Music For The Classroom

Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome - songbook & CD
Words, music and background notes by Douglas Coombes
This is a book of 15 songs which have been written, as close as possible to the style which the composer, Douglas Coombes, believes would have been sung and played in these three ancient cultures.Each song has musical and historical background notes with pictures of musical instruments and scales/modes used. Plenty of information here to enable you to make music a really meaningful part of history studies. Songs included are - Egypt - Crocodile One, Crocodile Two; Farming Song; Grape Dance; Hymn to the Sun God; Pyramid Building Song; Greece - The Donkey, the Ape and the Mole; Jason; Mount Olympus; Summer Dance Song; Voice of the Lyre; Rome - The Gladiators; Hail Caesar; Hail Horatius; Hush My Dear Little One; Roman Galleys.
The songs are in unison with simple parts for unpitched percussion as well as parts for melody instruments. There are no piano parts as such, since harmonic
accompaniments would be completely out of style, but the use of keyboards is encouraged to imitate the sound of harp, lyre, trumpet, horn etc., as well as guitar indications in some songs.
The recording has been devised so that if you have a 'balance' or 'karaoke' control on your sound equipment, the voice and accompaniment can be isolated from each other. This means that you can sing along with the recorded accompaniment for example.The price of the book and CD pack reflects the fact that the songs are fully photocopiable, and permission is also given for one cassette copy of the CD to be made if you need to use the book in classrooms where a CD player is not available.Suitable Key Stage 1(age 7+) to 2/3; Scottish Levels B-E.

compiled by John M. Feierabend

There are 56 folk songs in the book, which lend themselves to being
sung by a Leader (maybe the teacher) and a Group. Equally, once they
are known by everyone, you could simply split the class into 2 groups.
A good pre-cursor to singing in 2 parts, as these songs have been
chosen for the contrast between call and response. The majority of
the songs too, are quite robust and will be enjoyed by boys as well
as girls - such as Step back baby and Sing Hurrah boys. This book
could be dipped into throughout KS2 (Scottish Level B-C).

compiled by John M. Feierabend

This comprises some 57 folk songs (melody line only) with words which
come from the shared British and USA folk heritage. Aimed
specifically at the 7-9 age-range. Feierabend has discovered through
research and personal experience that the 7-9 year old is most
receptive to songs that tell a story - such as There's a hole in the
bucket, There was an old lady (who swallowed a fly), The fox went out
on a chilly night and Soldier, soldier.

complied by John M. Feierabend

Here is another great collection of songs (without accompaniment)
which enables the teach to sing for the class - rather than with
them. Some of the songs have over-lapping echoes; in others the echo
occurs after the leader has completed the phrase. There are 37 songs
in all, including one from Native American tradition and at least one
from Ghana, with the rest coming from the Euro-American heritage. As
with all of the other volumes in this series, there is a useful page
for the teacher about technique and strategy. Suitable KS2 & upwards
(Scottish Level C & upwards).

Written & compiled by Douglas Coombes
10 Unison songs with optional 2nd part and descants, with keyboard accompanimen
A book of songs about the problems and difficulties encountered by young people and their families. Not expressed in overt language, these songs are thought provoking, joyful, haunting and uplifting. They can make ideal material for assemblies or concerts and have already featured in a number of special concerts at The Royal Albert Hall, London.
The whole collection has been compiled by Douglas Coombes. (Eight are his own original songs and two are from Victorian times.) The two Victorian songs were included because the book is produced to celebrate the centenary of Barnardo's, the children's charity, and the sale of each book & CD set generates a donation of £5 to Barnardo's. The need which existed 100 years ago, is the same need which persists today.
The publication comes with a piano book, a separate Words & melody booklet (which is fully photocopiable) and a CD offering complete performances of all 10 songs.
Suitable for KS2 & upwards (Scottish Levels C & upwards; USA Grade 4/5 and up).

An approach to choral singing through fun and effective warm-ups & pieces, which help everyone to sing & sound good.
Starting from the premise that everyone would like to be able to sing together with others, and do it well, Bette Gray-Fow explains her approach to singing with groups of all ages and experience. She does not avoid the thorny problem of 'technique' and has uncovered and explained some of its mysteries, sufficient to enable singers to improve what they are doing, and thereby, gain greater enjoyment and sense of accomplishment. Her work is a layered approach from firm foundations, maintaining that it is not always necessary or desirable to use printed music in the early stages. Nevertheless, this book does contain 4 choral pieces (which may be photocopied) and various warm-up and preparatory exercises and the reasons why they are recommended. Most of all, they are fun with bags of 'street cred'.

Instrumental Pieces in Pictorial Notationdevised by Gordon Pearce A brilliant idea to get your pupils playing in a trice. Count and Play is a carefully devised approach to reading and playing from pictures, not conventional music-notation. The 'scores' in grid format in 2, 3, 4 and 5 time give plenty of practice at each stage and also encourage children to write their own pieces using the same approach. There are 48 pieces in all for unpitched, pitched and a mixture of pitched and unpitched percussion instruments. Emphasis is placed upon the children really listening to and appraising their own - and other's performances. You can mix and match the pieces and create varied forms, ending up with extended pieces. The book is fully photocopiable and there are templates provided in the book, which you can give to the children for writing out their own music. There is also a handy Teacher's Record Chart, so you can keep track of who has played which score. This dazzlingly simple idea enables children to play together in groups, yet each follow an independent part. The real advantage of this book is that it can be handled by any teacher (music-reader or not), so long as they can count up to 2, 3, 4 and 5.Suitable KS1[Scottish Levels A-B].

