Sing St John welcomes you to our Senior Singalong, Episode 21.

My name is Winnie and I'm here today with Michael.

Lucia.

Gwen.

And Bodicea.

Today we are going to sing Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho in four part harmony.

Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho is a well-known Negro spiritual.

The song was composed by slaves in the first half of the 1800s.

The lyrics tell of the biblical story of the Battle of Jericho, in which Joshua led the Israelites against Canaan.

As with many Negro spirituals, the biblical imagery can also be read as a hidden allusion to escape from slavery, either a signal of an escape attempt or simply the expression of their hope for freedom.

Some parts were written in dialect.

For example, fit means fought.

The lively melody and rhythm provides energy and inspiration.

Let's start with posture.

Our backs are tall and ready for action.

If you're sitting, sit as tall as you can and place both feet flat on the floor.

Now we're ready to vocalize, let's get those cobwebs & frogs out with a nice siren sound.

Throat big.

Eyes wide open, like this.

(laughter) Are you ready?

Let's try it.

Great.

Now we'll warm up our low voices using the word low.

It's going to sound like this.

Okay.

Lips round, throat open in the back.

(piano) (piano) Breathe.

Think about the sound.

Last one.

Very good.

Okay.

One last singing exercise for today.

(piano) Okay, let's try that together.

(piano) Shoulders relaxed.

Spine erect.

Breathe.

Smile.

One more.

Great job.

Now we're going to do a little tongue twister.

You want to do it faster?

Yes.

(laughter) Okay, let's go.

Yay!

Boy, you guys are good.

(laughter) Now we're ready to sing Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho As always, we’ll sing it through for you so that you can hear the harmonies and hear how they fit together.

(piano introduction) Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

(laughter) We got it.

These are really interesting harmonies.

They are a little challenging in places.

You have to really listen to make sure you stay in tune.

We're going to start with the basses.

Everyone else can take a rest or sing along.

It's up to you.

Michael will demonstrate the bass harmony for us.

There are two sections to this song, the chorus and the verse.

We'll start with the chorus.

Michael will sing a phrase.

Then you repeat.

Michael sings.

You repeat.

Nice, Michael.

Now let's sing those phrases together.

Nice.

There are certainly some low notes in there.

Let's look at that verse, same way.

Call and response.

Okay now, combining those phrases for the verse, Solid, Michael.

See the kind of unusual harmonies here.

Let's sing chorus and verse with the piano and other voices in the background to see how you fit in together.

(piano introduction) Excellent.

Ha!

Very good, Michael.

Tenors.

Now it's our turn.

Tenors our part is a little less wordy.

We don't start off singing the first Joshua fit the battle of.

We start singing on Jericho, Jericho, Jericho.

I'll show you.

I sing.

You repeat.

See how that works?

We have a nice, cushy part.

Let's sing through it.

Good.

Now let's move on to the verse.

Ha!

That's quite a verse, isn't it?

(laughter) Let's sing it through together.

Very good.

We're going to sing the chorus and the verse together with the piano and voices in the background.

(piano introduction) (piano) Good job, tenors.

You can take a little break while Lucia and Gwen help us learn the alto part.

Lucia and Gwen will introduce the alto harmony by call and response.

They sing, you repeat.

(piano introduction) Good altos.

Putting the chorus together now, make sure we have energy.

That's right.

That's a lot of words.

Aren't you glad we did, Red Leather, Yellow Leather.

Let's learn the verse now.

Whoo!

Okay, now we're combining those phrases for the verse.

Nice job, ladies.

Let's sing the chorus and the verse together with the accompaniment and see how it fits together.

(piano introduction) Yeah.

(laughter) Excellent.

Ladies.

Thank you.

You can have a seat.

Get a drink of water.

We are going to learn the soprano melody with Bodicea.

Bodicea, you get to sing the part we learned in school.

The melody.

Do you remember that verse part, though?

I’ll try a thing.

(laughter) Well, we'll get there reminding ourselves of that verse after we learn the chorus.

Let's do some call and response.

Thanks, Bodicea.

Now let's sing the chorus together.

Okay, onto the verse now.

Now let's combine those phrases for the verse.

Thank you so much, Bodicea.

Sopranos, that's so straightforward.

I think we should go right into singing it through with everyone else's harmonies.

Okay, everybody, let's give it all we got.

Lots of energy.

Yeah.

Yes.

Woo!

(laughter).

Good job.

We got through this.

Thank you for joining our Senior Singalong.

One day will perhaps sing together at the pool at a basketball game, at Annaberg, at the Senior Center., or when we do our health walks.

Until then, keep singing!

(piano introduction) Good night to you all and sweet be thy sleep May angels around you their silent watch keep Good night, good night, good night, good night Good night to you all and sweet be thy sleep May angels around you their silent watch keep Good night, good night, good night, good night Good night to you all and sweet be thy sleep May angels around you their silent watch keep Good night, good night, good night, good night Good night to you all and sweet be thy sleep May angels around you their silent watch keep Good night, good night, good night, good night May angels around you their silent watch keep Good night, good night, good night, good night.

Good night everyone!

Bbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..... You got to keep your finger straight, buddy.

You can't tilt them forward.

Unless you're doing the MindMeld.

(laughter) William Shatner couldnt do it so had to tie his fingers together.

Just a little Krazy Glue.

Lets get those cobwebs and frogs out with a nice siren sound on the sound, “Ooh!” Okay.

Throat big.

Eyes wide open like this.

Woo hoo!

(Lucia coughs - really loud) That was a whole family of frogs Lucia.

(laughter) There is none like good ole Joshua... (silence) and the Battle of Jericho.

(laughter)