Part of our Morning Time this year will be learning a hymn each term. We will listen to a beautiful performance of the chosen hymn and then sing it every day of the term during Morning Time. I’ll also provide sheet music so the kids can learn to “read” the sheet the music. At this point I just want them to see the pattern of the notes going up and down with our voices, and start to see the different counts of the different kinds of notes.
I asked the members of my local Catholic Homeschooling group to share their three favorite hymns with me. I got quite a huge response, and noticed there were many that were cited over and over again. I thought you all might also appreciate a handy resource for favorite hymns. So here you go. In no particular order.
Holy God We Praise Thy Name (this was easily the most often mentioned) Here’s the sheet music.
Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All
The King of Love My Shepherd Is
All Creatures of Our God and KingHail Holy Queen (Some might not like this less traditional version, but I think it’s great.)
Be Thou My Vision (And here’s a beautiful instrumental version.)
Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee (And because I love flash mobs, here’s a great one that makes me cry every time I see it.)
Please do share your favorite hymns and links to favorite versions of the ones listed here. I had such a lovely morning putting together this post and listening to beautiful music!
August 12, 2014
I would add “The Lord is my Light” and “Amazing Grace” to this already very good list.
As far as Christmas hymns go, Hark the Herald Angels Sing is a cool one because of many buried scripture references. For example, in verse 3, it says, “Light and life to all He brings/ Ris’n with healing in His wings,” a reference to both Malachi 4:2 (“But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.”), a reference to the Day of the Lord (interpreted by Christians as the day of our salvation—the crucifixion) and also the story of the hemorrhagic woman in Mark 5:25-34, because the tassels on the prayer shawl that she grasped were called “wings” (same word as in Malachi). Anyway, just one cool reference in that hymn.
August 12, 2014
Hark the Herald Angels Sing is one of my favorites as well. I can’t hear it without crying. And I can’t ever actually sing the whole thing because I end up bawling.