Songbook for future soccer stars ...
... clever witches and all the other normal children of today. With lyrics and melodies that make you want to sing.
The title lives up to its promise: Abracadabra contains unexpected musical twists and turns, amazes with changing rhythms and conjures up ghosts, animals and pirates. The songs are aimed at 5 to 10-year-olds and refer to their fantastic imaginary worlds. The ride on the musical witches' broomstick leads from I am afraid about 'It's hot up to I wish I was a soccer star, a real genius on the ball!
Susanne Würmli-Kollhopp wrote all thirty compositions herself, most of them in dialect. This is music for everyday use, written for the children's choirs that Würmli-Kollhopp directs. While many conventional children's songs convey an outdated world view or moralize, these are pleasantly simple. All the more catchy for that. But not always easy to sing: Changes of key and time signature are surprising here and there, giving the songs a new color.
Speaking of color: Chasper Würmli, the son of the composer and lyricist, has illustrated the songbook with beautiful collages of fabulous animal characters. The result is a carefully and lovingly designed book that is a pleasure to hold in your hands.
On the author's website, all the songs can be heard with simple piano accompaniments as a rehearsal aid. And you also get some initial ideas for practicing in the school classroom or children's choir that go beyond "singing along".
Susanne Würmli-Kollopp: Abrakadabra, 30 children's songs with illustrations by Chasper Würmli, Fr. 37.00 (+ packaging/postage), Fr. 39.90 in stores, Verlag Singlust (self-published); piano accompaniments available separately from: www.singlust.ch
