This masterwork from Hassler's Missa Secunda is ideal for developing the representative style qualities of the era. Excellent for contest and concert!Available separately: SATB a cappella. Performance Time: Approx. 3:00
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List: $2.65
Text: anon. (in 4 parts)
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Difficulty level: 1-2
This set of mainly unison songs [Friday Afternoons] for young voices is a gift for a concert of music for upper voices. It is a substantial work taken as a whole but its individual movements are both short and straightforward in their various challenges. Britten wrote the work for the boys of his brother's preparatory school (age 7-13), Clive House, Prestatyn, in Wales to sing. However he encountered a problem with copyright over the use of the Lone Dog. He therefore wrote Begone, dull care to replace it. When these issues were resolved years later the song was included as an appendix item in the 1994 edition.
The real beauty of these songs is that Britten never writes down for the children. These are art songs in the best sense of the word and mix both dark and light humour with seriousness and romance to create a little world of changing scenes and emotions. The texts are, as always, carefully chosen to give Britten maximum variety of mood and to challenge and encourage the childrens' interest and involvement. The piano parts carry a lot of the responsibility for the creation of mood and atmosphere and ideally need a pianist of reasonable accomplishment to do them justice. In There was a monkey Britten writes an increasingly challenging part which is very effective in making the charged mood rise to its climax. However, he writes an easier alternative part which can be played if the pianist finds the other too difficult.
The mixture of texts gives Britten wonderful opportunities for word painting. The lively Begone, dull care which opens the work, the nonsense poem of A tragic story where a man wants his pigtail to hang in front so he can see it, the gentle story of the Cuckoo and his progress through the months of the year, the rather sobering story (especially in our post-fox hunting ban days) of the shooting of a fox by a farmer whose geese it has killed, the sublime A New Year's Carol - and so on, leading to the powerful four part canon of Old Abram Brown. These little pieces demonstrate so clearly Britten's genius - his ability to write really good music which is so recognisably his - without any feeling that he is making compromises for the young singers.
Duration: 23 minutes [Friday Afternoons, complete]
Paul Spicer, Lichfield, 2011
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List: $2.65
Winning the Pulitzer Prize and four Tony Awards, the late Jonathan Larson's musical Rent changed the course of Broadway. Finale B (No Day but Today) is a perfect graduation and concert closer, with its rock anthem style harmonies and emotion-filled lyrics. Available separately: SATB, SAB, SSA, ShowTrax CD. Duration: ca. 2:15.
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List: $2.50
Now available for mixed choirs and with a digital combo pak! You'll have a sleighride full of merriment with this bright and cheery song originally recorded by the Andrews Sisters. Great for developing diction and harmonic skills, it's a sure audience pleaser!
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List: $2.25
Reading is one of the most critical skills taught in school. An essential goal in developing this skill is making sure students are completely proficient with Sight Words. The popular “Sing and Learn” series from Hal Leonard presents I Can, We Can – a creative and motivational resource that uses music to reinforce the learning of essential sight words. The Activity Songbook/Listening CD features reproducible song melodies, movement suggestions, activities and games – all presented in a sequential teaching format. Reproducible song pictures with highlighted Sight Words and illustrations are also included for additional learning reinforcement. The enclosed Listening CD provides song recordings to listen and sing-along. A CD-ROM is also available, either separately or in a Classroom Kit with the Activity Songbook/Listening CD. This Enhanced CD-ROM includes song recordings with singers and without, and printable PDFs of singer melodies, full color song pictures, piano accompaniments, activities and artwork. Fun learning through music! Available separately: Activity Songbook/Listening CD, Enhanced CD and Classroom Kit. Lessons and activities by Elizabeth Shier; with special thanks to Sarah Giordano for her creative input. Suggested for grades PreK-1.
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List: $24.99
This dramatic work is a “masque” where movement and music create a parallel reality in which the world is both recognizable and yet transformed. In this setting four tribes each see themselves as the center of the world, not recognizing the physical interdependence of the mountains, valleys, ocean and sky for which the tribes are named. For any combination of voices, percussion played by the singers (staffs, kalimbas, drums, vibraslaps, rainsticks, cowbells, finger cymbals), and staged movement. Duration: ca. 18:00.
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List: $3.95
From the highly successful cantata Journey of Promises comes this joyful advent proclamation, “Arise and Shine! Your Light Has Come!”, based on scripture from the prophecy of Isaiah. Joseph Martin's adaptation of these hopeful words is set to the popular English tune “Sussex Carol.” Brant Adams has provided a luscious orchestration that is a spectacular option for churches with instrumental resources.
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List: $55.00
Recorded by many singers representing countless musical styles, this song by the dynamic writing duo of Burt Bacharach and Hal David continues to speak to contemporary singers and audiences. Wonderful pop/jazz stylings have been written into this arrangement allowing your choir to be successful no matter their experience level.
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List: $26.99
Five of Roger Emerson's contemporary spiritual settings are crafted for 2-Part voices in a value-packed collection that is perfect for younger choirs in elementary through middle school! Songs include: All My Trials, Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel, Let Me Ride (Swing Down Chariot), Sinner Man, Witness. Available separately: 2-Part Collection, VoiceTrax CD.
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List: $4.95
