A round-up of our fund-raising work to help orphaned children in Tanzania. 

VATW's ongoing work to raise funds for and support the development of schools in Tanzania is moving forward at a great pace. This year we have raised nearly £3,000 through download sales and other fund-raising events. This will go a long way in our current aim to develop some sports facilities at the school and help provide new textbooks and resources for learning.

We would like to again thank all of the schools and youth organisations that contributed to making the Lighting Up The Flame song/video such a great success. It is really good that together, through music, that we are able to help the children of Tanzania in this way.

Schools - partnering with St Mary's School in Njombe
Some schools have chosen to join in the work further by partnering with our current main school in Njombe to continue the fund-raising - holding school concerts and events to raise money. This will be a major development for VATW and the Njombe Project across 2017. If you would like YOUR school to join with us in this way, please do contact us and we can help you by providing lots of free resources - musical and other items - to support your fund-raising events.

We would like to feature one school that has provided amazing support during 2016 - Bengeworth Academy, Evesham, Worcestershire. Not only did the school take a full part in this year's Lighting Up The Flame  song project, but also sent 3 teachers over to work at St Mary's School in Njombe in October. This was a tremendous initiative which had a lot of impact on helping to develop the teaching and school development at St Mary's. Here is what the teachers had to say about their trip:

Our experience at St Mary's in Njombe: 

We spent an amazing 13 days in Tanzania, this included many days spent at St Mary's school, Njombe, getting to know children and staff and working alongside them to share experiences and ideas.  The children were really enthusiastic about their learning and just a joy to teach.  We were involved in the planning and teaching of a range of curriculum subjects including: Mathematics, English, Science, Geography, History and Physical Education.  The children enjoyed learning new sports such as Cricket, Rounders, Netball and Tag Rugby.  The standard 5 students produced some amazing African artwork, which is currently hanging in their classroom, looking very bright, cheerful and colourful!  We supported the teachers in making visual aids for classrooms and challenging their more able students.  We found the children to be extremely polite, respectful and full of songs they wanted to teach us.  They enjoyed learning 'Lighting up the flame' and begged us to teach them many more songs and especially loved the ones with actions, very fast learners indeed!  We would like to thank the teachers, sisters of the convent and children at St Mary's for sharing their wonderful school with us, they are all now very close to our hearts and we will endeavour to keep close links with the school in the future, so that we can continue to make a difference to each other's communities.  A life changing experience and visit that we will never forget!

Very well done Bengeworth Academy and especially well done to Tom

   Njombe children learning Lighting Up The Flame  and Tom, Rachel and Laura from Bengeworth Academy with 
some of the St Mary's Staff


 

☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ 'Sunshine' The new VATW song for 2017 - Studio live streaming web session 

Work is currently underway with the production of the new VATW song for 2017 'Sunshine'. The song is composed, played and produced by some up and coming young musicians and we are very excited about the work they are doing to support the 2017 VATW project. We know that you and the youngsters with whom you are working will enjoy the song. The song will be launched in January 2017, and as usual, once the song is launched, all of the choir resources will be made available for you on our website. To make things even more interesting we will also be posting video clips and photos of the work in progress in the studio and there will be a live streaming event of the final recording session that you and your students will be able to watch live or as a recording. Make sure you keep reading our newsletters to keep up-to-date with news about the song launch.
Some of our musicians in action: Phil and Max, Phil, Ali, Max and Gill.

    
   

'Lighting Up The Flame' of hope with the Njombe School Project 


This year's song/video release 'Lighting Up The Flame' has been a great success with the Voices Around The World website having a very busy time providing downloads. Other fund-raising events, including a successful Kilimanjaro climb in September have also helped enormously.  This is great news for the children of Njombe, Tanzania. So that we can maximise fundraising, we are asking everyone who has downloaded the video to avoid uploading it to any website such as facebook. Voices Around The World is part of a small team that is steering the development of schools in Tanzania. Currently our fund -raising is directed at aiding the development of St Mary's School in Njombe. Our funding will help equip classrooms and provide sports facilities. If you haven't yet downloaded  your copy of this year's song 'Lighting Up The Flame' click here.

