tag:voicesaround.com,2005:/blogs/voices-around-the-world-blog?p=1Voices Around The World Blog2019-05-24T09:22:49+01:00Voices Around The Worldfalsetag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/51381722018-03-20T19:01:56+00:002021-02-26T06:20:48+00:00News about last year’s fantastic song/video release - ‘Sunshine’<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/0ce1839af56e95109e644977d732536d5a38c856/small/sunshine-cd-cover-front.jpg" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></p>
<p>Last year’s song ‘Sunshine’ ended up with nearly 7000 voices on the recording from 64 different countries. We were totally amazed at the quality of the music. Not only was the singing so good but we had schools staging all kinds of incredible routines for the video production. The song has had radio plays all around the world and become our ‘hottest’ song in terms of downloads. All funds raised have gone straight to help the children in our Njombe Project in Tanzania.</p>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/46797902017-04-21T10:37:11+01:002021-04-21T18:04:24+01:00Sunshine and wacky videos!<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/f44fa708e7f399592bd59c2ff81d782cf462c848/small/free-summer-clipart-illustration-of-a-happy-smiling-sun-by-00015-3zb0qj-clipart.png?1484370260" class="size_s justify_left border_" />Thank you for some amazing recordings! Wacky Video/Photo Time! </p>
<p>Thanks to all of those of you who have sent in some great vocal recordings, pics and videos. The quality of singing is incredibly high this year!! </p>
<p>The 'Sunshine' theme definitely seems to have evoked lots of fun and good times judging by the photos and video clips sent in. We have seen some hilarious poses, really creative dance moves and lively singing actions. There is a distinctly 'wacky' sense to some of the clips and pics and lots of laughter going on. We think this is great! If it's not too late to say, and if you haven't yet taken your pictures and videos...please please please make them as much fun as possible. LET'S MAKE A VIDEO TOGETHER THIS YEAR that will brighten up the lives of everyone that watches it. </p>
<p>We like to think that enjoyment is what the VATW project is all about! Look forward to receiving all of the great work from your students! </p>
<p>Laurie and the VATW team </p>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/46441472017-03-24T14:54:49+00:002021-04-21T18:13:28+01:00Impact of your support to help children in Tanzania - listen to the Njombe children singing!<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/7c6b65fd02682c8ece64e832d53e469194ada3e6/small/njombe2.png?1436133992" class="size_s justify_left border_" />Money raised from your VATW downloads and events last year are now being injected into creating outdoor sports areas for the children at St Mary's School in Njombe. It will also be used to help buy sports equipment. This is a very exciting for the school and we are looking to build substantially on this over 2017. Many VATW schools are running 'Live Aid For Tanzania' music concerts this year to help further with the fund-raising. If you would like to join in the fun please let us know and we will arrange for you to have access to lots of free music/choir resources to<br>help you!<br><br>Here are the children of St Mary's School in Njombe, working with Rachel, Tom and Lauren - three teachers from Bengeworth Academy in Evesham, UK who went over last October to support the teaching staff at the school. The children were very excited to learn last year's VATW song 'Lighting Up The Flame'<br><br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Lcuh_8gFXmc" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Lcuh_8gFXmc/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lcuh_8gFXmc?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="200" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe><br> Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/46375982017-03-20T19:56:07+00:002021-03-03T06:15:06+00:00Getting in on the act! The staff have got talent too! Staff choir here we go!!<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/cc09718fd44a3d38e275397456f99ea2d6bc0a14/small/jointogether.jpg?1416746566" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><em><span class="font_xl"><span style="color:#c0392b;">Can the staff sing too?</span></span></em><br>Well this was not a direction we thought we would go in. But never say never.......<br>We have had requests from schools that would like to submit recordings from staff members for this year's project. We thought about this long and hard (about two minutes actually) and thought YES WHY NOT!<br><br><span style="color:#c0392b;"><em><strong>SO now we are officially inviting you</strong></em></span> to send in staff vocal recordings and video clips/photos. If we get enough submissions we will release a separate song/video adult version of 'Sunshine' in early July alongside the students' version. Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/46373222017-03-20T16:56:07+00:002021-03-01T09:40:13+00:00Danger! Danger! Rehearsals in progress - interesting report from a VATW school in the The Middle East<p><span style="color:#c0392b;"><span class="font_xl"><em>Sunshine rehearsals in progress</em></span></span><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/f44fa708e7f399592bd59c2ff81d782cf462c848/small/free-summer-clipart-illustration-of-a-happy-smiling-sun-by-00015-3zb0qj-clipart.png?1484370260" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><br>It’s amazing to think that thousands of students around the world are currently busy learning this year’s Voices Around The World song ‘Sunshine!’ We know from the feedback received that students of all ages are thoroughly enjoying the song and it looks set to be another Voices Around The World ‘smash hit’ when we release the Sunshine song/video at the beginning of July. The song has clearly had wide appeal, with very young children finding the tune easy to master and older students taking on the challenge of mastering some of the intricacies of the harmony lines. We thought you might like to read about an example of one school in action with this year’s song project.<br><br><span style="color:#c0392b;"><span class="font_xl"><em>The 'Sunshine' effect in Bahrain</em></span></span><br>Here is a report from Kristina Bourner who is a secondary school music teacher at a school in Bahrain in the Middle East: </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/0333d3e9be004a49b321fba63bbd6961b86c9aa3/small/voices-around-the-world-jnr-044.jpg?1456563896" class="size_s justify_left border_" />Our students at St Christopher’s School have been busy learning the song “Sunshine” for the Voices Around The World 2017 project. Pupils across the Infant, Junior and Senior Schools are enjoying rehearsing the song for their upcoming concerts as well as getting very excited about the prospects of recording the song in April! </p>
<p>The song has a very catchy tune and It has been amazing to see how rapidly our secondary school students learned it. After just a short time into rehearsals the students had picked up the song’s lyrics and melodies. A few of them also joined in with the backing track on their own instruments whilst singing, with one or two on guitar, and a few others on cajòn box drums and percussion. They are really enjoying learning the song and have been particularly interested in finding out more about the band members behind the writing as featured on the voicesaround.com website. </p>
<p>The Head of Music at the Junior School, is also delighted with the progress that the Junior School singers have made with the song so far. The song has been such a success in choir rehearsals that the Music teachers at the Infant and Junior Schools have been including the piece in curriculum lessons involving 800 students! The HOM mentioned that ‘The pupils are really loving the song. Many of them asked me to share it with them, so I’ve shared it with the whole school on Google Drive. One of the Year 5 classes created their own accompaniment using classroom percussion and accompanied the whole Junior School singing it in an assembly. The Year 4 Lahan choir members are excited and looking forward to the upcoming recording session.” </p>
<p>Google Drive and Google Classroom have proved to be particularly useful resources to share the various backing tracks, lyrics and sheet music with the school community. Senior students mentioned that they have been enjoying listening to the song on their way into school whilst on the bus. Students also commented that the song is catchy and easy to learn, and said that it had often been stuck in their heads after rehearsals. </p>
<p>Thank you to the Voices Around The World team for the production of this year’s song!</p>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/45631842017-01-25T14:25:57+00:002021-03-06T07:38:32+00:00Join in the fund-raising and produce your own 'Live Aid' Concert<p> <br> <span class="font_xl"><strong>Fundraising To help our charity work in Tanzania </strong></span><br>So far, over the last two years, VATW has contributed to the work of helping the development of St Mary’s School in Tanzania. Here are some of things that have happened: </p>
<ul> <li>Steering group (including VATW) formed to support the school’s development </li> <li>Two new classrooms built </li> <li>Avocado trees extensively planted – to help agriculture and sustainability in the project by linking up with the people in Njombe </li>
</ul>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/a30407b7a69f8320f7de6fdce33db461e21d2fa8/small/thumb-p1000538-1024.jpg?1485354141" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><br>Three Teachers <br>From Bengeworth School, UK <br>Visiting Njombe to work with staff <br> </p>
<ul> <li>Three UK teachers went over to the school in October 2016 and spent two weeks providing training for the teachers there, helping with current development planning. While there, they recorded last year’s song ‘Lighting Up The Flame’ with the children. VATW provided 20 MP3/4 players for the school to help the process of learning this and other songs. </li> <li>£3,000 raised by VATW downloads and activities since last September – now being directed at building sports areas outside the school and providing sports equipment (very little in existence currently) </li> <li><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/2317bca023fd062f4ac2e54daddc63654dc3984b/small/thumb-p1000527-1024.jpg?1481655589" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></li>
</ul>Njombe Children learning to sing Lighting Up The Flame, which they went on to record for us!
