Sing it Forward Copyright ©2023, 2024 Alphasongs LLC (ASCAP), all rights reserved, Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns (ASCAP) . Introduction I hear sing it forward! You hear sing it forward? Did they sing it forward? I might sing it forward. I hear, “Sing it forward!” I can sing it forward. You might sing it forward. Hear them sing it forward. I can sing it forward. I will sing it forward. Verse 1 I see the times are changing. Time to care for each other. Time to step outside yourself and love one another. I see their helping hands reach out to love us. We can take part too and give a hand. With love let's see the world and the people around us. Fill the world forward with love and music. Refrain 1 Hear them sing it forward. I can sing it forward. You might sing it forward. I will sing it forward. I hear, “Sing it forward!” Love to sing it forward. I will sing it forward. Join me! Sing it forward! New times! Sing it forward. Hear them sing it forward. It's fun! Sing it forward. Help us sing it forward! Verse 2 We can touch other’s lives with some kindness Time to move past ourselves. Show love to our neighbors. Look around see the way we all connect with others. Fill the tapes try of life with rich new colors See the world and the people around us. Fill the world forward with love and music Interlude I will sing it forward. Join me! Sing it forward! You can sing it forward. We will sing it forward Learning “Sing it forward,” to love sing it forward. Bring love, sing it forward. Show love sing it forward. Refrain 2 Hear them sing it forward. I can sing it forward. You might sing it forward. I will sing it forward. I hear, “Sing it forward!” Love to sing it forward I will sing it forward. Join me! sing it forward. New times! Sing it forward. Hear them sing it forward. It's fun! Sing it forward. Help us sing it forward! Verse 3 One day we'll recognize we're not alone, we need others. And there are so many who could use your help also. Open up your heart to give some joy to someone who needs a helping hand in times of need. Feel their love! See the world and the people around us. Fill the world forward with love and music. Refrain 3 Hear them sing it forward. I can sing it forward. You might sing it forward. I will sing it forward. I hear sing it forward. Love to sing it forward. I will sing it forward. Join me! Sing it forward! Conclusion New times! Sing it forward. Hear them sing it forward. It's fun, sing it forward. Help us sing is forward Learning “Sing it Forward,” to love sing it forward. Bring love, sing it forward. Show love, sing it forward! You might sing it forward. Hear them sing it forward I can sing it forward I will sing it forward. I will sing it forward. I will sing it forward!   Program Notes Sing it Forward is a conceptual four-part SATB acapella work. The title, Sing It Forward, gave me visions of a relay race and passing the baton. I began to think of a central message of the song which is sharing love and working together as a team. I decided to subtitle it “A Musical Relay.” The relay concept appears in both the lyrics and the music. First, I created a lyrical “surface,” like the consistent surface of a running track, by putting the title, Sing It Forward, in the lyrics of every measure. The musical “relay” consists of putting the note F-natural in every single beat of the song in one or more voices. In a musical sense, F-natural functions as the “relay baton.” How one can use an actual baton in the performance is mentioned later in the Performance Notes The song begins and ends in the minor mode of F-Aeolian but modulates to the parallel major mode of F-Mixolydian in Verse One. From there, the song travels through various modal inflections based on F until it reaches the Conclusion, at which point it returns to F-Aeolian. These frequent modal shifts provide surprising variety in the song structure and chord progressions despite there being an F-natural on every beat of the song. After the final verse, the Conclusion winds down the musical relay very much like it was wound up in the beginning. Performance Notes Sing it Forward is scored for small-to-medium vocal ensemble. For most of my songs, I have stated the clapping part is optional but in this one, the clapping part is integrated rhythmically with the vocal music. The performance of this piece should always include the hand clap part, but as an alternative, you could choose to use a different type of percussion instrument in place of the clapping. Regardless, I would recommend a dedicated percussionist who is not also performing a singing part, especially if the baton is incorporated in the performance as described in the next paragraphs. The performance of Sing it forward can optionally include a physical passing of a baton. To stage this properly, the baton should always be passed between members of a quartet of individual singers—one each of soprano, alto, tenor, and bass— performing in front of the rest of the ensemble. The quartet should be in a small semi-circle within no more than an arm’s reach of one another to facilitate baton passes. To incorporate passing a baton in a performance, the person whose lyrics are in Boldface should be holding the baton, which is then passed from one singer to another when singing a word or syllable that is ITALICIZED UNDERLINED, BOLDFACE, and CAPITALIZED and always on an F-Natural. For example, in the first three measures, the soprano holds the baton. In measure 4, both the Soprano and the Alto have an F-Natural on the word, “SING,” which is ITALICIZED UNDERLINED, BOLDFACE, and CAPITALIZED. At that point, the Soprano passes the baton to the Alto. In measure 5, when Alto and Tenor both have the word “SING” on F-natural, the Alto passes the baton to the Tenor, and so on throughout the piece. NOTE: The syllable or word on the baton pass is not necessarily the same for the two voices. For example, at the beginning of Verse One (measure 13), the alto passes the baton to the bass where the alto sings the word “I” and the bass sings the word “HEAR”, both on an F-natural, despite being two different words. There are some parts of the song with several baton passes in quick succession, so these passes will need practice. The Soprano begins and ends the piece holding the baton. Once the clapping in the score is done, I give the soprano license to drop the baton, much like the classic “mic drop.” Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software