'Lighting Up The Flame' of hope in Njombe Tanzania 



A highly successful launch for this year's song







This year's eagerly awaited song/video release 'Lighting Up The Flame' has been a great success with the Voices Around The World website having a very busy time providing downloads. This is great news for the children of Njombe, Tanzania.  So that we can maximise fundraising, we are asking everyone who has downloaded the video to avoid uploading it to any website such as facebook.
Voices Around The World is closely involved with a small team to aid the development of the school in Njombe and all funds raised will help equip classrooms and provide sports facilities. If you haven't yet downloaded  your copy of this year's song 'Lighting Up The Flame' click here



Become a VATW Champion - help raise funds for Njombe and get free access to some amazing choir resources

If your school or youth organisation has taken part in the Voices Around The World Project, you have already done an amazing job of helping us raise funds, but there is so much more that we can do together. We are targeting £10,000 ($14,000) to be raised in funds by March 31st 2017. We are inviting you to join us in raising funds by becoming a Voices Around The World champion school, organisation or individual. Here are some of the things you can do:

1. Put the the Lighting Up The Flame Trailer video on your website and get as many of your parents/members of your school community as possible to download the song/video 

2. Get your local media - TV, radio and newspapers involved to promote the song to the wider public 

3. Run your own Njombe/Voices Around The World fund-raiser concert/event and sell DVDs or CDs of the song 

 What you get as a VATW Champion
- Free access to all the downloadable current and previous VATW song resources to help you perform a fantastic concert
- Free downloadable resource pack to enable you to make a stunning VATW/Njombe Project display

- Support and advice from VATW whenever needed to to help you with your events planning
- Regular updates about the progress in Njombe and chances for you to interact with the school there if you wish

If you would like to become a VATW Champion school, organisation or individual please click here to apply.



Climbing Kilimanjaro to raise funds for the Njombe




Currently, we have a team of six friends of Voices Around The World who are half way up Kilimanjaro in Tanzania on their fund-raising climb for Nombe. Before leaving Tanzanai, they will visit one of the schools that works with Voices Around The World - The International School of Arusha. We wish the team all the best on their 'last push' to get to the summit and say a massive THANK YOU for helping the fund-raising in this way.

 

Finally - The release of the Voices Around The World song/video Lighting Up The Flame 

13 September 2016   
               The release of the Lighting Up The Flame song/video single 

Dear All, 
We are delighted to announce the release of this year's song/video 'Lighting Up The Flame'. For all of you who participated in this year's project, it's time to celebrate your students' musical achievement and also, to remind them that funds raised through downloads/sales of their singing will make a great deal of difference to improving the lives of the children in Njombe Tanzania, many of whom have been orphaned due to the widespread HIV epidemic in this region.  

To get your download now, please click the following link and persuade as many others as you can to do the same - thanks. 

Click below to download the Lighting Up The Flame song/video single 


So....the studio is a mess! Lots of empty coffee cups strewn around. Piles of 'OK I will get around to sorting it papers' in different corners.  Even Oskar, the usually resident studio dog has forsaken his usual place on the sofa to find tidier areas to sleep! But it was all worth it - the song/video is finally ready for you! It's time to celebrate your students' musical achievements and remind them that they are also doing something amazing that will help needy children in Njombe, Tanzania have a better life.

Click below to get your download now and PLEASE encourage others to do the same


This has probably been the hardest year yet for VATW. With the number of schools participating in the project almost doubling - the workload just went through the roof with filing tracks, editing audio and video clips and reviewing all of the material sent in. But it was all worth it. The quality of the choir tracks sent in has been better than ever and the photos and video clips have been very imaginative. We noticed some schools going to incredible lengths for the video and photo shoots - location shots in local scenic places and some schools even using drones to film overhead video shots. We estimate that the recording involves somewhere in the region of 7,000 voices and on last count, 62 countries registered to participate in the project. No other international recording project has come close to achieving something like this!

Alongside all of the production work we have also been in discussions with the  team who are supporting the development of the school in Njombe, Tanzania. All of the funds we raise this year from sales will go to help accelerate progress with the school development. VATW is a member of this team of course. As I write, new classrooms are being completed and three UK teachers will be visiting in October to help support the work of the staff at the school. Money that we raise this year will go specifically to help buy new text books and teaching resources, build and develop the sports area and provide appropriate equipment for this. For the future, we will be looking to see that all of the 'street kids' get to have places at the school and that the class sizes are reduced from the current over-crowded conditions. 