<p><br><br><br><br><br>Join us with boosting the fund-raising for St Mary’s School in Njombe. Help these children – many of whom have been orphaned by the HIV virus which is rife in this part of Africa. <br>Many amazing VATW schools have agreed to run a fund-raising ‘Live Aid For Tanzania’ music concert during 2017, join this exclusive club of fantastic schools and run your own fund-raising concert. <br>We hope that you will feel like joining in this very worthwhile cause. How amazing is it for our students to sing their hearts out at the same time as raising funds to help these very needy young people in Njombe. If you wish to join in with us on this please drop a line to info@voicesaround.com and in return we will provide you with lots of extra free choir and display resources. Let’s all make 2017 an AMAZING YEAR for the Njombe children!</p>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/45631712017-01-25T14:16:35+00:002021-04-21T18:14:04+01:00VATW Goes Percussion and Dance Crazy in 2017<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/063196355b8b845774ae74e7aaf674c5db36c3c7/small/animal-drumming.jpg?1485348710" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="" /><strong>Percussion Crazy!</strong><br>This year's project Sunshine - as you already know has a fairly high powered rhythm and backing. You will also have notice - because you are such astute musical-minded people, that there is an instrumental break section during the song - this is no accident! This year we wanted to lay down a challenge to all of those participating in the project to come up with your own percussion work for this section! If you get something you are pleased with - please send us a recording along with the vocal and video recordings. IF IT IS SUITABLE....we will look at including some of your percussion recordings onto the final mix - wow ...this could be amazing! And maybe maybe maybe ...if there is enough material we could look at producing a separate percussion and backing track recording ...we can't wait to see what you get up to!<br><br><strong> </strong><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/2dbdf720f4a98def07b334bf4ac7b1955e6e9c22/small/crezy-dancer-hip-hop-beautiful-picture.jpg?1485348650" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><p><strong>Dance Crazy!</strong><br>Sunshine is one of those songs where it is very difficult to keep still when the music is playing - In fact we strongly recommend that you don't! Short story: A couple of years back VATW was over in Africa busy recording some African folk songs at a school. We suddenly noticed that the singing had 'gone off' and was becoming rather tuneless and out of rhythmn ...African youngsters often have naturally great singing and dancing ability. After a while we discovered that an inexperienced teacher working with them had told all of them to 'STAND STILL WHILE YOU SING!' We quickly got them dancing and moving around again and the tuneful singing AND the smiles returned almost immediately! So the lesson - YES let them move!!</p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/f44fa708e7f399592bd59c2ff81d782cf462c848/small/free-summer-clipart-illustration-of-a-happy-smiling-sun-by-00015-3zb0qj-clipart.png?1484370260" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><br>Over the years, we have had some great video dance clips sent to us for the project and last year, even though it was not requested we still got schools sending in some great dance work videos. WELL this year we ARE requesting some dance videos! Let's see what happens when they start busting some moves in Botswana, showing us their shimmies in Shanghai, showing the Harlem Shuffle in New York or rocking the World up in Reykjavik ....OK I'll stop... I think you've got the idea! Please rise to the challenge and send us your dancing solos, group dances etc. Whatever happens....make sure there is plenty of smiling. A sunshine song without smiling is unlikely to be a good thing! Let the challenge commence!<br><br> Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/45631382017-01-25T12:46:39+00:002021-02-16T10:22:39+00:00Don't Get Left Behind - Make your students famous! Join the 2017 Sunshine Project The VATW project for 2017 has got off to an amazingly fast start. Many schools have already regiistered and signed onto our email list to make sure they receive all breaking news, advice and tips about working with us this year!<br><br><span class="font_large">Important change for 2017.</span><br><span class="font_regular">This year we have decided to make joining our email list and registering to be part of the project MUST DO areas for you all! Oh dear....that sounds a bit fierce doesn't it! We have decided to only accept song and video submissions this year from schools that have registered and are on our mailing list. The reason for being a bit strict with this is that in 2016, we received a lot of unexpected submissions of video and vocal recordings (some at the last minute) which created a lot of problems in the studio with much more work than we had planned for.....So really this is a shout for HELP to you all ....please , please please make sure you register and join the mailing list and you will be our best friends forever! <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/f44fa708e7f399592bd59c2ff81d782cf462c848/small/free-summer-clipart-illustration-of-a-happy-smiling-sun-by-00015-3zb0qj-clipart.png?1484370260" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></span><br><span style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="font_xl">THANK YOU to all of our VATW best friends!</span></span>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/45519572017-01-16T18:48:45+00:002021-02-08T12:06:58+00:00 ? Thanks to Steven Sugden for climbing Kilimanjaro!<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/3e62e88b36b0b6d6c5f04c0931fdb7ed452efaee/medium/steven.jpg?1484595496" class="size_m justify_left border_" />Voices Around The World has many supporters, but none more so than Steven Sugden, who, back in September 2015 climbed Kilimanjaro to help raise funds for the children of Njombe. What an amazing effort raising £1800. This money will be dedicated to developing the sports facilities at St Mary's School Njombe. Currently the facilities are pretty much non-existent so this will be an enormous boost for the students and staff.<br><br>Steven is leading the way with this extra fund-raising and we are hoping to see lots of schools and youth organisations following suit this year with running their own 'Live Aid For Tanzania' music concerts to help raise more funds for both the Njombe Project and other education projects in Tanzania that we are supporting<br><br>Thanks Steven on behalf of all the children and staff at Njombe Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/45516852017-01-16T15:59:44+00:002021-02-11T11:28:53+00:00New Song/Video Project for 2017 - Sunshine<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/f44fa708e7f399592bd59c2ff81d782cf462c848/small/free-summer-clipart-illustration-of-a-happy-smiling-sun-by-00015-3zb0qj-clipart.png?1484370260" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><p><br><br>We are getting 2017 off to a rip-roaring start with our new song/project release to schools. The song is entitled 'Sunshine' and has been written and produced by a team of up-and-coming young musicians from Bath Spa University, UK. As we have done over the last five years, we invite you and your students to be part of making an amazing international song/video recording release this coming June. Sunshine is an uplifting, powerful, energetic and positive song celebrating life, written and produced by young people at the cutting edge of new musical developments.<br><br>The Sunshine writing and production team from right to left - Max Lewin (writing/arranging) Jess Holland (Amazing Vocals/Vocal arrangements), Phil Yates (Production/studio engineering), Alejandro Invernizzi (Writing)<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/3dd004aef07bd7ac44bf50bb7919bd689d809f1e/small/max-eyg.jpg?1481391164" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/4d7c87cd6dfd8c86c500b18e15a60294d936e54f/small/13124601-10205939000659631-1441103468433458209-n.jpg?1484581985" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/036f9823607f643029e49d5d56d5d54eb9ceb168/small/14480618-1487172804632379-1867818950522136714-o.jpg?1484581856" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/17e15c34fa3285c6dc1222d41b53d3762788d17b/small/887219-10209049944865848-6175731408101907116-o.jpg?1484581854" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><br><br><br><br><br><br>Join us for this year's exciting musical journey. To be part of the project, all you need to do is register, join the mailing list, download the free choir resources - MP3 tracks, music score etc and teach the choir parts. When you are fully rehearsed, record the choir parts and send these to us along with some video clips of the rehearsals and/or performances to mix onto the final release version of the song. </p>
