Today show's Kathie Lee Gifford is hoping to bring the story of David to a new generation with her latest musical project, The Little Giant.

The 13-song album tells the story of the shepherd (牧羊人) boy who defeated a giant with five stones and a slingshot and became a king. The idea of the record came after Gifford and her husband Frank went on a life-changing trip to the Holy Land in 2012.

Gifford hoped to shine light on David's story to help a new generation find their own purpose; it's why she decided to compose this album that invites kids to hear the tale of the shepherd in a fun and educational way. Gifford based the record's opening track What is Your Stone on bravery and faith. She hopes the songs can help children find confidence in themselves.

Though the album is aimed towards families and children, Gifford found recording the story of David to be an exercise in healing after the death of her beloved husband Frank who passed away two years ago.

"I catch myself saying that I lost him sometimes," Gifford says, "No, he hasn't been gone. The trip took root in my husband's life, because he truly came to understand exactly what David did."

Gifford says the trip and the teachings stayed with her husband until his death. For the next three years, when people came to visit us, they’d always see Frank's trophy (奖杯) room because it's like a museum," Gifford explained. "He would take them over. Instead of all of his trophies, he would point to the stones we brought back from the travelling destination and talk about them. "

Gifford expects her own journey, her new album and her commitment to bringing a bit of joy to people through her show can help inspire children to discover their own faith and purpose.

The Austrian composer, Schubert, was born in Vienna. His father, a schoolmaster, was his first music teacher. When he was 11, he was fortunate in being chosen to one of the Vienna Boy’s singing group. There he received a free general education as well as music teaching. He began to compose in these years, mostly instrumental or orchestral compositions, but also a few songs. He spent more time in covering sheets of paper with these compositions than at his other studies.

After he left the singing group, Schubert became a schoolmaster to avoid being sent into the army, and he taught at his father’s school for 3 years. When only 17, he wrote his first great song, and during the next 2 years he wrote many of his finest songs. After his 3 years’ teaching, he lived with various friends, all as penniless as himself, composing all the time, sometimes writing eight songs in a day, and even sleeping in his glasses in case he might have an idea for a song during the night. Although he hated teaching, he earned some money by giving piano lessons.

Schubert never became widely famous outside Vienna during his life. It was late in his short life, and only after much persuasion, that publishers began to print and sell some of his compositions;   and Schubert received very little money for these. He had been able to be happy and free to compose, though extremely poor. But a cloud of sadness hung over in his late years. In 1827 he wrote his song-cycle for voice and piano. The Winter Journey and its sadness show his own state of mind. In the autumn of 1828 he fell ill for the second time in his life and died. Almost all his last words were of Beethoven, whom he loved and admired above all other composers. He was buried beside him.

Although Schubert died when only 32, he wrote a great amount of music. He had little academic training but a very sure musical talent. Much of his finest work he never heard performed.

What are two things that make humans different from animals? One is language and the other is music. It’s true that some animals can sing. However, the songs of animals like birds are very limited. It’s also true that humans, not animals, have developed musical instruments.

Music is a strange thing. It’s clearly distinct from language. However, people can use music to communicate things - especially their emotions. When music is combined(组合) with speech in a song, it’s a very powerful form of communication.

If music is truly different from speech, then we should process music and language in different parts of the brain. The scientific evidence suggests that this is true. For example, Vissarion Shebalin, a Russian composer, had a stroke(中风) in1953. It injured the left side of his brain. He could no longer speak or understand speech. He could, however, still compose music until his death ten years later. On the other hand, sometimes strokes cause people to lose their musical ability, but they can still speak and understand speech.

By studying the physical effects of music on the body, scientists have also learned a lot about how music influences the emotions.