Secular CHILDREN’S Voices
Large Choral Works and Cycles

Christopher Robin Songs For unison and two-part treble voices and piano. Poems by A. A. Milne (1882- 1956). 
Settings for young voices of four of British author Milne’s best-known and most beloved poems. Milne wrote the poems for his own son - named Christopher Robin. These songs will delight your young singers and introduce them to these classics for children young and old.  
Read the notes and poems. 

1. Politeness   View score. Listen to midi. 
2. Disobedience  View score. Listen to midi. 
3. Solitude  View score. Listen to midi. 
4. Sneezles (for two-part treble voices and piano) View score. Listen to midi. 
Politeness
If people ask me,
I always tell them:
“Quite well, thank you, I'm very glad to say.”
If people ask me,
I always answer,
“Quite well, thank you, how are you today?”
I always answer,
I always tell them,
If they ask me
Politely…..
BUT SOMETIMES

I wish

That they wouldn’t.

Dear Mother Earth  Finale from The Diamond Child. Lyrics by Jason Charnesky.
Adult SATB Chorus, Children's Two-part Chorus and Audience (optional) with Keyboard.
Also available for SA chorus and TB chorus. 
Another Trinkley-Charnesky anthem that inspires young people to change the world.
Link to video: start at 1:12. Download score. 

Dear Mother Earth
By the dreams that we decide billions will abide
in the world we try to build.
O dear Mother Earth, O dear Mother Earth,

how spacious your girth that shelters
the children that dance into birth! 
O parents so true, be sure that you choose
the future that is best for your children to use.
We learn and we play. And wait for the day
that we too are grown ups and help to choose the way. 
Our future is shared, six billion to spare.
Our world is decided by what we do here.
The future is now. You must teach us how
the family of man can be true to this vow:     
Love to learn. Learn to share.
Share to live and live to care. 

Dinosaurs’ Dance  For two-part treble chorus and piano (with optional dancers) or with orchestra. 
Lyrics by Frank Fisler from his children’s book with line drawings by J. Bruce Jones.  
Commission and Premiere: The Contemporary Dance Company, choreography by Patricia Heigel (1935-2009) with Suzanne Roy, soprano.  Tour to elementary schools throughout the area. 
Premiere of orchestral version: Nittany Valley Children’s Choir, Lou Ann Shafer, director; and the Nittany Valley Symphony, conducted by distinguished maestro Michael Jinbo (1956-2022).  February 2020. 
Dinosaurs’ Dance was conceived and written for young audiences - and for dinosaur lovers of all ages.  In performance the drawings may be projected to give the audience (especially the children) an extra degree of identification with the dancing dinosaurs in the text snd drawings. 
Brilliant Penn State choregrapher Patricia Heigel-Tanner choreographed the piece, originally for solo voice and piano, which made it easy to tour to elementary schools throughout central PA. Pat based her choreography on the children’s book, Dinosaurs’ Dance. For the most recent performance, the drawings were projected to give the children an extra degree of identification with the dancing dinosaurs.  Alas, I hope our species does not go the way of the dinosaurs so many, many years ago.
View two-part treble score.  Listen to midi. View full orchestral score. 
Listen to the live performance by the Nittany Valley Children’s Choir and the Nittany Valley Symphony

Four Fables for Wise Children  For two-part treble chorus and piano.  Words by Jason Charnesky.
View the words. 

1. A Buggy Riddle  View score. Listen to midi.
2. Saturday’s Sermon  View score. Listen to midi. 
3. The Calico Cat  View score. Listen to midi.
4. The Secret  View score. Listen to midi.

Game Songs of South America  For two-part treble chorus and piano.
Alalimón, a popular folksong in South America, has a nonsense text whose lovely melody makes it a favorite with children. Tanto vestido blanco has a text that makes a social statement about people who must keep up outward appearances no matter what their circumstances are.  Entrei na roda is a roda, a dance game in which children walk in a circle holding hands and singing folk songs. O Pião  incorporates popular dance rhythms with a text that describes the motion of the dance. 
View the notes, texts and translations.

1. Alalimón  View score. Listen to midi. 
2. Tanto vestido blanco  View score. Listen to midi. 
3. Entrei na roda (Portuguese folksong from Brazil)  View score. Listen to midi. 
4. O Pião (Portuguese folksong from Brazil)  View score. Listen to midi. 

Holiday Songs for Young Voices For solo voice or unison treble voices and piano.
Lyrics from The Days We Celebrate (1940) edited by Robert Haven Schauffler (1879-1964).
Schauffler was a war hero, a musician and edited and published many books celebrating travels and holidays. He was also a prolific poet and wrote biographies of Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann. These four vignettes celebrate the lives of young people: the first two observing life lessons from nature, and the latter two lessons from school and the November eating holiday!  Unique and engaging poems for young people. 
Read the poems.  View the full score. 

1. April Played a Joke (An Easy Study in Chromatics)  View score. Listen to midi.
2. I Meant To Do My Work Today  View score. Listen to midi.
3. Lost Children  View score. Listen to midi.
4. Mouse Thanksgiving  View score. Listen to midi.

