Page 45 - Voice for Life Songbook 1

13. Sing with me
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Track 13
Information
In ‘Sing with me’ composer Ken Burton celebrates the joy of singing together by combining three songs at once. Each song can be sung separately or together with one or more of the others.This piece is part of the gospel music tradition, which has its roots in the spirituals sung by the African-American slaves (see p. 34).
Teaching the song
Teach this song by rote in two-bar phrases starting with Voice I. Once you have sung through Voice I as call and response, ask your singers to sing it all the way through.Then go on to teach the other voice parts in the same way. Once all the parts are secure in unison, divide your singers into three groups and get them singing all the parts together simultaneously. Having done this you will need to decide with your singers how you will structure your performance of the song.
Using the voice well
There is a danger on words such as ‘Sing’ that your singers will try and close onto the ‘ng’ too quickly. Encourage them to keep the vowel sound open as long as possible. Even in bar 1 where the first note ‘Sing’ is relatively short ask your singers to create the most resonant sound possible.
In bar 9 (in both Voice I and II) the singers have the word ‘me’ over more than one note. Make sure they don’t aspirate on each new note – you shouldn’t hear ‘me-he’, just a smooth transition from one note to the next with no interruption to the vowel. If your singers find this hard (particularly in Voice II where they must rise up a fourth on the same vowel) ask them to try this adding a slide in between the two notes. Once they can achieve this smoothly, remove the slide but ask your singers to reproduce the same sense of connection between the notes.
Be creative
There are a number of different ways to perform this song.You could allocate one song to each group and start by singing each one separately before joining them together.Alternatively,you could sing it as a round with each group singing each song in succession. Invite your singers to help you decide how you want to perform it.
Musical skills and understanding
What key is this piece written in (with F# in the key signature)?
Can your singers find any notes that don’t belong in this key - an ‘accidental’? ( e.g. in bar 7 there is a C#).
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