This document provides information on different types of arrangements for reciting or interpreting poems with groups. It discusses arrangements involving solo voices, semi-choruses taking turns, antiphonals with contrasting voice groups responding to each other, and the entire group speaking together. Examples of poems suitable for each type of arrangement are provided.

1. Antonio Delgado, BSEd II

2. This type is used with poetry which contains
lines or verses which are repeated.
Originally, such poems are recited with a
minstrel saying the verses and the audience
reciting the refrains and choruses.
The narrative can be recited by a solo voice or
a smaller group of voices and entire group
responds by giving the refrain.
Ballads are suitable for this type of
arrangement.
It is good for beginners.

3. A lively young turtle lived down by the banks
Of a dark rolling stream called the Jingo;
One summer day, as he went out to play,
Fell in love with a charming flamingo
(All)
An enormously charming flamingo!
An expansively crimson flamingo!
A beautiful, bouncing flamingo!

4. For flowers that bloom about our feet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For tender grass so fresh, so sweet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For the song of bird and hum of bee,
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

5. For blue of stream and blue of sky,
Father, we thank Thee.
For pleasant shade of branches high,
Father, we thank Thee.
For fragrant air and cooling breeze,
For beauty of the blooming trees,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.
For this new morning with its light,
Father, we thank Thee.
For rest and shelter of the night,
Father, we thank Thee
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

6. “ Pitter patter!” falls the rain
On the schoolroom window pane.
Such a splashing! such a dashing!
Will it e ’er be dry again?
Down the gutter rolls a flood,
And the crossing ’s deep in mud;
And the puddles! oh, the puddles
Are a sight to stir one ’s blood!

7. But let it rain Tree-toads and frogs
Muskets and pitchforks Kittens and dogs!
Dash away! splash away! Who is afraid?
Here we go, The umbrella brigade!
Pull the boots up the knee!
Tie the hoods on merrily!

8. Such a hustling! such a jostling!
Out of breath with fun are we,
Clatter, clatter down the street,
Greeting everyone we meet,
With our laughing and our chaffing
Which the laughing drops repeat.
Pitter patter! pitter patter!
Pitter patter! pitter patter!

9. This type is best employed in poems which
develop its thought into a strong climax, or
which two lines are cumulative in response.
The solo voices and the semi-choruses take
turns saying the lines and then the entire
chorus enters to build a climax and an
impressive finale.

10. “This is the House that Jack built,”
a Mother Goose rhyme
“The Creation” by James Weldon Johnson
“Trees” by Joyce Kilmer
“Sounds in the Morning” by Eleanor Farjeon
“Brotherhood” by Edwin Markham

11. The antiphon is a traditional form of reciting
Biblical verses; thus many of the Psalms such
as “The Lord is My Shepherd” and passages
like “The Beatitudes” are best interpreted by
using the antiphonal or two-part response.

12. In this type of arrangement, one group
responds to another – boys to girls, children
in one row to another, with light voices to
another group with dark voices, or children
with high voices to another group with low
voices.
This is the most dramatic arrangement because
it makes use of contrasting voices. It is good
for poems which have questions and answers.

13. “The Wind” by Robert Louis Stevenson
“The Little Brook” by Lagrimas del Mundo
“Little Boy Blue,” a Mother Goose rhyme

14. And one called out to another and said,
“Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts, the
whole earth is full of His Glory.”

15. And the four living creatures, each one of
them having six wings, are full of eyes
around and within; and day and night they do
not cease to sat, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord
God, The Almighty, who was and who is and
who is to come.

16. “I will tell of Your Name to my brethren; in the
midst of the assembly will I praise You.”
“I will HALAL You”. “I will sing Halal to Yah!”
- That is, HALLELUYAH!

17. Poems expressing strong and powerful
emotions are best interpreted by the whole
speaking group rather than by part groupings
or the semi-choruses.
This is the most difficult type since it requires
the ability to speak together at the same
time with perfect timing, proper control and
volume of voice.

18. “The Mysterious Cat” by Vachel Lindsay
“Sweet and Low” by Alfred Tennyson
“The Owl and the Pussy Cat” by Edward Lear

19. Each line of a poem is read by a different
child.

20. “Solomon Grundy”

21. Prepared by:
“Live to express, not to impress.”