Carmina Burana
Children’s Choir
In March/April 2023 Choir of the Earth are learning and recording Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.
Two of Carmina Burana’s movements include a ‘Ragazzi chorus’, or children’s choir. We think this is the perfect opportunity to re-form the wonderful Children’s Choir of the Earth, who sang with us so sweetly in our Christmas 2020 concert.
We want to give as many children as possible the chance to sing together, so we are extending the invitation to take part beyond currently subscribed Members to Absolutely Everybody’s children, grandchildren or any other young people in your lives.
If you know any young people who might be interested, please share this page with their parents or guardians.
Here is how to get involved…
o O o O o
LEARN THE MUSIC
We have recorded a special Children’s Choir Rehearsal on YouTube, where our brilliant conductor, Ben, leads the children in a warm-up and then teaches them two songs: Amor Volat Undique and Tempus Est Iocundum.
The words are displayed on the screen, spelt out in easy-to-understand phonetics, and the music is taught by ear, so there is no need to have a score or be able to read music.
You can watch the full teaching session here:
This video can be watched as many times you like, whenever you like.
We have added timestamps in the description underneath the video so you can jump straight to certain sections of the video.
o O o O o
PRACTISE THE MUSIC
When your young singer has watched the rehearsal, they can practise the music in three different ways:
Watch any or all of the full rehearsal session above, as many times as they need to, focusing on any bits they find tricky
Listen to the ‘voice louder’ rehearsal tracks below to hear the songs with the Ragazzi parts played louder than the other voice parts
Watch the conducting videos and let Ben guide you through each song as you sing along (please see ‘Record Your Child’s Voice’ below)
- REHEARSAL TRACKS -
Ragazzi part louder rehearsal track for
AMOR VOLAT UNDIQUE
(“A-morr vo-lat oon-dee-kvay”)
Ragazzi part louder rehearsal track for
TEMPUS EST IOCUNDUM
(“Oh, oh, ohhhhh, toe-toos flo-ray-ohh”)
o O o O o
RECORD YOUR CHILD’S VOICE
When your child feels confident they can sing each song all the way through without stopping, it’s time to record them singing at home and send the recordings to us.
We have created conducting videos of Ben leading the children through each movement, using footage recorded at the teaching session. We now ask you to use the conducting videos below with your child to record their voice.
We only need audio recordings - no video, please.
Here is what you need to do:
Find a quiet area with no background noise.
Settle your child in with:
A device with an internet connection and headphones attached, such as a computer or tablet. Your child will watch and listen to the conducting videos on this device. It is vital that they use headphones so the recording only picks up their voice and not any sound from the conducting video.
A device to record your child’s voice, such as a mobile phone, a tablet, or any other device that has a microphone.
A soft surface to rest the recording device on, such as a rug or cushion. This is not compulsory but helps to reduce the sound of vibration, echo, etc from nearby hard surfaces.
A drink to help them stay hydrated while they sing.
Ask your child to warm up using the warm-up routine Ben led in the teaching session - click here to go straight to the start of the warm-up.
Ask your child if they are comfortable and ready to start recording. Reassure them that it doesn’t matter at all if they make any mistakes - our clever sound team have magical powers!
Find the voice recorder app on your recording device. If you have never done this before, you might find this guide from WikiHow useful.
Tell your child to follow Ben’s instructions and - most importantly - to have fun!
When they are ready, press play on the first conducting video. Ben will start by telling you to press record on your recording device so please be ready to do this almost immediately. Please then set the recording device down, ideally on a soft surface, and let it record in the background.
Ben will ask your child to clap with him - this helps our sound team align everyone’s recordings. He will then play the music with the words on the screen and conduct your child through the song.
When the song is finished, press stop on your recording device and save the recording with a name you will recognise later (e.g. “Amor take 1”).
If you and your child are happy with the recording, that’s great! Record the second song in exactly the same way and then it’s time to send them to us!
- CONDUCTING VIDEOS -
Ragazzi conducting video for
AMOR VOLAT UNDIQUE
(“A-morr vo-lat oon-dee-kvay”)
Ragazzi conducting video for
TEMPUS EST IOCUNDUM
(“Oh, oh, ohhhhh, toe-toos flo-ray-ohh”)
o O o O o
SEND US YOUR CHILD’S RECORDINGS
When you have recorded your child singing each movement, you will need to send the recordings to us so we can include them in the choir with the other children.
This is done by uploading the files to Dropbox. It is easy to do and you do not need to have a Dropbox account.
Here is what you need to do:
When you are ready to submit a recording, open this page on the same device as your recordings are stored.
Click on the relevant link below and then click on the ‘Add Files’ button in the Dropbox page that opens.
Find, choose and upload the correct file from your device.
Please leave the browser window open until you see the confirmation page that your file had finished uploading.
Click below to send us a Ragazzi recording for
AMOR VOLAT UNDIQUE
(“A-morr vo-lat oon-dee-kvay”)
Click below to send us a Ragazzi recording for
TEMPUS EST IOCUNDUM
(“Oh, oh, ohhhhh, toe-toos flo-ray-ohh”)
- DEADLINE -
The deadline to submit recordings for this project will be Friday 5 May 2023 at 22:00 UK time.
o O o O o
OUR CONDUCTOR
Our teacher and conductor is the charismatic Ben England BEM.
Ben is a former Advanced Skills Music Teacher and Director of Music in an OFSTED Outstanding school, with many years of experience teaching music to children and young people, including online at our former children’s choir, ‘Young SIC’.
His work with online choirs has been recognised worldwide as “groundbreaking” and “outstanding”.
He will teach the children every single note in his trademark high-quality and fun manner, so even if your child has never sung in a choir before, they will be ready and excited to sing with us throughout the session, and to record with us at the end.
