Chair - MARIA BELVA  mariabelva@gmail.com is a professional choral conductor and private voice teacher based in Peterborough, NH. Her voice studio serves students of varying abilities and needs, from timid beginners to experienced soloists, and of all ages, from children to adults. She is a Certified McClosky Voice Technician. Her current choral conducting activities include her position as director of the Peterborough Children’s Choir, which in its fourteenth year consists of more than 70 children in four auditioned ensembles; and the music directorship of the Peterborough Unitarian Church. Maria also is active as a soprano soloist throughout the Monadnock region, and in this capacity she has performed leading roles in operatic and musical theatre productions and appears often in churches, community events, benefits, and occasional solo recitals.

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The following pieces for Children’s Choir are tried and true examples of quality literature. They program well, challenge and teach the singers, and delight the audience.

 

ELEMENTARY CHOIR (grades 2-4)

 

An die Laute (To the Lute) by Franz Schubert

A simple German lied in two short, charming strophes that are addressed directly to the lute, asking it to "whisper softly" up to the window of the singer's mistress, to gently tell the secrets of his heart so quietly that none of the jealous neighbors can overhear his serenade. The piano responds with delicate, lute-like arpeggios in the accompaniment. It is a tender but carefree melody in 6/8 meter that brings to mind a refined folk tune. It is available at Choral Public Domain Library

http://www1.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/An_die_Laute_%28Franz_Schubert%29

 

Animal verses of Ogden Nash, by Marion Verhaalen

This is a song cycle using nine of Nash’s short animal verses to be sung in sequence as a group. The cycle takes 4’ 30”. The verses are funny; children learn interesting vocabulary, and gain knowledge of a fine 20^th century American poet. The piano accompaniment is supportive, but is different from the voice part and adds interest. The piece is very accessible. It is published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing, and is available at www.sheetmusicplus.com

 

Art Thou Troubled? From the opera Rodelinda by GF Handel

This is the beautiful baroque aria, Dove Sei, with English words by WG Rothery, and edited by Jean Ashworth Bartle. This song is ideal for developing tone, phrasing, and style. It is arranged for unison choir and piano accompaniment (or strings- parts available separately). It is published by Hinshaw Music Inc. and is available at www.sheetmusicplus.com

 

Early One Morning, an English folk song arranged by Healey Willan

This lovely strophic folk song with a refrain can be taught by ear. The refrain has descending scale passage that can easily be harmonized for more advanced young singers. The music is out of print, but can be found in The Royal Conservatory of University of Toronto Graded Song Series, 1981, which is also out of print. The copyright of the song itself is 1928, so it is in public domain. A copy of it is included in the appendix.

 

Galop, from the Solfege Suite by Ken Berg

This piece is fast and fun, and the truly wonderful part is the text is all solfege. The singers learn about musical names, intervals and solfege, while singing programmable music. It is published by Pavane publishing and is widely available. www.pavanepublishing.com

 

Jeunes Fillettes, an 18^th century French Bergerette

Jeune Fillette, arranged by Weckerlin, is one of the most popular of all French tunes. The music is light and easy to sing and suggests an airy tone quality and well-marked rhythm. It should be performed with buoyancy and good humor, and with a strict legato to offset the staccato accompaniment. Found in The Chester Book Of Celebrated Songs Book 1 Published by Music Sales and available at www.sheetmusicplus.com

 

Nursery Rhyme Nonsense, by ME Broughten

This unison song strings several familiar nursery rhymes together in an amusing way. The children learn staccato, legato, piano, forte, octaves, formata, etc. Hand and body gestures can add to the amusement. Published by Alfred and available at their web-site, www.alfred.com

            Alfred Archive edition found at www.sheetmusicplus.com

 

Seasons Change, by Teresa Jennings

In Seasons Change, there are two distinctive melodies which are sung separately at first, and then together. It is set in a gentle folk style, and both melodies are memorable and easy to teach. It is available in Music K-8, Vol. 9 No. 1, through Plank Road Publishing.

