Last Song, a Singable Picture Book, and a New Song Written and Recorded by Emily (who got by with a little help from her friends!)
Posted on: February 23, 2011
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Last Song (A Lullaby)
Poem by James Guthrie
Music by Emily Everson Gleichenhaus and Paul Raiman
Illustrated by Eric Rohmann
Sing along with Emily:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song
A little spark of magic happened for me this week. Tuckahoe Elementary had its annual Book Fair and I found a small but beautiful picture book that called itself “A Lullaby.” The book didn’t come with music, though, and no tune emerged from an internet search either.
Reading through the lovely poem, however, a tune twinkled in my head. I wrote the notes on some staff paper and sang it into a recorder (not knowing even the time signature) and sent it off the wonderful Paul Raimon (www.myrehearsalpianist.com) who wrote a lovely music box accompaniment for it.
This past Monday, we had our first recording session for the CD to accompany ”Sing Books With Emily, the Cabaret,” and while we were at it, we recorded the song:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song
With Emily on vocals, Judy Simmons directed and Jeff Tucker (www.artofmusicstudios.com) sound engineered the track. The accompaniment is composed and played by Paul Raimon (www.myrehearsalpianist.com).
The song and Singable Picture Books are settings of a “spare ode to the heavens” written by James Guthrie (1874-1952). Sadly, precious little seems to be available online about the life and times of Mr. Guthrie, except that he was a Scottish Poet and that he founded a private publishing company called “Pear Tree Press.”
His verse for “Last Song,” is sprinkled with wonderful words that most of us seldom get the chance to say, much less in rhyme:
Last Song
Poem by James Guthrie
To the sun
Who has shone all day,
To the moon
Who has gone away,
to the milk-white, silk-white, lily-white star,
A fond goodnight
Wherever you are.
Eric Rohmann, an Chicago illustrator, has set this poem with wonderfully woodsy watercolors in browns, blues, greens, and purples, depicting a family of squirrels enjoying each other and the delights of trees, an open grassy clearing, and the magical night sky. Read it at bedtime or sing the tune for an extra special moment before sleep.
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Addendum 4/26/2012
I need to try this out sometime, if LAST SONG can be sung in the round.
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A page for the Sing Books with Emily SINGABLE ADVENT CALENDAR
Last Song , a lullaby gift from Emily…
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Last Song (A Lullaby)
Poem by James Guthrie
Music by Emily Everson Gleichenhaus and Paul Raiman
To view or print this page, click here:
SBWE Advent Calendar Last Song
Sing-Along with Emily:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/last-song
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Related Articles
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LAST SONG, SBWE SINGABLE ADVENT CALENDAR
http://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/sbwe-singable-advent-calendar-last-song/
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Oh, What a Beautiful Day: Sing Books with Emily, the Cabaret
http://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/sing-books-with-emily-the-cabaret/
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ADVENT CALENDAR
Sing Books with Emily Singable Advent Calendar
http://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/the-sing-books-with-emily-singable-advent-calendar/
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POETRY SINGABLE POETRY IN COMPILATIONS
An list of singable poems from compilations of poetry for children
http://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/singable-poetry-a-list-of-poems-that-can-be-sung-from-illustrated-compilations-of-poetry-and-singable-picture-books/
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POETRY, SINGABLE POETRY IN INDIVIDUALLY ILLUSTRATED SINGABLE PICTURE BOOKS
A list of individually illustrated poems that have been set to music and can be sung
http://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/poems-individually-illustrated-spb/
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SING BOOKS WITH EMILY SINGABLE ADVENT CALENDAR
http://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/the-sing-books-with-emily-singable-advent-calendar/
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SONGS BY EMILY
http://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/songs-by-emily/
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RECORDINGS BY EMILY
http://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/recordings/
