top of page

kids

When placing an order, an e-mail invoice will be sent from PayPal.  Digital copies will be delivered via e-mail within 24 hours after receipt of payment via credit card.  For special needs or requests such as rush delivery, printed and bound hard copy scores, payment by check or money order, please indicate when ordering.

Those interested in instant downloads and purchase orders may purchase these titles via Sheet Music Plus.

Boys' Carol (Personet Hodie)

Two-Part Boys Choir with Piano

"Personent hodie" is a Christmas carol originally published in the 1582 Finnish song book Piae Cantiones, a volume of 74 Medieval songs with Latin texts.  The text was likely re-written for the Feast of the Holy Innocents (December 28th) when young choristers and their "boy bishop" traditionally lead worship.

 

The carol is still often associated with Holy Innocents' Day.  It became more prominent in England after being arranged for unison voices and orchestra in 1916 by Gustav Holst (1874–1934), where it is often used as a processional hymn in church and cathedral services.  Holst's version often forms part of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.  This version is Elizabeth Poston's 1965 "Boys' Carol", which translates the first line of the text as "Let the boys' cheerful noise/Sing today none but joys."

$1.50

Donkey, Donkey, Donkey

Unison/Two-Part Treble Choir with Piano, Xylophone, and Claves

"Donkey, Donkey, Donkey" is the Palm Sunday story offered from the perspective of the donkey, based on Matthew 21:1-3, 6-9.  The bray of the donkey and the clip-clopping of its feet are featured throughout the piece.

 

The text is repetitive to aid in developmentally appropriate memorization and range-limited for early elementary voices.  Introduction of 2-part elements are via ostinato, call and response, optional limited divisi, and ostinato cannon.  The second voice part is supported by the xylophone, but may be omitted.

 

Theologically, the text draws connections between the humble donkey playing a noble role in a defining moment of Passion Week and the humble children likely to perform the piece.  There are links between the donkey carrying Mary during Advent and the donkey that now carries Jesus which could prove a valuable point of discussion with young children about the similarities between Advent and Lent.  The contrast between major and minor tonalities hint at the depth of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and the ultimate triumph of Easter Sunday.

Click HERE for recording

Click HERE for video

$1.50

Git Along Little Dogies

SA(T)B, Two-Part Treble, or Unison with Piano and optional Guitar, Ukulele, Mandolin, and Bass

2016 Idaho Middle School All-State Choir, inaugural year

2016 Northshore 6th Grade Honor Choir, boys

 

Conceived using the SA(T)B concept and also available in Two-Part Treble and Unison voicings, Git Along Little Dogies is a traditional American cowboy ballad.  The melody and lyrics were first published in 1910 in John Lomax's "Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads," though the song has existed long before publication in the anonymous aural tradition of folk music.

 

Since selling cattle was quite profitable, a crew of cowboys "drove" a herd, particularly from Texas, to railheads where they would be loaded into railcars and shipped cross-country to get the best price at market. Cowboys watched the cattle 24 hours a day, herding them in the proper direction in the daytime and watching them at night to prevent stampedes and deter theft.  Around the campfire, cowboys sang of life on the trail with all the challenges, hardships, and dangers encountered along the way.

 

E. C. "Teddy Blue" Abbott, honored in the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame, explains "The singing was supposed to soothe the cattle and it did... The two men on guard would circle around with their horses on a walk, if it was a clear night and the cattle was bedded down and quiet, and one man would sing a verse of a song, and his partner on the other side of the herd would sing another verse; and you'd go through a whole song that way."

 

Click HERE for recording

$1.50

Lights of the Western Sky

SSA Chorus with Soloists, Percussion, and Bluegrass Ensemble

"Lights of the Western Sky" is a compilation of 3 celestial American folk songs collected by Ruth Crawford Seeger, commissioned by Casper Children's Chorale to celebrate the 2017 total solar eclipse visible in Casper, Wyoming in honor of Mick McMurray.  The pieces are connected not only by the folk style and the star subject, but also by tracing the course of a day, and by focusing on the connection of the outer world to the inner soul.

 

I.  Bright Morning Stars-- An additive processional on the ultimate theme of children singing.  Though the traditional verses state that the fathers are "down in the valley a-prayin''' and the mothers have "gone to heaven a-shoutin'" (or vice versa), the lyrics have been freely adapted in the folk tradition of "floating verses" (adapting lyrics to personal experience) to describe the children's experience.  The opening percussion motif is intended to evoke Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man."

II. Oh, Watch the Stars-- "Oh, Watch the Stars" and "Great Big Stars," combined in unique ways.  The two songs used, "Oh, Watch the Stars" and "Great Big Stars," are distinct in their own right.  They have been fused together in this movement, borrowing the text from one and using the tune from the other, and modifying one to partner with the other when presented simultaneously.  A fusion of two styles, this movement opens solemnly and culminates in a "hoedown showdown."​

 

Read about "Lights of the Western Sky" (SSA) in the Casper (WY) Star Tribune, May 8, 2017.

 

Click HERE for recording

$8.50 score and parts, $3 ea for choral parts

Lost Songs of Ancient Ireland

SATB and Treble Descant with Piano or Harp, Bodhran, and Irish Flute

Commissioned by Cora Voce; Tacoma, WA

Included in Project : Encore 2017, Quarter 1: PROJECT : ENCORE™ has found this work to be of exceptional merit and has included it in the  exclusive P:E Catalog of Contemporary Choral Music

"Lost Songs of Ancient Ireland," for Mixed Choir with Treble Descant, Piano or Harp, Bodhran, Irish Flute, and Violin, is a three-movement song cycle that focuses on the shifting relationships over the scope of a lifetime from the differing perspective of each person involved.

