The Rainbow Book

Using poetry, music, art and history to teach compassion and hope to people of all ages.

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Rainbow Book Blog

2nd Grade Violinist Playing “Here Comes That Rainbow Again”

By

Violin Player

In the first elementary school that I taught the book, a second grade gal took the sheet music to “Here Comes That Rainbow Again” home and had her dad play it on the piano. She then picked up her violin and began practicing the song playing it by ear. A week later she was back with this note to her teacher that read,

“Dear Mrs Underwood,

I can play Here Comes That Rainbow Again only in places I get stuck. I would be happy to play it for the class.”

Your student,

DaniJo”

Her teacher called me and asked if I could come back to the class to hear her. Needless to say I was moved beyond words. I’m sure Mr. Kristofferson would be too. Kids love singing the song which we always do after listening to it once. They sing along to the pictures while listening to the song on the CD. For me, hearing entire classrooms of children singing this song is one of the most heartwarming feelings I’ve ever felt. I included the sheet music in the book because I knew some students would be able to play it on an instrument. That happened immediately.

Enjoy,

Eve

 

How This Book Came to Be

By

Rainbow Book Authors

I first heard the song “Here Comes That Rainbow Again” in 1995 when I was home sick from my job as a teacher. Not only was I sick, but was also feeling low. Gang violence was rampant in the high school and we all were struggling with how to deal with it. I finally got out of bed that morning to put on some coffee and turned on the CD player as it brewed. Back then I had one of the CD players that held six CDs at once. One of the CDs was The Highwaymen, The Road Goes On Forever. For months I had always programmed it to play the song “Live Forever” but that morning I just put it on shuffle.

I was literally sitting at the table with my head in my hands waiting for the coffee and the first song that played was “Here Comes That Rainbow Again.” I was astonished at how much it moved me and how it instantly lifted my spirits. If it could do this for me, it could do it for anyone. I listened to it a second time, and was struck by how deep and symbolic the meaning was. I went to find the cover to see who wrote the song. I knew that Kris Kristofferson was a Rhodes Scholar and that if he wrote it it, then it was as brilliant as I thought because he has that ability and the necessary literary training.

My mind soared. I would love to teach this song and if I had pictures to accompany the words then I could teach it to young children. I spent the rest of the day researching who owned the publishing rights and how to get permission to put the words with pictures to make a book that I could use to teach kids and to give to people who were experiencing a life struggle or hardship. It basically came down to showing the publishing company the completed project.

I called my artist friend Robin, who was an art teacher and who was on maternity leave with her third child and asked if she would create some paintings to go with the words. It took three years. Her oil paintings are very large and exquisite. I taught it to her eighth grade students before she started on the paintings. They got it all. They understood every nuance of kindness and every literary technique that I wanted them to learn and then some. When the book was completed, I was able to job share my position and used half my time to teach the book in classrooms of every grade level across Ohio and present it to groups of teachers so they could teach it to their students. People love the book as much as I do. It has been the most rewarding experience of my teaching career and my life.