America the Beautiful with Alicia Keys and Ray Charles

I wanted to share this. I created it for school age children with the hope that it will inspire and help them engage in song, word and love. I hope that educators will feel free to use it with their classes.

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[MsPepperbob]

When I wanted to create this clip I was thinking of only Ray Charles. He has long been one of my favorites, even saw him in concert in 1976 and was blown away!! Anyway, when I create something I try to allow the "channels" to remain open. This is why both Will Smith and Alicia Keys crept into this piece. I also wanted to make contact with school age children who might not have known who Ray Charles was. Enjoy and thanks to all who have commented and watched this clip. ---Kathryn

[MsPepperbob]

I am considering doing another version, but with captions. thanks for the input!

[bigorange1986]

I love Alicia Keys... she is gorgeous and has such a sweet voice but Ray nails this song.  He had so much soul singing this...

[dora5132ify]

Ray did not need her at all.

[418sadeyes]

Sorry, but I remember some of A.K.s words about this wonderful Country....So, this SUCKS!!! Ray Charles is the King of this song..NO ONE does this better than Ray Charles...As a matter of fact, it's my ringtone!!

[waggietoo]

asian american sing america the beautiful, please take a look

[wuliviv]

Love it! Check out youtube video Second Grader Sings Hey, Soul Sister. It's my grandson Balthazar. He did it with only a karyoke track--he had to memorize the entire song and perform it with no voice prompts or his parents wouldn't let him do it. They said he sang it everywhere--in the shower, in Walmart, at the grocery store...

[drawerandpainter]

Great work, Katherine -- beautiful pics and fantastic choice of artists! I think of all the renditions of the same song this was the perfect choice! A respected, handicapped superstar with a talented singer from today's pop scene will appeal to kids and parents. I think that when the chorus breaks into a sort of ad lib this gives kids a chance to add what they can and blend in. My only suggestion is that you might add text, especially at the beginning, so that children might read/sing along.