<p>We believe this year's song has every chance of being a world-wide commercial success and thereby help us raise funds to fully develop the education for the children in Tanzania. In addition to the recording, some schools have already offered to perform their own 'Live Aid For Tanzania' concerts or carry out other types of fund-raising events for us. If your school is interested in teaming up with us in this way, please tell us when you register to join this year's project. All of you who offer to help us in this way will receive free access to all previous VATW song resources from the last five years and other amazing resources to help with your Tanzanian fund-raising efforts. </p>
<p><a contents="Click here " data-link-label="2017 Choir Resources for 'Sunshine'" data-link-type="page" href="/2017-choir-resources-for-sunshine">Click here </a>to go to our new Sunshine Project choir resources page - to find out all the full information and access the free downloads for your choir work.</p>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/45090392016-12-13T18:56:16+00:002020-11-07T10:44:30+00:00A 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.<br><br>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.<br><br><strong>Schools - partnering with St Mary's School in Njombe</strong><br>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.<br><br>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 <em>Lighting Up The Flame</em> 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:
<p><em>Our experience at St Mary's in Njombe: </em></p>
<p><em>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!<br><br>Very well done Bengeworth Academy and especially well done to Tom<br><br> Njombe children learning Lighting Up The Flame and Tom, Rachel and Laura from Bengeworth Academy with <br>some of the St Mary's Staff</em><br><span style="color:#0000FF;"><em><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/2317bca023fd062f4ac2e54daddc63654dc3984b/medium/thumb-p1000527-1024.jpg?1481655589" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/16d767a08c243a9c4618909a50979634de3ac444/medium/thumb-p1000538-1024.jpg?1481655586" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></em></span></p>
<p><br> </p>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/45053202016-12-10T17:09:56+00:002021-01-21T20:03:14+00:00☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ 'Sunshine' The new VATW song for 2017 - Studio live streaming web sessionWork is currently underway with the production of the new VATW song for 2017 <em>'Sunshine'</em>. 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.<br>Some of our musicians in action: Phil and Max, Phil, Ali, Max and Gill.<div>
<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/cc218adb35abff3de784617ec56c7a21e05f781b/small/studio.jpg?1481391901" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/8b5e96b32c9b7c5014ae299fd79c8a5d511e79bf/small/phil.jpg?1481391902" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></div> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/0ca4343feb4131c064af039f598715d4b982cf72/small/ali-eyg.jpg?1481391163" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><br> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/3dd004aef07bd7ac44bf50bb7919bd689d809f1e/small/max-eyg.jpg?1481391164" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/ca24eb44c7ce69cbc186cc199fb1db8f0cabfa48/small/gill-eyg.jpg?1481391165" class="size_s justify_left border_" />Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/45050522016-12-10T08:24:00+00:002020-10-16T07:15:26+01:00'Lighting Up The Flame' of hope with the Njombe School Project<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/3b2a18c4d598149d13ddd094313440df7e88d8bc/small/njombe4.png?1436133994" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><br>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' <a contents="click here" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="/home" target="_blank">click here</a>.</p>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/43754942016-09-16T16:51:55+01:002021-02-09T14:14:23+00:00'Lighting Up The Flame' of hope in Njombe Tanzania<br><br><span style="color:#0000CD;"><strong><span class="font_large">A highly successful launch for this year's song</span></strong></span><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/7c6b65fd02682c8ece64e832d53e469194ada3e6/medium/njombe2.png?1436133992" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>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.<br>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' <a contents="click here" data-link-label="Download This year's song/video release - Lighting Up The Flame" data-link-type="page" href="/download-this-year-s-song-video-release-lighting-up-the-flame" target="_blank">click here</a><br><br><a contents="" data-link-label="Download This year's song/video release - Lighting Up The Flame" data-link-type="page" href="/download-this-year-s-song-video-release-lighting-up-the-flame" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/9bc8c8abdf9cf8e6c408f2501c0dea56cbaceff0/medium/cooltext-download.png?1473711433" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></a><br><br><span style="color:#0000CD;"><span class="font_large"><strong>Become a VATW Champion - help raise funds for Njombe and get free access to some amazing choir resources</strong></span></span><br><span class="font_regular"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/fabacf0e83326282e3e70d4551b8cf52f27b98f0/small/thumb-dscn0547-1024.jpg?1456570440" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><br>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. <strong><span style="color:#FF0000;">We are targeting £10,000 ($14,000) to be raised in funds by March 31st 2017. </span></strong>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:</span>
<p>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 <br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/3d31aca521648a87b2282cf07a909ccfb644c35c/small/peter-wiles-tanzania-2015-099-1.jpg?1466173464" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></p>
<p>2. Get your local media - TV, radio and newspapers involved to promote the song to the wider public </p>
<p>3. Run your own Njombe/Voices Around The World fund-raiser concert/event and sell DVDs or CDs of the song </p>
<p> <strong>What you get as a VATW Champion</strong><br>- <strong>Free</strong> access to all the downloadable current and previous VATW song resources to help you perform a fantastic concert<br>- <strong>Free </strong>downloadable resource pack to enable you to make a stunning VATW/Njombe Project display<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/7ddc84e94e173d8d9aaedfc131d3604fcbbde216/small/dsc-0061.jpg?1456565357" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></p>
<p>- Support and advice from VATW whenever needed to to help you with your events planning<br>- Regular updates about the progress in Njombe and chances for you to interact with the school there if you wish<br><br>If you would like to become a VATW Champion school, organisation or individual please click here to apply.</p><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong><span style="color:#0000CD;">Climbing Kilimanjaro to raise funds for the Njombe</span></strong></span><br><span class="font_regular"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/7601fe5616b9e4ad4ce7b2de82764d5340ea4c8e/medium/heaven-kilimanjaro-1426084c.jpg?1474114223" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><br><br><br><br>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.</span><br><br> Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/43687042016-09-12T22:10:34+01:002020-03-19T19:42:15+00:00Finally - The release of the Voices Around The World song/video Lighting Up The Flame<p>13 September 2016 <br> The release of the Lighting Up The Flame song/video single </p>
<p>Dear All, <br>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. </p>
<p>To get your download now, please click the following link and persuade as many others as you can to do the same - thanks. </p>
<p>Click below to download the Lighting Up The Flame song/video single <br><br><a contents="" data-link-label="Download This year's song/video release - Lighting Up The Flame" data-link-type="page" href="/download-this-year-s-song-video-release-lighting-up-the-flame"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/9bc8c8abdf9cf8e6c408f2501c0dea56cbaceff0/original/cooltext-download.png?1473711433" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p><br>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 - <strong>the song/video is finally ready for you</strong>! 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.
