Great River Fall Folk Song and Hymn plus Emily Dickinson

Below are the links to our Folk song and Hymn for Fall Term, with an Emily Dickinson piece thrown in for good measure. Information about the songs is for your use only .. you might find a piece of information that makes a good connection to something you are studying or you may want to skip looking for connections and just listen to the music ... your child being able to listen to the songs and learn them without opinions or steering from us is the goal. Blessings on your week. Looking forward to seeing you and singing with you this Friday ! .. Janet

Folk Song : The Ash Grove

Wikipedia link

Listen :

Very slow and simple version. Includes lyrics on screen.

Instrumental version, played by a group called Ballycastle .. lots of bagpipes .. very fun.

Simple version, Nana Mouskouri singing, still slow

The Ash Grove

The ash grove, how graceful, how plainly 'tis speaking,
The harp through it playing has language for me;
Whenever the light through its branches is breaking,
A host of kind faces is gazing on me.
The friends of my childhood again are before me,
Each step wakes a mem'ry, as freely I roam;
With soft whispers laden, its leaves rustle o'er me;
The ash grove, the ashgrove alone is my home.


Down yonder green meadow where streamlets meander
When twilight is fading I pensively roam
Or in the bright noon tide in solitude wander
Amid the dark spaces of that lonely ash grove.
‘Twas there while the black bird was cheerfully singing
I first met my dear one the joy of my heart
Around us for gladness the blue bells were springing
The ash grove, the ash grove that sheltered my home.

Hymn : Shall We Gather at the River

Information about the song

Listen ( choral version )

Shall We Gather at the River Words & Music: Ro­bert Low­ry, 1864

Shall we gather at the river
Where bright angel feet have trod;
With its crystal tide forever
Flowing by the throne of God?

CHORUS.

Yes, we'll gather at the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river --
Gather with the saints at the river
That flows by the throne of God.

On the margin of the river,
Washing up its silver spray,
We will walk and worship ever,
All the happy, golden day.


On the bosom of the river,
Where the Saviour-king we own,
We shall meet, and sorrow never
'Neath the glory of the throne. Cho.


Ere we reach the shining river,
Lay we every burden down;
Grace our spirits will deliver,
And provide a robe and crown. Cho.


At the smiling of the river,
Rippling with the Saviour's face,
Saints, whom death will never sever,
Lift their songs of saving grace. Cho.

Soon we'll reach the shining river,
Soon our pilgrimage will cease,
Soon our happy hearts will quiver
With the melody of peace. Cho.


Fall Poet : Emily Dickinson

Miss Dickinson's poem entitiled Hope was set to music recently by a singersongwriter from Nashville, Tennessee named Julie Lee. You can listen to the song here .

Hope
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.