My Country Tis of Thee, also called "America", is one of our most stirring patriotic songs.
This page has an easy but nicely harmonized version of America for late elementary piano students. In addition, I have included a downloadable pdf of the "My Country 'Tis of Thee" lyrics. (For lead sheet versions and easy guitar tabs for this song, see this page.)
When I was a girl, this was one of the songs we sang at school. I seem to remember singing lots of patriotic songs as a schoolgirl; I wonder if kids still do that.
From AmericaTheBeautiful.com, nice photos & videos, and children's voices singing "My Country 'Tis of Thee":
Here is My Country Tis of Thee for second or third year piano students, depending on the student.
I had fingering in my own copy, but have had a change of mind about including it for you, since there are different ways the fingering can go.
Think of this, instead, as an opportunity to discuss good fingering with your student, and try different approaches to the notes. I would use some finger replacement as well as crossing over and tucking under; see what you and your student prefer!
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
Notice the two broken chords in the second half of My Country 'Tis of Thee.
The F chord is easy, but the C inversion will be easier to understand and play if your student has already been exposed to the cadences and chord inversions found in the page 12 Major Scales and Chords for Piano.
Here is a performance of Josh Groban and Heather Headley singing live at Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. -- a very polished production:
For group or classroom use, you may find this printable PDF of America's lyrics handy to download:
The link for the piano music:
Download "My Country Tis of Thee" (America) for piano
The link for the lyrics for America:
Download America lyrics, "My Country 'Tis of Thee", free
America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)
All the first-year material I give my beginner students.
Piano keyboard sheets, scales, chords, note-reading exercises, and over 256 pages of music!
This beautiful song book for piano & voice "Esther, For Such a Time as This", available as a digital download, tells the riveting story of the time when Jews in ancient Persia faced a foe named Haman, and how a brave young queen risked her life to save her people.
A good choice for a singing story-teller, an operatic group, a short theater production, or a class of children!
This book is also available from Amazon as a paperback.
This book is available as a digital download from this site. Visit this page to see some free examples from the book.
It is also available from Amazon as a paperback!
This is the perfect easy start for little pianists.
And when they start reading white-key notes on the staff, this is a fun easy resource to say each week, "Choose a new black-key song at home this week and figure it out to show me next lesson!" They will be spending more time at the piano.
A perfect read aloud storybook
for little boys or girls.
The Adventures of Tonsta highlight the travels of a very young boy with a good heart, who goes about helping folk in trouble.
With a red cap on his head and a sack of tools slung over his shoulder, Tonsta seems to meet people in distress wherever he goes.
Lots of trolls in this book - including one who gives him a Christmas gift!
Do you have a funny story about this music, or does it remind you of something you'd like to share with other readers? Do you have a question? I'd love to hear it!
Please note that all comments are moderated, and will not appear until I have approved them. Also, IF YOU ARE ASKING FOR MUSIC THAT IS NOT IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, YOUR REQUEST WILL BE IGNORED. That's pretty much any music written in the last 75 years...
Hi, I'm Dana! (Say that like "Anna".) I'm the owner of Music-for-Music-Teachers.com, and a newer site, SingTheBibleStory.com.
Like some of you, I've been playing the piano since early childhood, and have added a few other instruments along the way, plus an interest in arranging and composing music.
You can find out more about me and the reason for this website at my About Me page.