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br><strong>Click below to get your download now and PLEASE encourage others to do the same</strong>
</div><br><a contents="" data-link-label="Download This year's song/video release - Lighting Up The Flame" data-link-type="page" href="/download-this-year-s-song-video-release-lighting-up-the-flame" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/9bc8c8abdf9cf8e6c408f2501c0dea56cbaceff0/original/cooltext-download.png?1473711433" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a><br>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!<br><br>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. <br><br>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.Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/43395312016-08-24T15:57:23+01:002016-08-24T15:57:23+01:00Release of Voices Around The World 'Lighting Up The Flame' song/video rescheduled<p><span class="font_xl"><strong>The release date for this year's Voices Around The World song/video has now been re-scheduled for September 14th 2016 </strong></span></p>
<p>Thank you for helping the children <br>of Njombe in Tanzania. </p>
<p>Dear All <br>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. </p>
<p>This year's VATW song/video release will undoubtedly be the largest number of students ever involved in making a global song recording! </p>
<p>Letting the 'world' know about the good work you are doing - raising funds for the Njombe children <br>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>Best wishes </p>
<p>Laurie and the Voices Around The World Team</p>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/42269442016-06-13T11:35:47+01:002021-03-02T11:11:27+00:00The forthcoming release of the Voices Around The World song/video Lighting Up The Flame<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/0c3809ce374e8a2a376c89c9f7c693e0af4fef34/small/torch2.jpg?1449674353" class="size_s justify_left border_" />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.<br><br><span style="color:#0000FF;"><span class="font_large"><strong>What you and your students are doing to improve the life chances of children in Njombe Tanzania!</strong></span></span><br>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!<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/4d44d2e3b14b8f88e3b5f9ae9110cc5c7bd4e679/medium/njombe5.png?1436134001" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><span class="font_large"><span style="color:#0000FF;"><strong>How can we all help?</strong></span></span> 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.<br><br><span class="font_large"><span style="color:#0000FF;"><strong>Help the children of Njombe:</strong></span></span><br><u>By downloading</u> the audio version or video version of Lighting Up The Flame when it is released in July<br><br><u>By persuading</u> as many of your school parents and friends of the school to do the same<br><br><u>By carrying out fund-raising</u> 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.<br><br><u>By making a donation </u>or getting your school parents to donate. Anyone can make a donation - please direct them to our website charity page <a contents="click here" data-link-label="VATW Charity Work" data-link-type="page" href="/vatw-charity-work">click here</a> and hit the DONATE button.<br><br><span style="color:#0000FF;"><span class="font_large"><strong>Concert/live performances of Lighting Up The Flame</strong></span></span><br><span class="font_regular">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.<br><br>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<br><br>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.</span>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/41958502016-05-25T10:00:34+01:002016-05-25T10:00:34+01:00VATW says 'Don't forget the parents!' + The power of vocal warm-ups<p><span style="color:#0000FF;"><strong>Don 't forget the parents</strong></span><br>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. <br><br>With a deadline such as our submission date looming, parental permission could easily be an area that gets forgotten. <span style="color:#FF0000;"><strong>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.</strong></span><br><br><span style="color:#0000FF;"><strong>The power of vocal warm-ups</strong></span><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>If you are not so familiar or confident about vocal warm-up techniques, check out these ones: <br>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. </p>
<p><br> </p>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/41916802016-05-22T13:33:41+01:002020-12-17T06:27:59+00:00Orchestral + Choir Version of Lighting Up The Flame - BahrainThe talented staff of St Christopher's in Bahrain - who have arranged an orchestral and choir version of Lighting up The Flame for their Summer concert! <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/def4c74b9e7cc994778319b8eb202a6275453d71/original/summerconcert-gdn15-05-16-copy.jpg?1463919062" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/41916192016-05-22T08:50:28+01:002021-02-13T06:07:20+00:00VATW - magic moments! - A video you must see! +VATW news<span style="color:#FF0000;"><strong>VATW special moments - You must watch this!</strong></span><br>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. <a contents="click here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/g32ppzg94427dbl/solo%20%20ommykindergarten.mp4?dl=0" target="_blank">click here</a> <br><br>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. <br><br><span style="color:#FF0000;"><strong>*** Important Important Reminders*** You <u>must must must</u> read this!</strong></span><br>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 <a contents="File Upload Page" data-link-label="**New Upload Your Files" data-link-type="page" href="/new-upload-your-files" target="_blank">File Upload Page</a> 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! <br>2. <em><strong>REMEMBER </strong></em>- 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.<br>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!<br><br><span style="color:#FF0000;"><strong>*** It's the final countdown*** Are you running out of time? </strong></span><br>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!<br><br> <script type="text/javascript">//###################################################################
// Author: ricocheting.com
// Version: v3.0
// Date: 2014-09-05
// Description: displays the amount of time until the "dateFuture" entered below.
var CDown = function() {
this.state=0;// if initialized
this.counts=[];// array holding countdown date objects and id to print to {d:new Date(2013,11,18,18,54,36), id:"countbox1"}
this.interval=null;// setInterval object
}
CDown.prototype = {
init: function(){
this.state=1;
var self=this;
this.interval=window.setInterval(function(){self.tick();}, 1000);
},
add: function(date,id){
this.counts.push({d:date,id:id});
this.tick();
if(this.state==0) this.init();
},
expire: function(idxs){
for(var x in idxs) {
this.display(this.counts[idxs[x]], "Now!");
this.counts.splice(idxs[x], 1);
}
},
format: function(r){
var out="";
if(r.d != 0){out += r.d +" "+((r.d==1)?"day":"days")+", ";}
if(r.h != 0){out += r.h +" "+((r.h==1)?"hour":"hours")+", ";}
out += r.m +" "+((r.m==1)?"min":"mins")+", ";
out += r.s +" "+((r.s==1)?"sec":"secs")+", ";
return out.substr(0,out.length-2);
},
math: function(work){
var y=w=d=h=m=s=ms=0;
ms=(""+((work%1000)+1000)).substr(1,3);
work=Math.floor(work/1000);//kill the "milliseconds" so just secs
y=Math.floor(work/31536000);//years (no leapyear support)
w=Math.floor(work/604800);//weeks
d=Math.floor(work/86400);//days
work=work%86400;
h=Math.floor(work/3600);//hours
work=work%3600;
m=Math.floor(work/60);//minutes
work=work%60;
s=Math.floor(work);//seconds
return {y:y,w:w,d:d,h:h,m:m,s:s,ms:ms};
},
tick: function(){
var now=(new Date()).getTime(),
expired=[],cnt=0,amount=0;
if(this.counts)
for(var idx=0,n=this.counts.length; idx<n; ++idx){
cnt=this.counts[idx];
amount=cnt.d.getTime()-now;//calc milliseconds between dates
// if time is already past
if(amount<0){
expired.push(idx);
}
// date is still good
else{
this.display(cnt, this.format(this.math(amount)));
}
}
// deal with any expired
if(expired.length>0) this.expire(expired);
// if no active counts, stop updating
if(this.counts.length==0) window.clearTimeout(this.interval);
},
display: function(cnt,msg){
document.getElementById(cnt.id).innerHTML=msg;
}
};
window.onload=function(){
var cdown = new CDown();
cdown.add(new Date(2016,4,31,23,59,59), "countbox1");
};
</script><div id="countbox1"> </div>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/41750892016-05-11T10:41:30+01:002017-01-14T19:01:26+00:00How to make sure your school gets involved in the final video ??????<p><span class="font_large">??????</span></p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/48a519a7efaa886ae7e6d25704ddc4117e117247/small/videoicon.jpg?1412509529" class="size_s justify_left border_" />Over the last 4 years of the lifetime of the VATW project lifetime, we have received a lot of video footage of youngsters involved in our project. This is amazing! You can imagine how excruciatingly difficult it is to choose the video clips we use to go with the final recording ....suffice it to say there are many tough discussions here in the VATW studio!! We get video in all shapes and sizes from professional footage shot and edited by by people who clearly know what they are doing, to some very shaky video shot on a phone! <br><br>What we look for, generally centres around short video clips that will be interesting and entertaining on final mix video - content that will make people laugh or show interest and drama so they will want to watch the video over and over.