Crooked River Choral Project: FOCUS on the poetry of Robert Louis
Stevenson
Roger Sams has put together three joyous songs for young choirs based on the poetry
of Robert Louis Stevenson. They can be performed separately or combined as a suite.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. He is best known for the novels Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and the gothic novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. His poetry often delt with themes of adventure, travel, and the natural world. While written in a straightforward and often ballad-like style, the accessibility and strong narrative quality of his poems have made them enduring favorites of young readers. Stevenson’s work remains relevant today for its timeless themes, exciting tales, and enduring characters.
The Crooked River Choral Project is a collection of artful choral music composed specifically with music teaching and learning in mind. Our selections are beautiful pieces of music, rooted in solid pedagogical thinking that provide music educators with rich teaching opportunities through quality literature. Each edition includes teaching plans as well as vocal health plans with integrated warm-ups and a solid teaching process unfolding over the course of six to ten rehearsals. By using these guides, not only will your students sound beautiful at their concert, but they will have improved their musicianship skills in the
process of getting ready for the performance. Both performance and rehearsal recordings as well as reproducible scores are included.
Where Go the Boats? (CRCP #1)
Teaching Strategy:
Because of the uncomplicated phrase structure in this piece, the unison choir can focus on understanding form. It is clearly laid out and includes an
Introduction – A section – B section – and first & second endings.
The piano opens the song with a four-measure Introduction. With rests delineating the way, students discover that each section is comprised of four
musical phrases: A = a b a bvar and B = c d avar bvar (the second section could also be called Avar depending on prior study of form). While the first and second endings are sung the same, they differ with the piano indicating a return to the beginning (first ending) versus coming to the close of the piece
(second ending).
The Music:
In G major, the vocal range lies between B3 and D5. This elegant, pentatonic melody will cultivate beautiful, lyrical singing. It includes an optional Recorder
solo that parallels the simple yet dulcet style of the piano allowing your young singers’ unison voices to shine.
The Poetry:
Dark brown is the river.
Golden is the sand.
It flows along for ever,
With trees on either hand.
Green leaves a-floating,
Castles of the foam,
Boats of mine a-boating—
Where will all come home?
On goes the river
And out past the mill,
Away down the valley,
Away down the hill.
Away down the river,
A hundred miles or more,
Other little children
Shall bring my boats ashore.
Poetic Translation:
With a nostalgic focus on childhood experience, this poem explores the journey of toy boats set adrift on a river. Through simple yet evocative language, it captures a sense of childhood wonder and the transience of time. Perhaps the flowing river represents the passage of time, while the boats symbolize youth and innocence. The poem’s cyclical structure, with the boats reaching the end of their journey in the hands of another child, suggests the inevitability of change and the loss of childhood. Within the context of the time period, the poem reflects Victorian era sentiments of innocence, adventure, and the power of childhood imagination.
Marching Song (CRCP #2)
Teaching Strategy:
This piece introduces the skill of singing an easy three-part layered song: “a tune that is comprised of a number of phrases sung repeatedly, one on top of the other” [Newlin, One Accord: Developing Part-Singing Skills in School-Age Musicians, 2023 revised edition].
All of the singers learn each part in unison. First, the snare drum, followed by the tin whistle, and, finally, the cymbals with bass drum. Once all three layers can be sung well with no assistance from the teacher, half the choir sings one part while the other half of the choir sings another part (sing through different combinations of two layers). When this can be sung well, divide the choir into three parts and add in the layers one at a time. Explain that because each voice part continues to sing the same layer (musical phrase), and we add each additional phrase on top of the ones that are already there, that, just like a cake with multiple layers is called a layered cake, a song with multiple layers is called singing a layered song.
The Music:
In F major, the vocal range lies between C4 and D5, and includes four pentatonic verses sung in unison. As a fun part-singing challenge, the chorus section is composed as a cumulative three-part layered song with voices imitating a snare drum, a tin whistle, and cymbals with bass drum, with each phrase embracing their own melodic identities.
The Poetry:
Bring the comb and play upon it!
Marching, here we come!
Willie cocks his highland bonnet,
Johnnie beats the drum.
Mary Jane commands the party,
Peter leads the rear;
Feet in time, alert and hearty,
Each a Grenadier!
All in the most martial manner
Marching double-quick;
While the napkin, like a banner,
Waves upon the stick!
Here’s enough of fame and pillage,
Great commander Jane!
Now that we’ve been round the village,
Let’s go home again.
Poetic Translation:
Through lively imagery and an incessant marching rhythm, this playful and lighthearted poem depicts a group of children engaged in a spirited processional. The children march in formation with their feet in time and their hearts full of joy: Willie as commander, Johnnie as drummer, Mary Jane leads the group, and Peter brings up the rear. The poem’s playful tone and focus on childhood exuberance set it apart from Stevenson’s other works, which often explore more somber and introspective themes. It reflects the Victorian era’s fascination with childhood innocence, and celebrates the joys of imagination and play in children’s development.
The Swing (CRCP #8)
Teaching Strategy:
With a time signature of 3/4, the focus of this piece is performing accurate rhythm – first in unison and then in two parts. To begin, singers can read rhythm names from the board as they keep the beat in one hand (dotted half note) and the beat division (3 quarter notes) in the other (feeling each measure as one large beat). They can then identify all the locations in the song where this rhythm occurs (first melody):
The rhythm of the second melody can then be learned in comparison to the first.
The Music:
In F major, the vocal range lies between C4 and D5, supported by Cyndee Giebler’s charming piano accompaniment. The brisk 3/4 time signature combined with the ascending/descending melodic line accentuates the joyful swinging motion of the song’s narrator. Arranged so that the original two melodies become partner songs at the end, this gleeful tune will delight young singers in their ability to sing in two parts.
The Poetry:
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside—
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown—
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
Poetic Translation:
The wonder and joy of childhood are captured via simple language and repetitive structure evoking the exhilaration and delight of swinging. As the child soars into the air, their imagination takes over – flying over walls and seeing the whole world from the sky. The Victorian era’s emphasis on childhood innocence is reflected through the sentimentality and nostalgic view of carefree happiness of the text.