difficulty
Moderately Difficult
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Voicing(s)
Instruments
Description
- Text Source: Shaker
- Tune Source: Shaker
- Worship Use: General
- Vocal Part(s): Three-part
- Vocal Range: Pt. I, e-a’; Pt. II, e-e’; Pt. III, A-c’
- Key: A minor
- Meter: 6/8
- Accompanying Instrument: a cappella
Target Age Group: Grades 3-6 (ideal for incorporating Grade 7-9 treble singers to assist the younger singers)
Description: My Robe Is New is a sweetly energetic anthem, ideal for a reflective moment in worship, a baptismal service, a memorial service or a Spring concert. The text is unusual and filled with memorable images. One of six Shaker source anthems offered in the Viva Voce 2011-2012 curriculum, this anthem provides an opportunity to work on a cappella three-part singing.
Anthem Warm-Ups
- bars 8-31: unmetered singing for intervallic tuning of three parts random phrases: staccato singing of parts for pitch accuracy
Teaching Points
- Rhythm/Meter: Sustaining a dance-like momentum in 6/8 time
- Vocal Production: Sustaining a lovely unified tone on lower pitches
- Musical Understanding: Performing 4-bar melodic/rhythmic phrases; singing long lines; shaping phrases
- Intervallic Tuning: Tuning harmonic intervals among the three parts
- Music History: Learning about early Shaker tunes and texts
- Music History/Style Exploration: Discussing imagery in Shaker texts
Audio
Lyrics
My robe is new, my crown is bright, I'm happy, blessed, and free;
I feel as little as a mite, as lively as a bee.
I sip the honey from the flower that blooms in Zion's vale,
I smell the odor from the bower that floats upon the gale.