song cycles

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History – naturally – Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths … and Music!  There is a lot packed into this brilliant selection of catchy songs by Russell Hepplewhite with words by Helen Eastman.  These entertaining pieces will be great fun for school and youth choirs to learn and perform.  

The texts cover a wide range of topics that not only feature in the History syllabus for Key Stage 2 (Romans, Vikings) and Key Stage 3 (World War Two, the Industrial Revolution, the Enlightenment, the Wars of the Roses, and the Peasants’ Revolt), but which will also be of interest for science and nature lovers (the World Wide Web, Dinosaurs and the Big Bang!).

SONGS
1 The Invention of the World Wide Web
2 World War Two
3 Industrial Revolution
4 The Enlightenment
5 The Wars of the Roses
6 The Peasants’ Revolt
7 The Vikings
8 The Romans
9 Dinosaurs
10 The Big Bang 

Songs are available to buy via Stainer & Bell at the above links, as well as backing tracks.

Ref: D113

ISMN: 9790220226410 

This book includes short notes on the lyrics, ideal for introducing the songs in concerts and school assemblies, downloadable backing tracks for rehearsal or performance, and an appendix with suggestions for group and class discussion.

Each individual song is also available as a separate download resource, sold with a licence to print copies of the full music, melody sheet and lyric sheet for use by your choir, plus access to melody teaching tracks. 

Music by Russell Hepplewhite 

Lyrics by Helen Eastman 

Russell Hepplewhite’s The History Express song cycle for upper voices, with its evocative piano accompaniment, speeds in a train-like way through the history of the world, backwards, starting with the Invention of the World Wide Web, passing through major landmark events and ending with The Big Bang. With words by Helen Eastman that ingeniously capture facts that support the school history syllabus for Key Stages 2 & 3 as well as some scientific topics, the work is also a rich musical journey for young singers to enjoy and includes much skilfully written two-part writing. Hepplewhite’s brilliant text-setting is carried seamlessly by the accompaniment, making it enticing and perfect for those who have never attempted part-singing before. The individual songs are also available as a download resource, sold with a licence to print copies of the full music, melody sheet and lyric sheet, plus melody teaching tracks.

Joy Hill, Choral Music Editor, Choir & Organ Magazine, May 2022

'Herstory' is a song-cycle aimed at youth choirs.  It was commissioned by Farnham Youth Choir; and was first performed at the Menuhin Hall in Summer 2021. 

Released as a 3 track EP in collaboration with lyricist Helen Eastman and Farnham Youth Choir (conducted by Patrick Barrett).

Aimed at teaching Children about inspiring female figures throughout history, each track is about a different inspirational woman and their achievements.

SONGS

1. IN THE NUMBERS: Katherine Johnson (1918 – 2020) – American mathematician whose calculations for NASA were essential to the success for the first and American crewed spaceflights. The space agency noted her ‘historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist’; she overcame horrific racial prejudice to be one of the greatest mathematicians of the century. 
2. SEA SHORES: Mary Anning (1799-1847) – Pioneering palaeontologist and fossil collector, Mary taught herself geology and anatomy as a girl and went on to make fascinating discoveries throughout her lifetime. She was often not credited for having made the finds she did, and in several cases male scientists took the credit instead. Today the Natural History Museum in London, showcases many of her finds including the fossils of Ichthyosaur, Plesiosaur and Pterosaur. 
3. COMET CRAZY: Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) – Discovered eight comets, revised Flamsteed’s Star Catalogue, and became the first paid female astronomer in history. She was also an excellent musician and singer, who regularly performed. 

Music by Russell Hepplewhite 

Lyrics by Helen Eastman 

The songs are inspired by three fascinating female pioneers from the past; Katherine Johnson; Mary Anning; and Caroline Herschel. The aim of the cycle is to introduce young singers to these three towering historical figures through playful and atmospheric music, and imaginative words. 

Russell Hepplewhite 

 “Everything” – a collection of 12 songs, written with Michael Rosen and commissioned by Britten Pears Arts for their “Friday Afternoons” songbank. These songs were written in 2019, and their journey became rather remarkable. We had planned a wonderful live launch event with the London Youth Choir singing all 12 songs. As the pandemic took hold the live concert was of course cancelled, and then Michael himself fell deeply unwell with Covid. As Michael gradually recovered so too did our plans as to how to launch the songs. Choirs at that time were still not able to meet in person, and children were still suffering from not being able to attend school. Britten Pears Arts had an inspired idea of inviting applications for choirs from around the UK to learn and record one of the songs. The number of applications was staggering, and alongside London Youth Choir, ten choirs nationwide were selected to take part. The songs were all recorded digitally with the children singing from their homes, and the final outcome was astonishing. We later heard from some of their choir leaders that the Friday Afternoons project had had an enormous effect on helping their children to stay singing during some of the bleakest days of the pandemic. I will always have a very soft spot for this particular piece – and I find the videos of all the children singing from home very moving. 

Earth - London Youth Choirs, Directed by Rachel Staunton 

Water - Southend Boys' and Girls' Choirs, Directed by Roger Humphrey 

Fire - NYCOS Edinburgh Senior Choir, Directed by Mark Evans 

Air - Cornwall County Choirs, Directed by Angela Renshaw 

Us - Poco Amabile, Directed by Stephanie McClean 

Cells - Lodge Moor Children's Choir, Directed by Alexandra Middleton-Holland 

Atoms - Scunthorpe Co-operative Junior Choir, Directed by Daniel Fields 

Life - The Grange Choir (Monmouth School Boys' Prep), Directed by Joseph Walton 

Invention - Amherst School Choir, Directed by Sam Clarke 

Movement - Somerleyton Primary School Choir, Directed by Victoria Speed-Andrews 

Discovery - Dublin Youth Choir (Junior Choir and Training Choir), Directed by Lynsey Callaghan 

Language - London Youth Choirs, Directed by Rachel Staunton   

Youth choirs perform the digital premiere of EVERYTHING by Russell Hepplewhite and Michael Rosen.  

Scores, lyrics sheets and backing tracks for this collection are available for free at   www.fridayafternoonsmusic.co.uk 

Commissioned by Britten Pears Arts for the Friday Afternoons project 

Music by Russell Hepplewhite 

Lyrics by Michael Rosen 

BSL Interpretation by Dr Paul Whittaker OBE 

Piano accompaniment performed by Nathan Williamson 

Piano accompaniment recorded by Mike Challis