Oh, What Fun It Is To Sing!

A Lively Collection For Young Voices

by Paul Jennings and John Riggio

Some of the most popular songs to come out of Music K-8 magazine have been the clever, unique updates to old, familiar favorites. Tongue twisters, lyric twists, chaser music, and just plain silliness - you'll find it all in Oh, What Fun It Is To Sing! It includes the following songs:

• Sarasponda - The bottom line with this song is flexibility. It's simple and repetitious. And you have the option of using literally any unpitched instrument and any pitched percussion instrument playing the note C.
• The Itsy Bitsy Spider - This hilarious, whimsical arrangement takes a look at this song from the spider's point of view!
• The Tree Toad - Here's a fun adaptation of "Auld Lang Syne" that you might have heard around the campfire. It is a tongue-in-cheek tongue twister that will keep your students and audience on their toes. To make this arrangement extra special, we have created a setting that states the song twice: once slow and fairly lush, then quite a bit faster. See who can keep up!
• John Brown's Baby - Here's an updated arrangement of an old favorite. The recorded accompaniment features a variety of styles that your kids and audiences will love.
• The Further Adventures Of Three Blind Mice - Using a full orchestra with lots of special orchestration effects really spices up this familiar, simple old tune. The arrangement begins with the traditional lyrics twice through, once in unison and once as a round. Then we ramp up the fun by doing what has often been done to this round: substitute more complex words for the originals. It's a hoot!
• Sightless Rodent Chaser - This fun "chaser" music features a hard-driving big band... with a little twist in the form of a piccolo/tuba duet in the middle. It adds a really neat finish to a performance of "The Further Adventures Of Three Blind Mice."
• Apples And Bananas - This song has a simple, straightforward melody in a light swing style. It's a great way to illustrate long vowel sounds, and it is silly enough that the kids will enjoy it. It's just another way you can make music indispensable in your school.
• Michael Row The Boat Ashore - The setting for this traditional song features a fine group of acoustic instruments including guitar and harmonica. The last chorus has a simple 3-part treble option for the "Alleluia," and there are even two separate recordings, one with a simple folk ending and one with a bigger concert ending.
• Old Joe Clark - This amazing, upbeat arrangement features a happy combination of guitars, mandolin, and banjo with a recurring harmonica solo. The setting is seven verses long, using verse four as a harmonica solo (and movement opportunity). You also have the option of replacing some of the verses with tall tales created by your students.

This collection is available in electronic format, for download to your computer. These files are quite large and may take a long time to download. Users with a dial-up modem will have difficulty: A high-speed Internet connection is highly recommended. When you expand the compressed files, they will include 22 MP3s (one full-performance and one accompaniment only version of each song, plus some alternate versions) and a printable PDF of the written music. Questions? Visit the Download Help page (opens in a new window)

The Convenience Combo Kit includes both the Kit with CD and the Downloadable Kit.