Help Them Live © 1985 Merrill Collins

Excerpted fromEverybody’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 LiveProject Overview

Help Them Live is an excerpt from the musical Everybody’s Everybody,which incorporates education for youth about the state of the world’schildren, 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 focusedinclusively on children in any chosen area of need. For example, looking atthe plights of children affected by natural disasters in recent times, a projectcould focus on victims of tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, war, or famine.

As a month-long curriculum, this project is a form of education for youth aswell as the general public. In addition to raising awareness, it may be usedas a fund raiser.

The authors and publisher do not claim any formal affiliation with charitableorganizations. There are many local/global nonprofit organizations serving to bringsupport to children facing crises worldwide. The appropriate way to set up a benefit is toselect an organization and work hand-in-hand with a contact person representing thelegal entity.

The Help Them Live ProjectSpiraling Music is collecting documentation of Help Them Livepresentations, to be edited into a documentary about this project. Pleasesend us clippings, videos or DVDs, letters, photos or simply a report of howyour project went. If you do choose to document your presentation, be sureto have all participants sign a release form, included in this kit. Participantsare granted free documentation licensing for this educational project by thepublisher. Not for commercial use. Please contact the publisher for anyadditional licensing.

Help Them LiveProject Instructions

Before you begin, set a date for the presentation and create a timeline. Invitevolunteers to help with the preparation, performance, publicity, and financial aspects,if necessary. Select an organization to benefit if you will be doing a fundraiser, andfind a contact person.

Step 1: Research the ChildrenFind facts about the children in the crisis or area of need that you are focused on. If youare working with a non-profit, ask them for information. A good general resource isUNICEF’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 forperformers or audience members can be ordered online at www.hrusa.org.

Step 3: Learn the SongUsing 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 willgo.

Step 3: A Creative Writing ExercisePrepare a script to be spoken during the bridge of the song, telling facts about children inthe 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 PartsPractice speaking during the bridge of the song. Try dramatizing the script, pretendingto be a TV or radio news announcer. Take turns performing for other children. Edit to fitthe timing. (If more time is needed, begin as early as measure 21; finish no later thanmeasure 12, verse 3.)

Step 6: Prepare ArtworkSelect articles from magazines and newspapers pertaining to the topic. Write articles,choose headlines, collect pictures or make your own artwork. Prepare a display of thelyrics for audience participation.

Step 7: Bulletin BoardOne suggestion for a visual presentation might be to divide a bulletin board into threecolumns.

“Write a Right”• Choose an article

from the Conventionon the Rights of theChild

• Collect and statefacts about childrenaffected by hunger,poverty, loss offamily, orphans,need for education,etc. from naturaldisasters.

DisplayVisual

Art

Q: What Can We Do?• Identify

organizations whichare helping

• Identify and statehow individuals andgroups can offersupport.

Step 8: PresentationPresent the song for peers, parents, and the public. If you are documenting thepresentation for the Help Them Live Project, make sure each performer signs a releaseform, included in this booklet.

Step 9: ContributionCollect any contributions and deliver to the non-profit of your choice, if you havedecided to do a fundraiser. Share the good news about your success!

Step 10: Follow UpIf it is possible, follow up a few months later to inform participants and the public aboutany 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 94611www.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, Ihereby grant permission to you to utilize my appearance in the Program in any and all manner ofmedia throughout the world in perpetuity.

I agree that my participation in the Program may be edited in according to your sole discretion. Iconsent to the use of my name, likeness, voice and biographical material about me in connectionwith 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 ofprivacy, defamation or any other cause of action arising out of production, duplication, broadcastor 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 (orguardian) of the minor who has signed the above release, and I hereby agree that we shall bothbe bound thereby.

Signed: _________________________ Date: ________________

Address: _________________________ Phone: ______________

_________________________

© Merrill Collins 1985 Published by Spiraling Music Co. ASCAP www.spiralingmusic.com

Help Them Liveby Merrill CollinsLyrics

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)