Beginning instrumental ensembles for the classroom by Su Summers All 10 pieces in this book are either 2 or 4 bars long. Short, but the idea is that you repeat as many times as you wish, changing the combination of parts. There are parts for descant recorders, ocarinas, violins, glock., xylophone and/or metallophones, bass xylophone, percussion and in addition there is a bass clef part as well as parts in Bflat so that beginner clarinets and trumpets can be incorporated too. You need not use the instruments specified in the score - use whatever you have at your disposal. Originally designed as Œwarm-up¹ pieces, this simple idea has developed into a full-scale collection of versatile pieces which give scope for the players to determine the structure and length of each one - or they can be completely spontaneous, as directed by signals from the conductor. Su Summers recommends that each player should have the complete score so that they are fully aware of what everyone else is playing, so this wonderful collection of throughly Œusuable¹ material is fully photocopiable within the purchasing establishment. An outstanding resource for all schools ­ infant, junior, primary and middle. Suitable Key Stages 1&2/Scottish Levels A-C.

Compiled, arranged & written by Douglas Coombes

Echo songs are found in many cultures and have always been popular. These 21 songs follow that tradition with the leader singing a phrase and the rest of the group singing that phrase back. The advantage of such songs is immediate and significant in the development of a child's musicality as it means that by echoing what they have just heard the children can start singing immediately. It has been found that even shy children soon join in.Echo songs help children to listen and so develop ear training; they help pitch awareness and help to develop confidence and independence. It is a great way of teaching English as a second language.

Singing unaccompanied is recommended as this will enable the teacher to concentrate and focus on the children's voices and let the children develop their inner and harmonic hearing and true intonation by hearing only the sounds they need to copy without the sounds of a piano or other instrument, which can be intrusive. It also means that the teacher can give full scope by singing phrases at different dynamics p, mf, f, cresc, dim. etc., which the singers have to copy when echoing. All this helps with their listening development. When the songs are really known, then a song may be accompanied lightly on an instrument; to help with such accompaniments chord symbols have been provided.

The songs are graded for difficulty from 'very easy' to 'difficult'. The last four echo songs: Ding Bells, Dong bells, Forest of Magic Sounds, Land of the Silver Birch and Mighty, Mighty Chief introduce simple repeated patterns (ostinati) which are in themselves an introduction to 2 part singing. Suitable across a wide age-range and adult too.

17 rounds based on classical themesarranged by Douglas CoombesDouglas Coombes has taken themes from classical composers Beethoven, Bizet, Handel, Haydn, Humperdinck, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Purcell, Smetana and Sullivan. In many cases he has adapted or translated existing Words to fit the themes represented and has extended the melodies to enable each to be sung as a 3-part round, with the exception of Hallelujah (Handel) which can be performed as a 4-part round. These are easy to teach and make ideal warm-up material for any choir. Good too as the basis for introducing structure in pre-GCSE work.KS2 & above [Scottish Levels C & above] & Adult.

53 folksongs from around the world for UPPER voices. Unison with optional 2nd part & piano accompaniment arranged by Douglas Coombes. This bumper collection of folksongs from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Chile, Czechoslovakia, England, Germany, Greece, Guyana, Hungary, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Samoa, Scotland, United States, Wales, West Indies is just the thing for class singing or for choir work. Each song has a proper introduction and coda, so it is also a ready-made concert item resource. Each song is effective performed in unison only, but the optional 2nd part adds an extra dimension when forces permit. The subject matter has a universal appeal for girls/boys or even adult choirs
(SA). KS2/3 & adult [Scottish Levels C/D/E & adult]
(Price Piano Edition £12.95, Melody Edition £4.95)

Piano Edition of the above

Teacher's Book, photocopiable Melody part & recording.
Arranged by Douglas Coombes
Designed to provide a way into listening to music, well-known themes by famous composers including Beethoven, Bizet, Dvorak, Grieg, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Offenbach, Rimsky-Korsakov, Saint-Saëns, Vivaldi and folk tunes which occur in works by Copland, Tchaikovsky and Vaughan Williams have been turned into songs. Learn the songs and then, from your own library of recordings, listen to the orchestral work from which the themes come. A great way of introducing classical music! The song-pack contains a teacher's book (piano accompaniments and notes on the works) as well as photocopiable melody parts for the pupils and a cassette which contains full performances of all 20 songs. The recording has been arranged so that the accompaniments can be isolated and used where no pianist is available. Suitable KS 2-3. Scottish Levels B-E.

Ideas for improving the quality of singing in class and choir by Gordon Pearce Written by an Inspector for the Performing Arts, who is also an examiner in Singing for the Guildhall School of Music, this new book sets out to explain the aims and ideals of good singing and provides warm-ups breathing exercises diction exercises some important "do's and don'ts" identifying common faults photos showing good posture and mouth shapes choosing repertoire what to bear in mind during rehearsals & performance useful organisations As far as possible Gordon Pearce has avoided technical jargon and detailed physical analysis. With the increased importance of singing within the National Curriculum in Music 2000, this book offers practical help with a simplicity of approach which all will find invaluable and user-friendly. Suitable for all Key Stages/Scottish Levels.