The Bunny Walks

with

Shchedryk Children’s Choir, Kyiv

In these tragic situations, music has a way of showing each other what it means to be here on this earth. And when the music comes from children in a war zone, that meaning becomes even deeper.

This is a story that can best be told with music, because it’s about music as a source of hope in war. About a fight to get music from Ukraine out into the world right now.

This is how you can help:

There is a children's choir in Kyiv called Shchedryk. It is probably Ukraine's most recognised children's choir, and they have won several awards around the world. Under Marianna Sablina, the choir has performed on stages in Canada, the United States, Sweden and, yes, in both Russia and Ukraine.

This year, the choir had planned a major world tour on the occasion of its 50th birthday, but then came the war and they were dispersed across the city.

Before the war started, they recorded this beautiful lullaby “THE BUNNY WALKS”

And we’re all going to learn this piece, record it onto our mobile phones and perform it together as a huge group for the Shchedryk Children’s Choir. Don’t worry - it is a simple process; we promise that you will enjoy it and it is free to join.

Please help us by giving us your recording of this song.

(For media resources and to stay up to date with the progress of the project, please visit www.thebunnywalks.com)

How it Will Work

The project is open to ANYONE who can sing these notes at this register. So this is all women, all children and some men. As soon as you join, you will receive everything you need to take part:

The song itself (THE BUNNY WALKS) sung by the Shchedryk Children’s Choir

New recordings of the solo and all 8 voice parts with each voice part LOUDER to aid your learning

A pronunciation video to help with the Ukrainian words

A video by Saul Zaks, the award-winning Conductor, for Choir Directors

A video by Saul Zaks conducting the lullaby which will be used for your recording

Individual Singers

These materials can be used by individual singers to record the song. You can use the voice-louder tracks to learn each part and record these using the conducting videos led by Saul Zaks. The recording process is as follows:

1. Learn your part

2. Watch Saul Zaks on the video

3. Wear headphones to hear him

4. Press record on your mobile phone/tablet (audio only - no video)

5. Sing

6. Submit your voice

We would like all recordings to be submitted to Choir of the Earth by 31st May 2022 and we plan a Concert Performance by the end of June 2022 to be conducted by Saul Zaks himself.

We shall combine thousands of individual recordings of this Ukrainian lullaby by singers from all over the world, including you!

Choir Directors

Choir Directors worldwide can use our materials to teach this lullaby to their choirs and we have included a piano part only for accompanists. Choir Directors can then use Saul Zaks’s video to ask members of their choir to make their own individual recordings. We invite choral communities from all over the world to take part in this wonderful project.

Recordings

As soon as you sign up for this project, you will be sent instructions on how to upload your recording and picture of yourself to “Choir of the Earth”, so that we can combine all voices in the studio to create a huge choir.

We shall then broadcast this wonderful version to everyone in an online Concert Performance in June 2022.

It’s Free to Join

This course is free to join. We would love you to take part, whether you can sing or not! Anyone can take part as an individual or as a Director of a Choir. For those who can, we ask that you make a donation - however big or small - to the Shchedryk Children’s Choir below. All proceeds (less card processing costs) will go to this choir.

Donate

Saul Zaks

We are delighted to have Saul Zaks lead and conduct this lullaby for us. Saul is Artistic Director of the Summa Cum Laude (SCL) International Youth Music Festival in Vienna and Grammy Award Nominee 2016. The SCL Festival is Austria’s Premier Global Youth Music Festival for Choirs, Bands and Orchestras.
He is also the conductor of the University of Southern Denmark Symphony Orchestra.
*Photo credit: Rune Lundø*

Shchedryk Children's Choir

The Shchedryk Children’s Choir won first prize in Saul’s 2019 Vienna competition in the Children’s Choir category. The choir asked Saul to help get this lullaby out to the world and this is his story.

The Bunny Walks is arranged by Ukrainian composer Roman Surzha, whose creative assets include music for plays, cinema, choreographic productions, and choral works. He lives in Kyiv.

At the international choral and sacred music festival Musica Sacra a Roma, held in the summer residence of the Pope in 2005, “Hallelujah” performed by the Shchedryk Choir received the highest score and first prize.

Find out more here: https://choiroftheearth.com/shchedryk-childrens-choir-kyiv

Choir of the Earth

Founded in March 2019 by Mark Strachan BEM, “Choir of the Earth” has over 7,000 members worldwide and has recorded great works such as Mahler’s entire 8th Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem, Messiah, The Creation and Spem in Alium amongst over 40 courses. All singers learn and record from home, then mixed in the studio and played back in an online Concert Performance.

The Inner Team

The first spark for this idea took place in Buenos Aires in early April 2022. Saul Zaks together with Diego Schapsis - a marketing specialist and cultural manager, Canela Schapsis - student and future musicologist, Bárbara Russi - an anthropologist and cultural entrepreneur, and Mark Strachan of “Choir of the Earth” put together this project. It was done in association with the CULTURAL DIPLOMACY INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF UKRAINE, a non-profit organisation which encourages Ukrainian cultures and traditions: https://uaculture.org/organisations/the-cultural-diplomacy-international-institute-cdi