Sing with Gareth Malone: Preparing to perform

Gareth Malone:
Of course the process of learning the song is really important, but the cherry on top of the cake is performing in front of other people and for your students the moment when they step out in front of the audience and succeed at singing a, a song will give them a sense of real achievement.

Gareth Malone:
[SINGING] Here's a little song I wrote, you might wanna sing it note for note…

Gareth Malone:
The first and most simple tip is make sure they all know the song very well indeed, because then they can be confident when singing it.

Gareth Malone:
[SINGING] Don't worry. Be happy.

Gareth Malone:
Decide whether you want any rhythmic accompaniment, clapping, beat boxing, body percussion.

Children:
[SINGING] In every life there comes some trouble, but when you worry you make it double, don't worry. Be happy.

Gareth Malone:
Very good, well done.

Gareth Malone:
Or ask your students to come up with their own gestures. They always enjoy doing actions.

Gareth Malone:
[SINGING] You might wanna sing it note for note, don't worry. What do we, oh, I love this, a bit of this, yeah? You can do one hand, or two. Which are we gonna do? One hand or two?

Children:
Two.

Gareth Malone:
Double or just one?

Children:
One.

Gareth Malone:
[SINGING] Don't worry. I think, I think one. Let's go with one and a little turn, don't worry. Can we try that?

Gareth Malone:
A good way to extend your performance is to get one or two of the more able students, who need a bit of stretching, to sing a verse on their own.

Children:
[SINGING] Here's a little song I wrote, you might want to sing it note for note, don't worry. Be happy.

Gareth Malone:
Have confidence in your students. In all the years that I have been working with children they have never once let me down.

Gareth Malone:
Okay, are we all ready? Standing well. This is it. Look, eyes on me. This is our performance.

Gareth Malone:
Think very carefully about who your audience is going to be. Start small and build up. You could start informally by asking a teacher from a nearby class to come and have a quick listen and then build to a bigger audience of parents and friends before tackling that whole school assembly.

Children:
[SINGING] Here's a little song I wrote, you might wanna sing it note for note, don't worry. Be happy. In every life we have some trouble, but you worry you make it double, don't worry. Be happy. Don't worry, be happy now. Oh-oh-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do. Don't worry, be happy now. [APPLAUSE]

Gareth Malone:
Hopefully now your children are really enthusiastic about singing so go and share that with other classes, younger, older, maybe even the headteacher. Go out and spread the word.