Whacky Halloween

Our young singers had a good time with this piece. Nothing gets them giggling faster than auditioning for sound effects! Especially when the sound effects are downright silly. The examples we set on the recording will no doubt inspire your own effects performers, but they should not limit them. Perhaps they have other ideas for what a mooing cat should sound like. That's when the auditions get fun. Let various students try each effect. Pick the "winners" yourself, or let the class vote on it.

For the vampire singing, we suggested to our vampire that she simply sing a random melody using her best Transylvanian accent. This line could also be spoken, but since the lyrics say the vampire is singing, it makes more sense to do this.

Technically, this piece was written for voices and Boomwhackers®. If you are not yet familiar with these colorful, tuned, plastic tubes, follow this link to learn more. There is also an article on what Boomwhackers® are and how to play them on page 75 of Music K-8, Vol 13, No 1, as well as in the Idea Bank of our web site. Since we began publishing music for Boomwhackers®, we have found them to be very popular. So now, we attempt to include a tune in every issue that uses them.

As we said, "Whacky Halloween" is one of those tunes meant to employ Boomwhackers®. (In this case, diatonic - C to C, regular or bass sets.) However, for the successful performance of the song, they are not absolutely necessary. The song is usable just as a vocal feature. With sound effects, of course. If you do use the Boomwhackers®, you will find a reproducible Boomwhackers® part on page 47 of this issue.

On the recording after the piece, you will hear what we have dubbed "Boomwhacker® applause." Please remember that this is optional! But we found that after the intense focus needed to play the right notes at the right time in any Boomwhacker® piece, a bit of "release" was in order for the players. Even the older ones. Our kids always enjoy the applause, but maybe you don't. It's your call. If you use it, have players fade (decrescendo) or just cut them off.