On your sheet of paper – write one line you remember from Lift Every Voice and Sing. Then write one line you remember from This Little Light of Mine. From memory, no help.
"The line I remember from each song is _______. I think I remember it because _______."
I can CONNECT "This Little Light of Mine" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing" by performing both songs and explaining what links them.
L47 = Lift Every Voice (anthem). L48 = the floor (body percussion). L49 = gestures + bilingual rounds. L50 = your verse. L51 = one room, both songs together – everything from this week in a single class.
4-count inhale → 8-count exhale on a slow "sss." Two cycles. Ribs wide.
30 secHum the chorus of This Little Light of Mine on pitch. Lips closed. Stamp-clap optional under it.
90 secI call the opening phrase of Lift Every Voice and Sing. You echo it back exactly. Two times through.
60 secBreath → hum This Little Light of Mine → echo Lift Every Voice and Sing. Same voice you're about to perform with for the next 34 minutes.
I distribute verse sheets now. Find yesterday's verse. If you revised it last night, use the new version.
Each pair sings their verse. No piano, no track. After each verse: whole class sings the chorus together.
Listen for where the melody lands in the room. That is your reference for Round 2.
Same format. I play piano on the verse and the chorus. Each pair sings full voice. Room sings the chorus after every verse.
Push the volume. The piano gives you the pitch. Use it.
This is the same structure Betty Mae Fikes led in 1965. Every person brought their verse. The room sang the chorus between. That is exactly this.
Are these two words saying the same thing, or something different? Talk to your partner. 90 seconds. Then I'll call on someone.
There is no wrong answer. I want a specific reason, not just "they're both positive."
Verse 1 of Lift Every Voice and Sing – from memory. I play, whole class sings together.
Call and response if a phrase drops out – I call the phrase, you echo, then full together on the repeat.
No piano. I step to the side. The room carries Verse 1 on its own.
If the pitch drifts, let it drift and come back. Do not stop. The room corrects itself.
If someone who had never been to this class walked in during Round 2 – what would they need to know about this room to understand what they were hearing?
"What did you feel today that you didn't feel in any single lesson this week?"
I'm listening for: something specific, something that happened in the room. Not "it was good." What changed when both songs were in the same space?
I write 3 words on the SmartBoard as scholars respond.
Both songs come from moments when people decided not to be quiet.
Lift Every Voice and Sing: James Weldon Johnson, 1900, written for a school assembly. This Little Light of Mine: Civil Rights mass meetings, 1960s, Selma, Birmingham, everywhere.
Different eras. Different rooms. Today you put them together – in this room.
That is not incidental. That is what the capstone is about.
"When we sing together, we remember who we are." – Ysaye M. Barnwell, Sweet Honey in the Rock
Check the box for each task you completed today (1 pt each):
☐ I sang my verse during the Chain of Light
☐ I sang Verse 1 of Lift Every Voice and Sing with the group
☐ I can name one thing both songs share
1 pt per checked box • Max 3 pts
What do these two songs have in common?
"These two songs connect because _______________."
1 pt = names a specific theme or element • 1 pt = ties it to something from today
📝 ON YOUR SHEET OF PAPER. Check the 3 boxes (Q1) and complete the sentence (Q2). Turn the sheet in to me when you leave.