What a Wonderful World

Trees of Green - artwork from participant

I see trees of green, red roses too,
I see them bloom for me and you.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world!

These are the opening lines of the famous song, which we sang and explored at OrchLab sessions in Autumn 2020. This is a great song to sing along to, but it can also be a good conversation starter for people to discuss what is important to them.

Use this song as a starting point to ask: ‘What would be in your Wonderful World?’ The answers could be discussed or even made into personal artworks.

Try using your artworks or discussion and turn them into new lyrics for the song, keeping the line “And I think to myself, What a wonderful world” at the end of each verse.

Here are some examples of artwork and lyrics created by OrchLab groups from St Cecilia’s and Bramley Hill Garwood Foundation.

When you have created your new lyrics, you can sing them along with this performance of the song by musicians from the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Or you could sing the original lyrics, or even simply just listen and enjoy the music.