We are really hoping that this year we can encourage as many people as possible to download the new song/video and also to make a donation to the Njombe project. Some schools are offering to do their own fund raising work for the Njombe project - we welcome this of course and hope that many more schools will follow suit.

Release of Voices Around The World 'Lighting Up The Flame' song/video rescheduled 

The release date for this year's Voices Around The World song/video has now been re-scheduled for September 14th 2016 

Thank you for helping the children 
of Njombe in Tanzania. 

Dear All 
Thank you to all of you who have fully participated in the Voices Around The World music project this year and thereby helping the children in Njombe, Tanzania get a better education. You should be very proud of your students' achievements and what they are doing to help other needy children through their singing! You should also be proud of the fact that your students are part of breaking all previous records with the number of schools participating this year having doubled! The extra volume of recordings  received has meant that extra time is needed in editing and mixing the song/video. We have therefore rescheduled the release date of the Lighting Up The Flame song/video for September 14th. 

This year's VATW song/video release will undoubtedly be the largest number of students ever involved in making a global song recording! 

Letting the 'world' know about the good work you are doing - raising funds for the Njombe children 
To help you celebrate your students' success we will soon be making available some downloadable display materials. This will help you make an amazing Voices Around The World display for your school entrance/hall to let your parents/community know about your good work and, at the same time, encourage them to download a copy of the song/video. 

How your students' participation in Voices Around The World is helping to improve the  life chances of children in Njombe, Tanzania - Click here to find out how. 

Best wishes 

Laurie and the Voices Around The World Team

The forthcoming release of the Voices Around The World song/video Lighting Up The Flame 

The release of the final mix version of this year's song Lighting Up The Flame is scheduled for early July ahead of the official lighting up of the Olympic flame in Rio on August 5th. We know you are going to love this year's song and video release.

What you and your students are doing to improve the life chances of children in Njombe Tanzania!
We are especially excited about this year's song release because funds raised by the downloads/purchase of this year's song will go to help improve the education for children at St Mary's School in Njombe, Tanzania. By singing, performing and recording this year's song your students are making an amazing contribution. Young people working together to improve the lives of children in need - this has to be the best idea on the planet!

How can we all help? This picture shows the children who are at school at St Mary's, Njombe. They are the lucky ones! Many of their friends cannot get into the school and spend most of their time roaming the streets during the day. The school has very limited resources and needs much help in setting up a proper education system, building more classrooms, getting some basic resources and helping the staff learn how to teach the children properly. Life is difficult for the children of Njombe. Most of them have no parents due to the severity of the aids virus in this part of Africa.

Help the children of Njombe:
By downloading the audio version or video version of Lighting Up The Flame when it is released in July

By persuading as many of your school parents and friends of the school to do the same

By carrying out fund-raising in your school for The Njombe Project. We already have a few schools participating in Voices Around The World who are raising funds for Njombe beyond the music work.

By making a donation or getting your school parents to donate. Anyone can make a donation - please direct them to our website charity page click here  and hit the DONATE button.

Concert/live performances of Lighting Up The Flame
If you are performing any shows and featuring a performance of Lighting Up The Flame, we are happy to waive copyright and performance licensing fees. But we would ask that you instead make a collection from those watching the show for the Njombe Project and send us the proceeds via the donate button on our website charity page.

If you need any help, support or advice about getting more involved in this fund raising please do not hesitate to contact VATW  by emailing info@voicesaround.com

We will keep you up-to-date across the year through our newsletters as to the progress in Njombe and how funds are being used. Voices Around The World is planning a visit to the school there in 2017.

VATW says 'Don't forget the parents!' + The power of vocal warm-ups 

Don 't forget the parents
Parental involvement and especially parental permission are areas that vary enormously from school to school around the world. For VATW work, the most important of these two area is undoubtedly parental permission. We have been amazed by some countries we have visited where parental permission is generally taken for granted and seen as 'no problem.' However, in the vast majority of countries parental permission is needed before sending photos or video clips of young people to different organisations where the material may be circulated onto the Internet or used in publications. 

