Stories Behind the Songs

Two Winter Songs for Children

Here are two winter songs for children that Mary Alice and I have sung for a long time that I turned into simple choral arrangements that are now available on our online choral sheet music download library/store.  Both include guitar chords and composed piano accompaniment. Stopping by the

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The Story of Eli, Eli

Eli, Eli The Short Story The Hebrew poem “Eli, Eli” was written by Hannah Szenes in 1942, and was set to music by David Zehavi in 1945.  I sang it with the Brattleboro Music Center Children’s Choir in 1991, and arranged it for piano/SATB in 2010. The Longer

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The Story of “Bright Morning Stars”

August 26, 2021 Bright Morning Stars The Short Story I arranged this traditional Appalachian spiritual for the Guilford (VT) Community Church UCC Choir in 2006. More I met Mary Alice at the weekly Tuesday evening contra dance held at the YWCA in Cambridge Massachusetts’ Central Square in September

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the story of “The Silver Rain”

August 18, 2021 The Silver Rain Short Story “The Silver Rain”, words by Alice Henderson, music by Marianne Zimmerman. I wrote an a cappella SATB harmonization of this after Mary Alice and I learned it from Harry and Edith Barron who had learned it while living in the

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the story behind “I Still Have Joy”

August 3, 2021Dear Singing Friends,This is the first of a series on the songs in our Amidon Online Sheet Music Download Library/Store:I Still Have Joy Short Story“I Still Have Joy”, by Danny Mccrimmon and Joseph Calvin Jackson, is a classic African American gospel song that I arranged for a

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Free Downloads

Here is an alphabetical list of Free Downloads, with links to the free pdf files. Unless otherwise noted, all of these are SATB a cappella, arranged by Peter Amidon. Abecedarius – Peter’s unison setting of a 19th century Shaker poem; a children’s alphabetical list of animals. Abolitionist My

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