<br><br>With a bit of imagination it's surprising how you can really enhance your video clips. Here are some pointers:<ul> <li>?First YES it is OK to send us phone video if you do not have access to using flashy cameras or professional level video equipment. The important aspect is to, as we know from basic photographic lessons...keep the camera/phone steady. As those who are in the project over the last few years know ...VATW regularly goes to our adopted school in Otjikondo, Namibia! Famously there, my good friend Sara always says OMG, please don't let Laurie near the video camera. This is partly because I always forget that just because it is called a MOVIE it does not mean the camera has to move all over the place! So basically the lesson is any scanning shots should be slow and steady!</li> <li> ?YES - shoot in good light. Shots taken in dark halls etc are rarely successful</li> <li> ?NO - please avoid shots from far away - generally close ups work the best, especially as it's often the expressions on faces that are the best bit to capture.</li> <li> ?YES - do listen to your students - often they (especially older students) will give you some good ideas for shots.</li> <li> ?YES - if you are working with older students - why not give them the job of making the video - LET GO!</li> <li> ?YES/NO??? Getting parents involved in the video making?? One time we were wondering why a good quality video received, heavily featured one particular pupil. MMMMhh you can guess the rest. Joking aside there are sometimes some professionals/people proficient with video work out there who would love to help, but you just don't know about them....a letter to the parents can be a powerful tool! e.g. one school we went to in UK recently - they discovered that there was a parent who was also a BBC cameraman that they had not previously known about.</li> <li> ?YES entertaining video! To actually say what we mean here it is probably interesting to look at what we don't want.</li>
</ul>
<ol> <li> As mentioned very shaky video or fuzzy video shot in poor light is not usable</li> <li>Static shots where students are not looking very happy about life and there is no song context i.e. no obvious involvement in the VATW song activities.</li>
</ol> Now - what we do want:
<ol> <li>Close up shots that show strong musical involvement and students generally getting a lot of fun out of working with the music</li> <li>Shots with students showing lots of expression and interacting with one another</li> <li>Dramatic shots - shots where students are acting out an associated bit of drama to go with the song. e.g. one piece of successful footage we took recently was of a class of students sitting in their classroom studying during the song intro - Heads down. We filmed from above, standing on a table. When the singing started, they all looked up sharply at the camera and sung - giving a sense of a story starting to unfold. </li> <li>We have a number of schools that have got into 'signing' - this is always interesting and useful for our potential audience. Younger pupils can often be involved in simple word associated actions.</li> <li>DON'T FORGET - for the video you submit... <span style="color:#FF0000;">the sound quality DOES NOT MATTER</span> - we will synchronise any video you send to go with the final sound track. You WILL need to play the song for students to sing along with to help us place the video. You can explain to them that often when pop videos are made the artists are miming to the song or not singing along in a performance way.</li> <li>Location location location. You might have a local location that will be interesting for our audience e.g. what is distinctive in the place where you live that would make your video stand out as representing a country e.g. how cool to have a few camels or giraffes wandering across the back of your filming location. </li> <li>Dancing moves ......ohh YES everybody loves to watch a few good dancing moves!</li>
</ol><br>We could go on ....but by now you have probably got the idea. So shake loose and have lotsa of fun with the video shoots and lets make this year's VATW video the best ever! Thanks as ever<br>LaurieVoices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/41612702016-05-01T15:04:03+01:002017-01-31T16:15:48+00:00How to upload audio, video and picture files - Individual vocal recordings - VATW as an independent project for students.<strong>All recorded - what's the best way to send us your audio, video and picture files</strong><br>The VATW Lighting Up The Flame instructions will give you full instructions about sending us your files and specifically how you can use the free Dropbox system to send us your vocal recordings, video clips and pictures. We always ask that you don't send these by email as it would clog up our email systems forever! Using Dropbox is actually very, very simple. However, this year we have made things even easier! You are of course still welcome to send us your recordings by Dropbox. However, we have also introduced an upload page onto our website. So all you need to do is go to our new <a contents="file upload page " data-link-label="**New Upload Your Files" data-link-type="page" href="/new-upload-your-files" target="_blank">file upload page </a>and follow the simple instructions for uploading files. <strong>We will always send you an acknowledgement to say we have received your files.</strong><br><br><strong>Have a look at what other VATW schools are doing - Photos from the recording action in Bahrain, Uganda, India, China, Brunei and Dubai</strong><br>It's all happening on the <a contents="Voices Around The World Facebook page" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/VoicesAroundTheWorld/" target="_blank">Voices Around The World Facebook page</a><br><br><strong>Individual vocal recordings - giving your students the chance! </strong><br>Sometimes it is simply impossible in the busy whirl of day-to-day activities for schools to take part fully in VATW. Having worked in many schools over the years, we understand this! However, occasionally, we come across youngsters who are especially passionate about their music and join in our project by themselves. We are all for this. Please do not overlook this possibility. This may particularly interest older student. If you simply, haven't had the chance to organise involvement for your school this year - you could still make your students aware of the project. There is then nothing to stop them submitting a recording and video themselves. For example we have had students send in some quite good recordings made on a phone or tablet. The main thing to impress upon them if they are interested in this option, is that the recording must be only of their singing i.e. not with the backing track. This usually means using two devices - one as playback of the mp3 template listened to on earphones and one device to record the sound.<br><br>In some cases we have seen things go one step further where one or a few talented students have independently organised themselves into a group to record the vocals - all kinds of exciting possibilities here! Linked to this we have also spoken to some schools spoken to this year where the students are expanding the project into making a video themselves à la MTV.<br> <p><strong>VATW as an independent individual/group project</strong><br>This is about taking things to the next level. The possibilities are huge and link across into other subjects such as drama, IT, graphic design, art......</p>
<ul> <li>Student(s) organising their own song rehearsals</li> <li>Organising vocal recording sessions</li> <li>Students organising their own performances</li> <li>Organisation of and making of a lively and interesting video to go with the vocal recordings - lip synching the video clips etc - location shoots - storyline videos</li> <li>Making DVDs/CDs sales for charity or for some school event/trip e.g Duke of Edinburgh award in British Schools</li>
</ul><br><br> Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/41414642016-04-18T17:37:57+01:002021-03-01T15:37:59+00:00Voices Around The World ?Lighting Up The Flame? Important information and advice Dear All<br>The excitement is mounting at Voices Around The World! As usual we have been out and about visiting and supporting schools and have been listening to some fantastic choir and solo singing. Vocal recordings and videos have already started arriving at the VATW studio. Congratulations to all of you who are up and running with rehearsals and performances of this year's song - '<em>Lighting Up The Flame.'</em> We are looking forward to receiving your vocal recordings, pictures and videos in the near future. If you have not yet got involved - It is still not too late to join in the fun! simply <a contents="go to our website" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="/home" target="_blank">go to our website</a>, <a contents="register " data-link-label="Registration Page" data-link-type="page" href="/registration-page">register </a>and <a contents="download all of the free singing resources." data-link-label="Lighting Up The Flame" data-link-type="page" href="/lighting-up-the-flame" target="_blank">download all of the free singing resources.</a> The deadline for submitting recordings to VATW is 31 May.<br><br>More news, information and advice:<p><strong>Rehearsals done ....ready for performances ....but are your singers ready for recording? Here are some thoughts about how to get the best vocal recordings.</strong><br>Those of you who are experienced with working with microphones will know there is a world of difference between making a good recording and making a good stage performance. There is a tendency for students who are recording for the first time, to become over enthusiastic and shout at the microphone or compete with each other to get their voice recorded. This usually ends up in an unusable distorted sound. While it is relatively easy to boost the sound on quiet, well sung recordings, there is nothing we can do to improve distorted/over recorded sound recordings. Here are some tips about this and other aspects of recording<br>1. Get your students to practise singing in a soft sweet tone - remind them that, unlike singing on a stage, the microphone will do a lot of the work in projecting their voices on to the recording.<br>2. Experiment with getting your students to stand at different distances from the microphone. Around about 1m is often the optimum distance for recordings.