Latin American Children’s Songs For two-part treble chorus and piano. 
These very short and brisk tunes are a great way to introduce Spanish folksongs to your young singers. Riqui, riqui, riquirrán is a nonsense song sung by children throughout Latin America. Most corridas tell a detailed story in the manner of a ballad. However Corrido de la Canelera simply tells us about canela, a drink with a distinct cinnamon flavor. El Capotín is actually two songs that have long been sung together: “No me mates” and “El Capotín”. Musieu Bainjo is a spirited song with text in French to or by the banjo player in Louisiana - St. Charles Parish. Arroyo claro is sung throughout Latin America and is popular because of its lovely melody and expressive text.
View the notes, texts, translations and score.

1. Riqui, riqui, riquirrán (Nonsense song)  View score. Listen to midi. 
2. Corrido de la Canelera (Cinnamon song)  View score. Listen to midi. 
3. El Capotín (Little cape song)  View score. Listen to midi. 
4. Musieu Bainjo (Monsieur Banjo, French folksong from Louisiana)  View score. Listen to midi. 
5. Arroyo claro (Clear brook, ecology song)  View score. Listen to midi. 

Let’s Marry Said the Cherry  For Children’s Chorus, Solo Voice and Piano with Horn obbligato. Poems by Niels Mogens Bodecker (1922-1988). Duration: 20 minutes
James White, a Penn State colleague who is also a fine baritone, read these poems from Let’s Marry Said the Cherry to his children and suggested setting them to music. He now sings them to his grandchildren who listen to the poems and the songs with delight and fascination. They will delight children of all ages. 
Download score. Click on the song titles to listen to midi.  

Mother Nature  For young voices and piano from Mountain Laurels: A Choral Symphony. 
Commission and Premiere: State College Centennial Commission for the Elementary and Middle School Choruses. 
View notes and poems.  All recordings are from the premiere in Eisenhower Auditorium in February 1996.

1. The Bat  Poem by Theodore Roethke (1908-1963) from Open House (1941) 
View score. Listen to chorus.
2. Food Songs: The Egg  Poem by John Haag (1926-2008) from Pivot (1981) 
View score. Listen to chorus.
3. Mid-country Blow  Poem by Theodore Roethke from Open House  (1941) 
View score. Listen to chorus.
4. Winter Fire  Poem by Jack McManis (1917-1989) from manuscript 
View score. Listen to chorus.
5. April Snow Poem by E. H. Knapp (1922-2012) from manuscript 
View score. Listen to chorus.
6. dandelions  Poem by Deborah Austin (1920-2013) from The Paradise of the World (1964) 
View score. Listen to chorus.  Click here to order an essay about the war images in Deborah Austin’s dandelions.
7. Song to a Coy Parent  Poem by John Haag from The Mirrored Man (1961) 
View score. Listen to chorus.

The Remorseful Cakes  Humorous poem by Eugene Field, (1850-1895). Unison treble chorus and piano.
A humorous ballad about a young  man who ate too many buckwheat cakes before bedtime and the strange dreams that came from his indulgence.  Can be sung by young voices or by grown-ups to warn youngsters about over-indulging. 
View score. Listen to midi. 

Songs of the Children of Lir  Four Irish Ballads for 2-Part Treble Chorus and Piano.
Lir, in Irish mythology, is the personification of the sea. In the 19th century, Irish writers frequently referred to the Irish people as “The Children of Lir”. In I’ve a Secret to Tell poet Thomas Moore uses the story of Moses to praise the beauty of silence. Joseph Fitzgerald’s lovely homage praises the mountain home. The young  woman chides the impudent Barney O’Hea while P. W. Joyce relates his encounter with The Leprechaun: he is a very tricky little fellow, usually dressed in a green coat, red cap and knee-breeches, and silver shoe-buckles, whom you may sometimes see in the shades of evening, or by moonlight, under a bush; and he is generally making or mending a shoe.
View notes and poems. 

1. I've a Secret to Tell  View score. Listen to midi.
2. My Home's on the Mountain  View score. Listen to midi.
3. Barney O'Hea  View score. Listen to midi.
4. The Leprechaun  View score. Listen to midi.

Thumbs Up! Poems for Bright Kids  For Two-part Treble Voices and Piano.
Poems by James Laughlin (1914-1997).
Laughlin was the founder of New Directions publishing house and was a poet himself.  His idiosyncratic and quirky two-line stanza poems are often self-reflexive and beloved by his fans. These are unique in the world of poetry, but obviously influenced by e.e. cummings.  The poems in this cycle are especially appropriate for young singers – and where else will they ever encounter the term “enantiomorphic”?
Read the notes and poems.

1. Thumbs Up!  View score. Listen to midi.
2. For the Finders Within  View score. Listen to midi.
3. The Man in the Wall  View score. Listen to midi.
4. The Hour Glass  View score. Listen to midi.
Thumbs Up!
What if we were not enantio-
morphic if our thumbs were 

both on the same side of our 
hands (and the big toes the 

same of course) would our e-
volution have been different 

would we have made our home 
underground instead of in 

the trees (because matching 
thumbs could dig better than 

climb)   in ten million years 
there were endless possibil-

ities don't think about them 
they might still come true.

Two Spanish Folksongs   Unison, optional Two-Part, accompanied. 
View and listen: BriLee Music BL607
This is a delightful pairing of two Latin American folk songs, arranged by Bruce Trinkley. Riqui, Riqui is a rhythmic nonsense song sung by children throughout Latin America, and El Capotín is actually two songs in itself that have long been sung together with great lyrical contrast.

1. Riqui, Riqui, Ruiquirrán
2. El Capotín