Help Them Live

Help Them Live © 1985 Merrill Collins Excerpted from Everybody’s Everybody ©2005 Merrill Collins Published by Spiraling Music (ASCAP) 133 Echo Ave. #4, Oakland CA 94611 Mechanical licensing handled by Harry Fox Agency, www.harryfox.com. for more information visit: www.SpiralingMusic.com Please staple all pages together so this work can remain whole.

Help Them Live Project Overview

Help Them Live is an excerpt from the musical Everybody’s Everybody, which incorporates education for youth about the state of the world’s children, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and how we can serve. Although the musical is focused on the specific needs of children in Africa, the song Help Them Live is a project unto itself which can be focused inclusively on children in any chosen area of need. For example, looking at the plights of children affected by natural disasters in recent times, a project could focus on victims of tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, war, or famine. As a month-long curriculum, this project is a form of education for youth as well as the general public. In addition to raising awareness, it may be used as a fund raiser. The authors and publisher do not claim any formal affiliation with charitable organizations. There are many local/global nonprofit organizations serving to bring support to children facing crises worldwide. The appropriate way to set up a benefit is to select an organization and work hand-in-hand with a contact person representing the legal entity.

The Help Them Live Project Spiraling Music is collecting documentation of Help Them Live presentations, to be edited into a documentary about this project. Please send us clippings, videos or DVDs, letters, photos or simply a report of how your project went. If you do choose to document your presentation, be sure to have all participants sign a release form, included in this kit. Participants are granted free documentation licensing for this educational project by the publisher. Not for commercial use. Please contact the publisher for any additional licensing.

Help Them Live Project Instructions Before you begin, set a date for the presentation and create a timeline. Invite volunteers to help with the preparation, performance, publicity, and financial aspects, if necessary. Select an organization to benefit if you will be doing a fundraiser, and find a contact person. Step 1: Research the Children Find facts about the children in the crisis or area of need that you are focused on. If you are working with a non-profit, ask them for information. A good general resource is UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children report, available online at www.unicef.org/sowc Step 2: Read the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The full text of this document can be found at www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm. More about this document can be found at www.unicef.org/crc/crc.htm. Booklets for performers or audience members can be ordered online at www.hrusa.org. Step 3: Learn the Song Using the lead sheet, the lyrics, and the music download, learn and practice the song. The bridge is 40 seconds long, about 3 measures. This is where the spoken message will go. Step 3: A Creative Writing Exercise Prepare a script to be spoken during the bridge of the song, telling facts about children in the world who are suffering. Step 4: Prepare Spoken Parts. Decide who will speak during the bridge. Prepare three sentences: • A fact about children in need • A quote from the Convention on the Rights of the Child • Information about how we can help. Step 5: Practice Spoken Parts Practice speaking during the bridge of the song. Try dramatizing the script, pretending to be a TV or radio news announcer. Take turns performing for other children. Edit to fit the timing. (If more time is needed, begin as early as measure 21; finish no later than measure 12, verse 3.)

Step 6: Prepare Artwork Select articles from magazines and newspapers pertaining to the topic. Write articles, choose headlines, collect pictures or make your own artwork. Prepare a display of the lyrics for audience participation. Step 7: Bulletin Board One suggestion for a visual presentation might be to divide a bulletin board into three columns. “Write a Right” • Choose an article from the Convention on the Rights of the Child • Collect and state facts about children affected by hunger, poverty, loss of family, orphans, need for education, etc. from natural disasters.

Display Visual Art

Q: What Can We Do? • Identify organizations which are helping • Identify and state how individuals and groups can offer support.

Step 8: Presentation Present the song for peers, parents, and the public. If you are documenting the presentation for the Help Them Live Project, make sure each performer signs a release form, included in this booklet. Step 9: Contribution Collect any contributions and deliver to the non-profit of your choice, if you have decided to do a fundraiser. Share the good news about your success! Step 10: Follow Up If it is possible, follow up a few months later to inform participants and the public about any good results you may have helped bring about by working and singing together. Mail your documentation to Spiraling Music and become part of a greater work!

MINOR RELEASE FORM FOR VIDEO DOCUMENTATION Spiraling Music Co. 133 Echo Ave. #4 Oakland, CA 94611 www.SpiralingMusic.com

Participant Name:

_____________________________________________

Program Title:

Presentation of Help Them Live by Merrill Collins

Presenter:

_____________________________________________

Date:

_____________________________________________

Participation:

Performer, Vocalist, Visual Artist

Fee:

-0-

I have participated as indicated on the above program (“The Program”). For value received, I hereby grant permission to you to utilize my appearance in the Program in any and all manner of media throughout the world in perpetuity. I agree that my participation in the Program may be edited in according to your sole discretion. I consent to the use of my name, likeness, voice and biographical material about me in connection with production, advertising and promotional purposes. I expressly release you, your agents, employees, licensees and assigns from all claims which I have or may have for invasion of privacy, defamation or any other cause of action arising out of production, duplication, broadcast or exhibition of any appearance. Signature: _________________________

Date: ________________

Address: _________________________

Phone: ______________

_________________________

If Participant is legally a minor in the state where he/she resides, sign below: I, (print name), _______________________ hereby represent and warrant that I am a parent (or guardian) of the minor who has signed the above release, and I hereby agree that we shall both be bound thereby. Signed: _________________________

Date: ________________

Address: _________________________

Phone: ______________

_________________________

Help Them Live by Merrill Collins

Lyrics Time: 5:09 Verse 1: (selected vocalists) Did you hear about the child who cried? Did you hear about the child who died? Did you hear? Did you see? Did you feel something move inside? Is there anything we can do? Is there anything we can give? Is there any way we can help the children live? Help them live, help them live Help them live, help them live. Verse 2: (All chorus members join in) Bridge: (Spoken parts) project or hold up the lyrics and invite audience to sing along Verse 3: (All participants join in) © Merrill Collins 1985

Published by Spiraling Music Co. ASCAP

www.spiralingmusic.com