<br>3. <a contents="Check the instructions guidelines" data-link-label="Lighting Up The Flame" data-link-type="page" href="/lighting-up-the-flame" target="_blank">Check the instructions and guidelines</a> on our website for lots of other good tips <br><br><strong>To solo or not to solo ...that is the question. </strong>We are looking to feature a few gifted soloists on our July final mix this year. We have heard some 'mind blowing' and talented young vocalists in action this year. If you feel you have students in this category, please do take the trouble to record them separately. We are also very happy to look at students soloing in a way that interprets the song. Many older students, and sometimes younger students too, have a natural tendency to sing in a way using the vocal tricks that they hear their favourite singers using. We welcome students to contribute solos of this type - this may well be something we can use to enhance our final mix this year, but you need to be sure that any vocal ornamentation stays within the main framework of the melody and chord sequences in the song. This could be an exciting aspect of <em>'Lighting Up The Flame!' </em>this year.<br><br><strong>How many recordings should you send in? Should you record different choir part vocals separately?</strong><br>Within reason we are happy to accept any number of recordings. You will often get the best recordings in small groups. It is highly recommended to put your very best singers together and, if necessary use them again on other recordings to support less confident singers. Recording choir parts separately ...the answer is YES YES YES. Please do make separate recordings - this makes for a far better final mix. <br><br><strong>The power of synchronisation. </strong>Many of you have worked with VATW now for a number of years and will know that the mainstay of what we do is to work closely with the MP3 choir parts. We can never stress enough the importance of making sure the recorded vocals sent in are in strict synch with the MP3 template vocals. Please DO check this carefully. It is quite easy for 'slippage' to creep in and it is a shame to let this spoil an otherwise good quality recording. A fix for out of synch singing sometimes is to turn up the volume of the MP3 track that your youngsters are singing along with. <span style="color:#FF0000;">N.B. Always take care not to play music in earphones at too high a level. </span><br><br><strong>Planning ahead - meeting of World Leaders in 2018. </strong>Many thanks to those of you who have written to us in the past with ideas and suggestions for the project and for new songs that we produce. The project continues to gain momentum each year. Please continue to send any ideas to us as to how we can improve what we do. Any ideas from you or your students for future songs are always particularly welcome. 2018 looks set to be a very special year with an invitation by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office for VATW to make a musical contribution to the meeting of Commonwealth Heads of State due to take place in London in November 2018.<br><br><strong>Opportunities for companies to sponsor the work of VATW. </strong>We are always looking for organisations, companies or individuals who would like to partner with us and support the work we do. We have been fortunate to work with some very supportive partner organisations in 2014-16 but are still in need of further support to expand our work over the next two years. For anyone reading this who may be in contact with an interested company or organisation, please do not hesitate to put them in touch with VATW or let us know how we can get in touch with them.<br><br><br> </p>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/40883872016-03-15T09:14:52+00:002017-01-14T19:01:26+00:00Are you making the most of your participation in Voices Around The World? <p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/2d590d63ee9df0071bca1360a1c8eaeb9a619f24/small/albert-schweitzer-1955.jpg?0" class="size_s justify_left border_" />“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” <br>― Albert Schweitzer<br><br><strong>Are you getting the most out of Voices Around The World?</strong><br><br>We know your students will be enjoying the Voices Around The World experience and excited about being part of this year's global song/video release in July. Their parents will be curious about what is going on. Some of your school staff will be curious about what is going on. There may be members of the local community who are wondering what you are doing. Here at VATW we sometimes notice that in the hectic rush and hurly burly of everyday school life, the idea of broadcasting to the wider community and celebrating what you are doing may not be the first thing you think about! In one amazing and extreme example we stumbled on a while back, the only people that knew what was happening were the music teacher and a handful of students energetically practising away! By letting everyone know you will be 'Lighting Up The Flame' in more ways than one. It's great PR for the school to let people know that yourstudents are working on something that is very worthwhile and helping to change the lives of other students in difficult circumstances.<br>Albert Schweitzer<br><br>Many schools find that articles about the project are great for the school website and newsletters home to parents. Local newspapers and TV and radio stations often love to cover such 'good news' items as well. If you really want to go for broke...you could also organise special events featuring your fabulous choir/singing group and invite local dignitaries to come along - the press really love this kind of thing!<br><br>Congratulations to the many schools we know who are already making the most of things! Here is one local newspaper insert we were recently sent from the Middle East - you notice we stole their Albert Schweitzer quote!<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/bc4ff2f7d37fcc86ce2da8dce985905cf252625e/original/voicesaroundtheworld-dt10-03-16.jpg?0" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/40670942016-03-01T11:43:25+00:002019-10-05T23:30:28+01:00Panaga School Brunei - link up with a local schoolIt is very heartening to see music helping schools to join together. This is what Voices Around The World is all about. Here are some lovely pictures showing Panaga School in Brunei working with a another local school. Great work Panaga staff and students.<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/d337b6fa9c03312024cf97b859ee936f3d96438b/original/img-8313.jpg?0" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/40670632016-03-01T09:29:40+00:002020-01-30T05:45:14+00:00Keeping creativity alive in schools - VATW flying the flag!<p>We were recently invited to contribute to the International Teacher Magazine - <a contents="click here " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://consiliumeducation.com/itm/2016/02/23/music-creativity-and-rio-2016/" target="_blank">click here </a>to read the article 'banging the drum' for creativity in schools!</p>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/40670282016-03-01T08:45:40+00:002017-01-14T19:01:25+00:00A Staff Choir - Involving your whole school staff in Voices Around The World - Staff INSET?<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/1445572305e2207ba42337c3afe2e03883221705/medium/staffchoir.jpg?0" class="size_m justify_left border_" />Voices Around The World is a project that everyone in your school and all those associated with your school can be a part of. Participation is a chance to celebrate not just the achievement of your singers but the efforts of everyone involved. There is currently an idea circulating many top schools across the world to involve staff in a school in something where they can all work together. One of these areas is music. We know that nearly everybody has an interest in music and sometimes a talent they are hiding away! There has been much incredible success in some schools in putting together a staff choir open to all - from the cleaning staff and ground-workers through to the senior management team. The spin offs from this are often quite surprising forging bonds between people in an unexpected way. Often some people who are initially reluctant participants find themselves taking on a whole new view of their school working life. In some cases such initiatives can turn out to be quite transformative for staff, helping to embed a very positive working atmosphere. If you get people pulling together on one initiative - it is likely they will want to adopt the same attitude with other initiatives. The ultimate vision here is a staff choir learning 'Lighting Up The Flame' and joining your students in a whole school performance - wow that would be something to inspire! We would love to hear any news about this, photos and video clips.Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/40670312016-03-01T08:45:20+00:002021-02-19T09:18:17+00:00Warning - deadline approaching<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/8558d1f668520ce81becb5123b2500c5f71b95c7/medium/deadline-300x238.jpg?0" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><p>The deadline for submitting the vocal recordings of your students for this year's project ' Lighting Up The Flame' is Tuesday May 31st. The clock is ticking - it's time to intensify those rehearsals, prepare for recording students' vocals and schedule time for things to happen. We know how complex timetabling can be in some schools and senior leaders rightly expect advance warning of your intentions. It is always good practice to make sure everyone knows what you are doing - you end up winning friends and getting much more support this way. We hope it all runs smoothly for you.</p>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/40652952016-02-29T15:27:42+00:002016-03-01T08:18:41+00:00Deadline May 31 - The clock is ticking<script type="text/javascript">
//###################################################################
// Author: ricocheting.com
// Version: v3.0
// Date: 2014-09-05
// Description: displays the amount of time until the "dateFuture" entered below.
