Let Us Form a Ring – Audio CD

Let Us Form a Ring - Audio CD

Singing with children is a great joy – for you and for them.  It is a pleasure to be able to offer this CD as a learning aid for adults to learn the circle games and songs in Let Us Form a Ring. Particularly for those who cannot sight read and do not have access to an instrument, this CD will open the door to joy and delight for young children and their parents and caregivers.  Very highly recommended.

Warning: My opinion follows. I do need to say that I have a difference of opinion with those who wrote the ‘back jacket blurb’ for this CD.  It is their assertion that the mood and tempo of each song can be freely determined by the teacher or parent, but that the ‘pitch’ is to be the same.

I must say out of my observation and experience that I believe precisely the opposite is true:  The mood and tempo should always be soft, lyrical; never excited or loud or pounding.  Likewise, it simply cannot be the case that God intended only sopranos to sing to young children. Further, I have not observed nor experienced that the loving song of an alto or baritone or bass is less enfolding, less preserving of young childhood than that of a soprano.  A song carried lovingly from the heart, independent of pitch, gives the purest of joy to a young child and beckons him or her into our world in just exactly the right way.

Although I will agree with the writer(s) that the “natural” hearing range of a child is in the soprano reaches (just as birds also hear best in that range), my experience with children is that those who are treated to song sung lovingly by any adult in many tone ranges seem to develop the best musical ear when adult.

In other words, please sing to the children in your care – in whatever pitch you sing best.  That is what is, in my opinion, truly best for them.  And will make you both smile.