Praise to the Man – Pat Graham

I thought since this song is a tough one, this week my focus will be merely introducing the song. Then in the next few weeks I’ll work on reinforcing the words with the Sr. Primary and focus more rhythm/beat with the Jr. More to come.

For singing time, play Scotland the Brave for the Primary to listen to.

Ask them if they know what instrument is being played. Once guessed, pull out the picture of the bagpiper, pass it around for everyone to see and hang it on the chalkboard.

Then ask if they recognized the tune of the song. If not, play it again. If still not (hopefully this will be the case), play Praise to the Man.

Ask if they recognize this song. Explain it’s a hymn and we are learning it this month. The tune to this song is similar to the bagpipe song.

Now play the song again and ask who the song is about and who we are looking up to. Once guessed, pull out the picture of Joseph Smith and hang it on the chalkboard. Briefly give a little history about how this song came about. Wikipedia has a little info:

“Praise to the Man” (originally titled “Joseph Smith“) was a poem written as a tribute to Joseph Smith, Jr. by Latter Day Saint leader and hymn writer William W. Phelps. The poem was composed soon after Smith’s death, and was later set to music and adopted as a hymn of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It was first published anonymously in the church newspaper Times and Seasons in August 1844, approximately one month after Smith was killed.[1] The hymn is still used within the LDS Church and is hymn #27 in the current LDS Church hymnal. The LDS hymnal now uses a melody based on “Scotland the Brave” in honor of Phelps’s Scottish heritage. The tune is modified to match the syllable count of the text.”

Find my week 2 lesson plan HERE and week 3 lesson plan HERE.