var CDown = function() {
this.state=0;// if initialized
this.counts=[];// array holding countdown date objects and id to print to {d:new Date(2013,11,18,18,54,36), id:"countbox1"}
this.interval=null;// setInterval object
}
CDown.prototype = {
init: function(){
this.state=1;
var self=this;
this.interval=window.setInterval(function(){self.tick();}, 1000);
},
add: function(date,id){
this.counts.push({d:date,id:id});
this.tick();
if(this.state==0) this.init();
},
expire: function(idxs){
for(var x in idxs) {
this.display(this.counts[idxs[x]], "Now!");
this.counts.splice(idxs[x], 1);
}
},
format: function(r){
var out="";
if(r.d != 0){out += r.d +" "+((r.d==1)?"day":"days")+", ";}
if(r.h != 0){out += r.h +" "+((r.h==1)?"hour":"hours")+", ";}
out += r.m +" "+((r.m==1)?"min":"mins")+", ";
out += r.s +" "+((r.s==1)?"sec":"secs")+", ";
return out.substr(0,out.length-2);
},
math: function(work){
var y=w=d=h=m=s=ms=0;
ms=(""+((work%1000)+1000)).substr(1,3);
work=Math.floor(work/1000);//kill the "milliseconds" so just secs
y=Math.floor(work/31536000);//years (no leapyear support)
w=Math.floor(work/604800);//weeks
d=Math.floor(work/86400);//days
work=work%86400;
h=Math.floor(work/3600);//hours
work=work%3600;
m=Math.floor(work/60);//minutes
work=work%60;
s=Math.floor(work);//seconds
return {y:y,w:w,d:d,h:h,m:m,s:s,ms:ms};
},
tick: function(){
var now=(new Date()).getTime(),
expired=[],cnt=0,amount=0;
if(this.counts)
for(var idx=0,n=this.counts.length; idx<n; ++idx){
cnt=this.counts[idx];
amount=cnt.d.getTime()-now;//calc milliseconds between dates
// if time is already past
if(amount<0){
expired.push(idx);
}
// date is still good
else{
this.display(cnt, this.format(this.math(amount)));
}
}
// deal with any expired
if(expired.length>0) this.expire(expired);
// if no active counts, stop updating
if(this.counts.length==0) window.clearTimeout(this.interval);
},
display: function(cnt,msg){
document.getElementById(cnt.id).innerHTML=msg;
}
};
window.onload=function(){
var cdown = new CDown();
cdown.add(new Date(2016,4,31,23,59,59), "countbox1");
};
</script><div id="countbox1">The deadline for submitting the vocal recordings of your students for this year's project ' Lighting Up The Flame' is <em><span style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="font_large">Tuesday May 31st. </span></span></em><span class="font_regular">The clock is ticking - it's time to intensify those rehearsals, prepare for recording students' vocals and schedule time for things to happen. We know how complex timetabling can be in some schools and senior leaders rightly expect advance warning of your intentions. It is always good practice to make sure everyone knows what you are doing - you end up winning friends and getting much more support this way. We hope it all runs smoothly for you.</span><br><br><br> </div>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/40652932016-02-29T15:18:02+00:002020-09-18T06:54:19+01:00Making a great recording of your students' vocals<strong><span style="color:#0000CD;">Have you registered to be part of the Lighting Up The Flame project - don't miss out <a contents="click here to register" data-link-label="Registration Page" data-link-type="page" href="/registration-page" target="_blank">click here to register</a></span><br><br><span style="color:#FF0000;">Getting it right</span></strong><br>You do not need to be a technical 'whizz kid' to make a reasonable recording of your students' vocal efforts with 'Lighting Up The Flame. If you follow the guidelines in our <a contents="instructions document" data-link-label="VATW Instructions - Singing, recording and submitting the vocal parts" data-link-type="file" href="/files/157586/VATW%20Instructions%20-%20Singing,%20recording%20and%20submitting%20the%20vocal%20parts" target="_blank">instructions document</a> you will find it is actually quite simple. We strongly suggest that you download the instructions and keep them close by throughout your work with the project. <a contents="Click here " data-link-label="VATW Instructions - Singing, recording and submitting the vocal parts" data-link-type="file" href="/files/157586/VATW%20Instructions%20-%20Singing,%20recording%20and%20submitting%20the%20vocal%20parts" target="_blank">Click here </a>to download the instruction documents now.<br><br><span style="color:#FF0000;"><strong>Vocals only</strong></span><br>The most important part of recording your students vocals is that you ONLY RECORD THE VOCALS i.e. we do not want a recording of the vocals with the backing tracking playing as well. It is actually impossible for us to use recordings that include the backing track - it simply makes for a very 'muddy' sound on the final mix. This is why you see so many of the photos of students on our website wearing earphones. The idea is of course to listen to the relevant MP3 choir track on earphones and sing along with this while recording.<br><br><span style="color:#FF0000;"><strong>Sound leakage</strong></span><br>One of the enemies of any studio sound engineer. Sound leakage often comes from some types of earphones - it is the sound of the music you are listening to leaking through onto the recording. You have probably experienced this - sitting next to someone who is listening to their favourite music on earphones and because the sound is turned up ...you are also subjected to listening to their music. So how to we prevent this leakage onto your precious recording. Basicallly, you may not be able to eliminate this completely but the lower the volume on the earphones the less the leakage will be. It can also be reduced or even eliminated by ensuring that your singers move back from the microphone. For most recordings - standing about a metre from the microphone is a good distance. There is one certain way of eliminating leakage and that is by using very expensive earphones that you will often see used in professional recording studios. However, by following the suggestions above you will be able to provide recordings that have minimal sound leakage in evidence. <br><br><span style="color:#FF0000;"><strong>Distortion</strong></span><br>This is the second and probably main enemy of sound recording work. It is caused of course when the recording level is too high and in the age of digital recording it can give a very unpleasant sound on the peak areas of the sound recorded commonly known as 'clipping'. The cure is obvious - reduce the recording level on the equipment OR stand further back from the microphone. It is better for us to receive recordings that are lower volume to be on the safe side - we can easily increase the sound level but as you can guess there is no way to undo the distortion on a recording received and usually we cannot use these.<br><br><span style="color:#FF0000;"><strong>The IPOD effect</strong></span><br>You have probably smiled about someone sometime who has been singing away enthusiastically to something they are listening to on their earphones oblivious to the fact that they are singing extra loudly and providing an accidental audience with a cabaret show. The same thing might happen in your recording sessions when students are singing with earphones on for the first time. It can result in students suddenly forgetting all of the great singing lessons you have given them and half shouting the vocals - not great! The other problem is that most people find it hard to sing in tune when they cannot hear their own voice. The cure for this is to show your students that they can slip one of their earphones off slightly so that they can then hear their own voice<br><br><span style="color:#FF0000;"><strong>More resources</strong></span> - here's a very good piece of technical advice worth checking before you record http://ehomerecordingstudio.com/recording-vocals/<br><br>To inspire your singers before a recording session, the 1985 recording session of We Are The World is worth looking at https://youtu.be/M9BNoNFKCBI<br><br> <p> </p>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/40495842016-02-19T08:45:40+00:002020-12-29T09:02:51+00:00Brunei - leading the way in linking with other local schools!Getting serious with rehearsals at Panaga school in Brunei. Leading the way also with getting other local schools involved. Thanks guys and well done - can't wait to hear your recordings!