• 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