I wrote this song for my students at Garden Hills Elementary, a school in Atlanta that has over 40 different languages represented. A fun performance piece, Thank You has a middle section that allows for creativity and multi-cultural harmony. Construct a vocal collage, using the words for “thank you” in various languages. Whenever possible, invite native speakers to teach the pronunciation, so that singers can discover the colors and rhythms inherent in the sounds each language. Compose a repeatable rhythmic/melodic phrase for each language. Then, layer the musical phrases into a multi-lingual tapestry of interlocking parts. Below is the collage I created with my students at Garden Hills. I also accompany this song with Sign Language.