Richard,

Bobbie's comments makes me think I'll rework this slightly to include an intro/conclusion of the old standard spiritual on the same theme as the "frame" for this. I omitted it earlier because of overall length. In a piece that is participative echoing between a leader and the group listening, that might not be as large of an issue, however.

In performance, I could gain the attention of the listeners by singing solo the "toe bone through head bone" portion of the old spiritual. Then I would stop and give instructions for them to help me tell the story of Ezekiel's valley of dry bones by the listeners repeating each line after me. Then maybe at the end, we could all do the "toe bone through head bone" section again together to conclude.

Hmmm... I'm going to have to practice this if I'm going to do it right. My new section has very little range in melody line and should be immediately accessible to most any audiance to participate with first time through. The added sections from the old spiritual would simply add color and interest.

This might work as a children's story, or a campfire special at a summer camp, or for setting up a sermon based on that passage from the Bible.

Thanks for your encouragment.

Skip

Last edited by Skip Johnson; 09/24/07 03:53 PM.