With a deadline such as our submission date looming, parental permission could easily be an area that gets forgotten. VATW strongly advises that you do not submit any media to us unless you are sure you have approval of the parents/guardians of the young people involved.

The power of vocal warm-ups
Firstly to say, any professional singer who is serious about what they do, would never ever dream of going on stage and performing without doing a significant amount of vocal warm-up. Some of the top professionals actually have vocal coaches on hand to help them with this. So equally it is just as important to provide vocal warm-up sessions for choir and student solo singers before they perform. This is DOUBLY true for preparing for vocal recordings where of course the tiniest vocal blip is likely to get fully magnified by the microphone. You can guarantee that in doing a good quality vocal warm-up, you will probably improve the singing quality and note accuracy by at least 50%. The vocal chords are one of the most amazing, delicate and sensitive parts of the human body. You will have probably realised or experienced that students get nervous before a performance and this causes a tightening up of the vocal chords. This will mean that without warm-up, they are likely to sing with a head voice/throat voice rather than invoking the power of the diaphragm to help the process. This will often lead to harsh sounding vocals that do not always hit notes accurately. The 'nerves' factor is often significantly increased when a recording session takes place -as this is something that may be new and unfamiliar - and exacerbates the tension in the vocal chords.

OK ...we get it! Warm-up is necessary. But which warm-up techniques????? Many books are written on the subject and you will find a mass of material on the internet.

Properly done, vocal warm-ups are fun and also serve to relax students and get them into the 'music is fun zone,' where you will undoubtedly find the best singing.  Here is an example of Dominic Peckham working with some headteachers at a conference. https://youtu.be/0UrDBT89hvk  You can see his techniques, gradually working towards getting the relaxed vocal performance. It also underlines the need to use the body as part of the vocal warm-up.

If you are not so familiar or confident about vocal warm-up techniques, check out these ones: 
Here is one on traditional choir singing lines  http://www.totalchoirresources.com/pick-mix-warm-ups-for-choirs/ However, one of the best we prefer is from Eric Arceneaux - he has a series of videos on YouTube here is the first one https://youtu.be/Q5hS7eukUbQ  Its a shame he tends to talk too much on his videos!!! But what he demonstrates is well worth the wait!  There are loads of good examples you will find just by googling 'vocal warm-ups.'  However, whichever ones you choose don't forget the importance of using the body. 


 

VATW - magic moments! - A video you must see! +VATW news 

VATW special moments - You must watch this!
It's the season of huge amounts of emails and incoming Dropbox files here at VATW! Thanks to all of you who have worked so hard on the project and thanks especially to your students. When we receive the music and video files, we check them and send them on through for the final mix. There are so many amazing vocal recordings and video clips that arrive featuring ALL age groups. Here is just one sample that stopped us in our tracks today! Have a look/listen - show this to your students. click here 

You watched it?....Isn't that great? She's a budding superstar from Omy Kindergarten in Khartoum, Sudan showing what our youngest VATW participants can do! At VATW we sometimes believe that expectations of what children can achieve, especially at this age group, are set too low. At this amazing school, the teachers are very clearly helping children to acquire a love for music and opening up the horizon for what they can achieve. 

*** Important Important Reminders*** You must must must read this!
1. Uploading files - The best way to send audio, video or picture files to us here at VAT is simply to go to our new File Upload Page This takes you to a very easy to use Dropbox link where you simply drag your files into the folder displayed on the screen. Easy! 
2. REMEMBER - don't shut down your computer or disconnect from the Internet before the Dropbox file transfer has been completed. If you are uploading videos especially, and do not have the fastest of Internet connections, this can take a while.
3. LABEL your files clearly. Sometimes we get files that are sent to us with NO labelling and we have to do some Sherlock Holmes work to find out who sent them. Please label files carefully e.g. Vocal_Part 2_Solo_AmazingSchool_TokyoJapan      Basically anything that  helps us  quickly identify you with the file upload makes our life easier here - thanks!

*** It's the final countdown*** Are you running out of time? 
Yes! Only nine days  to go now until the closing date, 31 May, for sending in files to us. If you need longer...just let us know. The very last, final, final, final extension deadline is June 14th - if you need this, please let us know so we are prepared to receive your files and don't miss them - thanks!