<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/84a3ebe06c0f42f27ed33b29e90680b7f4971079/large/img-8073.jpg?0" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/e29814f23b54af99dae72c101d46291b70bc4bbb/original/img-8071.jpg?0" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/40457682016-02-17T11:14:26+00:002021-02-24T05:48:42+00:00Helping all types of schools join the VATW Project - Free supply of mini MP3/video playersNot yet registered to join in this year's project? Don't let your students miss out on being part of the most exciting global music project you will find. <a contents="Click here to register" data-link-label="Registration Page" data-link-type="page" href="/registration-page" target="_blank">Click here to register</a><br>There are some schools with whom VATW has contact that lack some basic facilities that we sometimes take for granted e.g. some way to playback and listen to music. VATW has acquired 200 mini MP3/video players to help these schools. We are currently arranging for batches of these to be sent to schools in Africa preloaded with this year's 'Lighting Up The Flame' choir parts and teaching videos. If you are working with schools you think have this sort of need or would like to reach out to a schools like this to help them join the VATW family - please get in contact with us and we will arrange to ship some MP3/video players to you. Exciting!Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/40319752016-02-09T17:09:13+00:002021-02-04T01:36:19+00:00Getting the best out of your students' singing - teaching tipsNot yet registered for this year's project? Don't let your students miss out on the most exciting global music project you will find! <a contents="Click here to register&nbsp;" data-link-label="Registration Page" data-link-type="page" href="/registration-page" target="_blank">Click here to register </a><br><br>1. It's important to look at the Voices Around The World - Lighting Up The Flame project instructions. There are many valuable tips for choir work illustrated in this short document - provided by successful choir teachers. <a contents="Click here" data-link-label="Lighting Up The Flame" data-link-type="page" href="/lighting-up-the-flame">Click here</a> to go to the resources page to download these instructions.<br><br>2. Get your students to learn the lyrics asap. Experienced choir teachers will always tell you that a dependency on lyric sheets is a limiting factor for any choir. You cannot properly teach the song dynamics when youngsters are struggling with lyrics they do no know properly - the brain has too much on which to focus. Your students voices will also be slightly muted if they are looking down or have their mouths hidden behind the lyric sheet. <span style="color:#FF0000;">Power teaching point - learn the lyrics fast - ban any lyric sheets asap!</span><br><br>3. Vocal warm ups like sports warm ups are essential - don't skip these. You will see some of these illustrated in our instructions booklet - <a contents="click here" data-link-label="Lighting Up The Flame" data-link-type="page" href="/lighting-up-the-flame">click here</a><br><br>4. Give your rehearsals some variety. We all know that keeping the music enjoyable is vital. Going through one particular phrase in the song for the 20th time is probably going to kill off even your most ardent choir person. It is interesting how, with students, you can literally hear 'sad' or 'happy' in the recording of their voices. If possible get your students to make the most of technology and practice with the choir resources either on their phones, computers or tablets outside of main rehearsal time. If possible let your students organise practices of their own. Use the karaoke videos we have provided - let your choir have a chance to look at the images in the accompanying videos - how many star sports people can they identify? Use follow my leader techniques for tricky parts of the song. Call and response - divide your choir into partners and work in fours - 1 partner group sings one line of the song and the other partner group sings the next etc. Use breakout groups for choir part rehearsals - use older talented students to lead the breakout group rehearsals working with the recorded choir parts of the song. Bring them back together for full rehearsal and spot any tricky areas so that they can go back and focus on certain sections in their breakout groups.<br><br>5. Watch out for note slides - i.e sliding up to a note rather than pitching it first time! This is often connected with breathing properly.<br><br>6. Diction and word endings. Be sure that word endings like 's' and 't' are just audible but not exaggerated - this makes a big difference. Vocal mouth/diction exercises are very good to include as part of this: Betty bought a bit of butter, but she found the butter bitter, so Betty bought a bit of better butter to make the bitter butter better. There are loads of tongue twisters like this that make for excellent warm-up and again bring variety to the rehearsal. For more tongue twisters and information around this, have a look at <a contents="writeoutloud.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.write-out-loud.com/dictionexercises.html" target="_blank">writeoutloud.com</a><br><br>7. Getting everyone singing in synch with the mp3 choir part versions is absolutely crucial for the VATW project. Lighting up the flame has very rhythmic lyrics that are quite clearly punctuated. A goof idea here is to get students listening to the bass line in the recordings and making sure they are singing in rhythm with this.<br><br><span class="font_large"><strong><span style="color:#0000FF;">If you have some good tips/ideas that you find work well yourself that you would like to share with colleagues please feel free to add them in the comments below this post. We wish you happy singing times with your superstar choir!</span></strong></span>Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/40321552016-02-09T12:34:31+00:002020-06-27T12:15:52+01:00Baleares International College Superstars get in on the Lighting Up The Flame action!<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/37814/3b1cb79403f78ef68cdb4bca8a537eca2092d4f0/medium/spain1.jpg?0" class="size_m justify_left border_" />It's great to hear about so many schools getting busy with the singing rehearsal! We are getting samples of singing coming in that are very impressive. Amazing how quickly some youngsters can learn a new song. We have had tales of groups of young students at break time organising their own rehearsal around an IPAD showing the VATW karaoke videos! We have a church choir group in Botswana, who are busy arranging their own harmonies to go with the song. Do let us know how you are getting on if you have the time and feel free to upload any pictures/comments here.<br><br>Full concentration by BIC students!Voices Around The Worldtag:voicesaround.com,2005:Post/40286772016-02-06T21:01:42+00:002016-02-08T12:19:55+00:00Free Music Lesson Input 'So you want to be a pop music composer!'Hi All<br>This is a reminder that it is very important to register for this year's Voices Around The World Project 'Lighting Up The Flame' to be sure your students will be included. We are providing a free lesson video, showing your students how to be pop music composers, for all those who register. <br><a contents="Click here to register and get your free video at the same time!" data-link-label="Registration Page" data-link-type="page" href="/registration-page" target="_blank">Click here to register and get your free video at the same time!</a><br><br>The lesson is suitable for age groups 8-18 years. At Voices Around The World, we are passionate about keeping music creativity alive in schools! The fact that you are getting your students involved in the singing an Olympic inspired song is brilliant, but how about taking them to the next step up - composing their own Olympic song. This 25 minute video is a great piece of light hearted input to get your students motivated with song writing. <div style="text-align: center;"> </div><script async src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js" charset="UTF-8"></script>Voices Around The World