These teaching aids go along with an arrangement I wrote for We’ll Bring the World His Truth written by Janice Kapp Perry b.1938 and is pg. 172 in the Primary Children’s Songbook. This is an upbeat, strong marchy song, amazingly written in a 3/4 time signature. Most marches are four counts per measure which lends wonderfully to marching. This is an exception to that rule!
Music Method:
This might be a great time to discuss arrangements. An arrangement is born when a person rewrites music from another composer. Arrangements could add more notes for a fuller sound, different melodies intertwined with the original melody, different rhythms, key changes, etc. An arranger is always grateful and acknowledges the original composer.
Another musical thought that might be taught to your group is about melody. A melody is the main tune or notes to a song. (see solfege) It is the part that you can hum or whistle. One person could sing a melody. In this arrangement, the melody is not always played for the singers. That means that the singers need to be strong and brave, sometimes singing out that melody by themselves without support from the piano.
Word Pictures:
I like to use posters for teaching in my primary. They are easy to store in a closet if you have access to one at your church. It is also an easy tool for a substitute to grab in a pinch. There are several ways to create a poster. You could write out all the words, then put the word picture at the end of the sentence for a trigger. You could only write keywords to remember before or after the word picture. You could only use the word pictures. Be creative! Sometimes I glue the picture for hints on the poster permanently, and sometimes I have them removable (laminate them and tape them in place). When reviewing the song over and over, you could take off one picture at a time or roll a dice to see how many pictures have to come off. Get a copy of the word pictures here.
A few tips for teaching:
A word that is used often in this song is “we”. This is a great word to focus on. The whole message of this song is the fact that we (the children in your primary) are the missionaries called upon to bring the truth to the world. So, listening for that word would be great! The children could stand, raise their hands, point to someone or a picture in the room, etc when they heard this word in the song.
Moving would also be a wonderful way to have your children learn this song and the steady rhythm of this song will really drive a steady movement. Be creative and change it up between verse and chorus. Some options would be to slap your hips and then two claps, step side by side, sweep palms down thighs, and then clap and then snap, roll both hands then lift one, etc.
Gospel Teaching
As I mentioned above, this song teaches that each one of our children is called to bring the world His truth. This could lead to a great discussion of how they can be an example and teach the gospel in their everyday life! The last verse has some great ideas on how these little children can get ready to become a real missionary! Other songs could be added to reinforce this principle such as Called to Serve Pg 174, I Hope They Call Me on a Mission Pg 169 or I Want to Be a Missionary Now Pg 168 to just mention a few.