A peace song I actually like

After all my whining and complaining last week about why I hate peace songs, I now have a peace song that I quite like. This past Saturday, I went to a music conference and attended a workshop on children’s choirs led by Joanne Hammil, and she taught us a very simple, but effective, peace song. The words are a straightforward prayer or meditation: “May I be an instrument of peace.” The melody works as either a meditative chant to be sung over and over again, or as a round with up to eight voices. We sang it in our church choir on Monday, and I’ve been singing it at home, and I haven’t gotten sick of it yet. So here it is:

Sheet music for “May I Be an Instrument of Peace”
MIDI file of “May I Be an Instrument of Peace”

(Please remember that MIDI files sound dreadful, and you should not judge this song by that file — the MIDI file is just there if you want to learn the melody of the song.)

1 thought on “A peace song I actually like

  1. Jean

    Hm. An “instrument” for peace? I don’t know. Maybe I have to hear the song, but it sounds a little clinical. And, sorry, not very inspiring. I’m in favor of the thing that got the second graders going: PEACE OUT DUDE! They really liked that.

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