 

I.  Old Beggarman— Two interwoven jigs, "It Was an Old Beggarman, Weary and Wet" and "Ag an mBóithrín Buí (At the Yellow Little Road)," of both a young lady's observation of a wandering beggarman and his unrequited, possibly unexpressed, love for her.  They are offered together as alternate perspectives from potential romantic partners, and  features lilting, mouth music, or portaireacht bhéil (port a'bhéil, "mouth-singing") as it is known in Irish Gaelic.

II.  I Would Rock My Child to Sleep— A sentimental Irish lullaby Irish lullaby "Do Chuirfinnse Féin Mo Leanbh a Chodladh (I Would Put My Own Child to Sleep)" highlights the shifting roles of a caregiver: the parent full of hopes of the parent for the child morphing over a lifetime into a blessing from the grown child to the aged parent. Each verse is progressively based upon an overall narrative:
    1. hopes of the parent for the child
    2. an easy, natural rhythm to family life, possibly the child is older now, and there is a dream of family continuance
    3. uncertainty over who is nurturing who: does the child now sing to comfort the parent?  
    4. a closing blessing for peace and rest that hearkens back to the successful sleep of a tired infant 

III.  The Drummer— An energetic reel,  a combination of "Maidin Fhómhair, nó Cailín Péacach (The Harvest Maiden, or Sprouting Maiden)" and "Cormac Spáinneach, nó An Drumadóir (Cormac Spaineach, or The Drummer)," alternating between romantic partners encased by a nostalgic love song, suggesting the passing of a lifetime.

Click HERE for recording

$4.50

Mozart's At the Window

SATB or Two-Part Treble with Piano

Text and concept by Gunnar Madsen

Music abridged from W. A. Mozart's Symphony No.40 in G minor, K.550 IV. Allegro assai

 

After getting absolutely sick of the inane music I'd been playing for my young children in the car, I was elated to discover Gunnar Madsen's CD "I'm Growing" featuring "Mozart's At the Window."  The kids were delighted with this funny song about some naughty kid, and my husband and I were delighted with the enormous improvement of musical quality in our vehicle.  It was shortly thereafter that this choral arrangement was born.

 

Gunnar writes, "In my first music theory class in college, the teacher and the students were recalling the silly ways they'd been taught to remember classical melodies when they were young.  One of them was for Mozart's 40th symphony (which I'd never heard) which consisted of "Now Mozart's at the window - Let him in, Let him in, Let him in".  What an ear-worm!  For 25 years now I've dreamt of expanding that ditty into something more substantial, and now I'm proud to present the finished piece.  I'm really going to get a kick of sending this one to my teacher!"

 

Click HERE for recording

$2.50

Sailing on the Dew

SATB or Two-Part Treble with Piano

Commissioned for the Redmond Centennial Celebration with themes of "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow," this faux sea-chanty is a fictional account of the "Jennie June" which may or may not have played a role in helping homesteaders settle Redmond, WA.  Redmond is the homesite of Microsoft, other tech companies, and many new start-ups.  This contemporary adventure- and fortune-seeking hearkens back to the settling of the area and forward to what sort of spirit of adventure will draw future homesteaders to the area.


The muddy Squak River was so shallow, boats were said to be "sailing on the dew" and to take so long that boats would sail up in January and return in June.  It was slow-going from Seattle to the Eastside until they got the right vessel for the job.  The water was too shallow for paddle steamers, and the Jennie June was a much-beloved vessel with a propeller on the back to better navigate the difficult river.

 

Click HERE for recording.

$1.50

To the Manger

Unison Children's Choir with Piano

This advent piece is based on the events that set the scene for the birth of Christ.  The first verse focuses on prophecy, the second on the fulfillment of it, and the third is a personal invitation to participate in it.  The child who sings this story may grow up to need it, and need to verify it for him or herself.

 

Verse 1

When the star in the heavens is shining over Bethlehem

We will go to the manger to see

When the inns of the city are filled with weary travelers,

We will go to the manger to see

     Chorus

     And when Mary wraps her baby and she lays him in the manger

     Oh how wondrous and majestic it will be

     And when travelers, and beggars, and seekers come to worship Him

    We will go to the manger to see

 ​

Verse 2

When the angels appear to the shepherds singing “Christ is born”

We will go to the manger to see

When the Wise Men arrive with their offering for the King of Kings
We will go to the manger to see

     Chorus

     And when Mary wraps her baby and she lays him in the manger

     Oh how wondrous and majestic it will be

     And when travelers, and beggars, and seekers come to worship Him

     We will go to the manger to see

 ​

Verse 3

And if someday I’m lonely and not sure if my God is real

I will go to the manger to see

And if someday I don’t know if God cares what I think and feel

I will go to the manger to see

     New Chorus

     And when Mary wraps her baby and she lays him in the manger

     Oh how wondrous and majestic it will be

          And I’ll see…

          And if someday I need Him, I know Him, and I’ll go to Him.

          I will go to the manger to see

 

Click HERE for recording

 

$1.50

Please reload

bottom of page