 

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Vera Kistler

This is the best setting of Robert Frost’s poem available for children’s voices. It has varied time signatures and melodic form to go with the different moods created by the poem and is very accessible. A child can play the sleigh bells part. It splits into a short canon on the last words…”and miles to go before I sleep.”  It is published by Warner Brothers and is available at www.activemusician.com

 

The Owls, by Peter Jenkyns

This delightful unison song describes a pair of owl parents feeding their young and calling to each other in the deep woods. The mood is a bit spooky. The piano accompaniment is supportive and adds to the expression. It is published by Music Sales America and is available at www.stagepass.com

 

           

MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOIR (Grades 5-8, unchanged voices)

 

Ave Verum Corpus, W. A. Mozart, arranged by John Leavitt.

            This is a two-part, treble arrangement of the well known chorale. Published by Alfred, available at the Alfred website: www.alfred.com

 

Five Eyes, C. Armstrong Gibbs.

     Gibbs was one of B. Britten’s teachers. He set many poems by Walter de la Mare. It is upbeat and amusing. Lots of facial expression can be used. We usually meow at the end. The accompanist needs to be quite accomplished. Published by Boosey & Hawkes, available at www.sheetmusicplus.com

 

Give Us Hope, Jim Papoulis, arranged by Francisco Nunez.

            This is a great uplifting, hand clapping song that is easily taught. It is a big “message” piece. It can easily be done by the whole choir (all levels together) and works well as the concert opener or closer. Published by Boosey & Hawkes and is available at www.JWPepper.com

 

Mid-winter, Bob Chilcott.

            A great setting of the popular “in the bleak midwinter” Christmas Carol text by Rossetti. Has a lovely treble solo. It is arranged for keyboard or chamber orchestra/brass (parts available separately). Published by Oxford, available at www.sheetmusicplus.com

 

Inscription of Hope, Z. Randall Stroop.

            This is a two-part arrangement. He has a 4 part, mixed, as well. The words (I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining, I believe in love even when there’s no one there……..) are from a wall in a ghetto written during the Holocaust. The melody comes from fragments of a Russian folk melody. This is a way to link history with a song. It is a universal message of hope with a brief narrative in the beginning of the piece. Very effective. Published by Heritage Music Press, available at www.sheetmusicplus.com

 

Jabberwocky, from Join the Dance, by Carolyn Jennings.

            A fairly easy 3-part setting of the wonderful text by Lewis Carroll. The composer does a great job of phrasing, and melodic word fitting. The accompaniment sets the tone and is supportive of the voices. Published by Boosey & Hawkes and is available at www.halleonard.com

 

Mazurka, from the Solfege Suite by Ken Berg.

Another great piece to reinforce sight-singing skills using solfege syllables. This piece is in two parts and is called “mazurka’ because it is that type of dance. It is published by Pavane publishing and is widely available. www.pavanepublishing.com

 

Rosy Maiden Winifred, from Ten Children’s Songs Op. 1 by Gerald Finzi.

            Although this is a very “old fashioned” text by Christina Rossetti, children really love the song. The two parts have two distinct melodies in canon-like motion until the end. Finzi wrote a number of very accessible and lovely children’s songs. Published by Boosey & Hawkes and available at www.sheetmusicplus.com

 

Under the Calico Tree, Dick Thompson.

            This is a two-part jazzy setting of a mythical place with nonsensical descriptive words. The accompaniment adds to the fantastic, dream-like feel. Published by Alliance Music Publications and available at www.sheetmusicplus.com

 

When in Doubt, Tell the Truth (a ditty), from Three Mark Twain Settings by Nick Page. This is a rather cheeky two part song that middle school children can really relate to.  Several famous Mark Twain aphorisms are combined in this little "ditty" that will make everyone chuckle. A great finale for the Mark Twain set, or an excellent encore. It includes an optional 3rd hand Piano part. Published by Hal Leonard and available at www.musicmart.com