Junior Voiceworks 1: 33 Songs for Children
Junior Voiceworks is a well set-out, easy to follow book of 33 songs, spiral bound for ease of use, with clear, concise and easy to follow text and photocopiable pages. There is an excellent variety of songs intended for use with Key Stage 2 pupils, which are progressive, starting with chants and echo songs, moving to rounds and more challenging repertoire. The collection has a good mix of legato and up-beat material for sound vocal development and includes a diet of songs from different cultures and styles. They appear also to appeal to 21st-century children in their approach, drawing on popular culture (e.g. Lord of the Rings in 'Bilbo's Riddle'), which will appeal to boys and girls alike. Imelda Leah, Zone Spring 04 OUP has a winning formula with its Voiceworks series. Each volume is a valuable resource full of attractive songs in a wide variety of styles designed to capture the imagination of young singers. And, if my recent experience of adjudicating school and community choirs at local festivals is anything to go by, children really enjoy performing Voiceworks items ... A hallmark of the series is that every book is a complete teaching resource with photocopiable pages, excellent teaching notes full of practical help and ideas for learning and performing each item, as well as much sound technical advice on how to encourage children to sing well and enjoy themselves. Christopher Field, Music Teacher, July 2007 I've used Junior Voiceworks to very good effect. It is a tremendous resource, suitable for a wide variety of situations. Children enjoy the songs, and the arrangements work extremely well. Steven Maxson, Performing Arts teacher at Foxhills School Technology College, Scunthorpe, and Musical Director of North East Lincolnshire Youth Choir The range includes folksongs, pop songs, new songs and songs from around the world and in many cases, opportunities are provided for improvisation, instrumental accompaniment and part singing. Where this is the case, the arrangements are sympatehetic to developing musicians: parts are written in a logical, indepednent manner with due consideration given to range, ability and challenge. Ian Shirley, Primary Music Today, September 09 Following the enormous success of Voiceworks 1 and Voiceworks 2 by Peter Hunt, aimed at secondary schools and young people in choirs, this junior version is a welcome precursor. What sets this series apart from other singing books is that it gives a wealth of guidance and practical ideas that will help improve singing quality and skills as well as promote enjoyment and progression ... The compilers have steered away from the 'all sound alike' synthesised recordings and this CD will give leaders a good model to work or learn songs from if required. It will certainly be useful for children to listen to ... All in all this is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to improve the quality of their class or choir's singing, and to have endless fun doing so. Primary Music Today, Spring 2004