Looking for a way to give your younger children more exposure to Gregorian chant? I found a little book that I hope you will love and use! It combines child-friendly rhymes, pictures, and chant.
It is called “The Story of Redemption for Children“, with rhymes by Fr. F. Abair, illustrations by Sr. M. Joanne, and chants that range from the joyful Magnificat to the somber and serious Miserere.
Discovering a “new” resource (this one comes from 1952) for our homeschool is always exciting, but when it has to do with Gregorian chant, is doctrinally sound, has beautiful illustrations, and it’s free, I just clap my hands I get so excited!!
“The Story of Redemption for Children” was made to help little children become familiar with Gregorian chant, while teaching stories of Jesus, Mary, and the Saints. It can be downloaded, printed, and shared from Musica Sacra: The Story of Redemption. Go on, click the link…I’ll wait for you…
Ok, so you like what you saw? But… you have a big problem:
You can’t read music well enough to sight read it, or you can’t read music at all.
Don’t worry, I thought of you, and I want to help. I don’t want you to miss out on this free resource. The songs in this little book, although sometimes a little awkward to sing, are beneficial enough and worth the effort to learn…and that means it’s worth it to me to make little recordings of the songs so that you can sing them with your future priests and nuns, too. (wink, wink.)
I hope you try to sing at least one of these…it will be fun! You can just play the recordings and show the pictures to the kids all online if you want!
Some suggestions:
- Plan how you want to use this resource. In our house, we plan on one page a week, but it is spontaneous. I sing a song that has to do with the season we are in (as I write this it is Lent) or has to do with what we learned in Catechism. Maybe you don’t want to do the whole book, but use some of the songs and stories to supplement what you’re already doing. Maybe you sing half of the book in one day because the kids keep wanting more…it’s all up to you! There’s no wrong way to use it!
- Print out the entire book beforehand if you want them to color it and do the suggested activities. Or, just show them the pictures online!
- Learn the melodies before you show the kids the song, or play the recordings. (I suggest learning just one at a time.)
- If you’re intimidated, just pick one or two of the pages that look most appealing to you. Practice them by singing with the recordings, and when the season of Lent (or Christmas) comes around, you will be ready.
- Feel free to read the words first, or after you sing, and discuss them with your kids!
- Sing them the song at least twice the first day.
- Sing or hum the melody of the chant at other times during the day, or as you put them to sleep…the melodies will become familiar over time.
- Remember, exposure to Gregorian chant is one of the goals of this resource, not mastery of the songs. Don’t feel like your children need to learn the words, either. You can save that for high school, when they can learn the real texts.
About the sound recordings I’ve made: my singing is not perfect, and guess what…it doesn’t matter if you’re singing isn’t perfect, either. Your kids love your out-of-tune voice because it’s the voice of someone who loves them.
So, here are the basic preparation steps to use this resource:
- Pick a song you’d like to use.
- Decide when to use it.
- Print the page, or keep the link to Musica Sacra bookmarked.
- Practice the song by singing along with the recording.
Please continue on to the next page to listen to the music that accompanies each page of “The Story of Redemption in Chant”:
The Story of Redemption – the Sound Recordings
If you benefit from using these recordings, or think someone else might enjoy them, please share it with others! Thank you, and God bless your family!
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