Toyland

The song, "Toyland" has been around since 1903. It was written by Victor Herbert (music) and Glen MacDonough (lyrics) as part of their operetta, Babes In Toyland. Another well-known song that came from that operetta is, "March Of The Toys." In its over 120 years of existence, "Toyland" has been recorded numerous times by the likes of Doris Day, Tony Bennett, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, and a host of other famous singers and orchestras.

Our arrangement has three vocal parts, but as usual, parts 2 and 3 are optional. To demonstrate how this would sound, we have included a unison version on our web site. If your singers are up to the challenge, we have isolated parts 2 and 3 and made them available on our web site to help them learn the song. And if you do use all three parts, it might be fun to try singing it a cappella. We've also included a demo of this online.

Musically, this piece is very lush. The recorded accompaniment features piano, nylon guitar, fretless bass, harp, strings, and winds consisting of flugelhorns, horns, trombones, and bass trombones. And for that extra sparkle, we've also included wind chimes, a bell tree, suspended cymbal, and a combination of a toy piano and a glockenspiel. While we do provide a lovely, playable piano part, singing with the recorded accompaniment will really add to your performance and make it quite special.

Would you like a version of "Toyland" for your recorder players? We have that! John Riggio did a really cool arrangement of it and it's included in his collection, Rockin' Recorders For The Holidays, which is available in print and as a download. (Visit MusicK8.com)