1. Introduction and performance
This page guides you through all the videos and resources to explore the song 'A Tree is a Song'.
Start by watching Shivani's introduction and the BBC Singers' performance with young singers from Brent Music Service, then work your way through the activity films.
Once you're ready to learn 'A Tree is a Song', you'll find scores and audio tracks to support you in teaching this song to your students.
Aimed at KS3 students in England and Northern Ireland, Progression Step 4 in Wales and 3rd Level in Scotland.
Shivani Rattan (singer and vocal leader) introduces 'A Tree is a Song'
[BBC Get Singing intro music]
Shivani:
Just like singing in a choir, writing music is often a collaborative process. Composer Cecilia McDowall worked with poet Heather Lane to create ‘A Tree is a Song’. The pair share a love of libraries, books and music, and this song brings those ideas together in a really imaginative way.
It begins with trees, the source of paper, which become books, which hold knowledge and stories. The different voice parts imitate and respond to each other, just like the trees connected through their roots, passing a melody from tree to tree. Listen out for this musical conversation when you sing the song.
Young singers from Brent Music Service, BBC Singers, Caroline Jaya Ratnam (piano) and Owain Park (conductor) perform 'A Tree is a Song', at BBC Maida Vale Studios
[BBC Get Singing intro music]
[piano playing]
♪The trees, they bind their whole horizon,♪
♪recording ring on ring,♪
♪sunlight, shadow, and wind and wonder,♪
♪the autumn and the spring,♪
♪the trees, they bind their whole horizon,♪
♪recording ring on ring, oh♪
♪sunlight, shadow, and wind and wonder,♪
♪do do do do do do do do♪
♪do do do do do do do♪
♪do do♪
♪The seeds, they gather up their wisdom,♪
♪Do do do do♪
♪enfolding all they know♪
♪do do do do do do♪
♪of bird and breeze, the world ash tree,♪
♪do do do♪
♪the summer and the snow,♪
♪do do do do do do do♪
♪the seeds, they gather their wisdom,♪
♪enfolding all they know, oh♪
♪of bird and breeze, the world ash tree.♪
♪do do do do do do do do do♪
♪do do do do do do♪
♪do do♪
♪do do do do do do do do do♪
♪do do♪
♪The roots, they stitch their web of meaning♪
♪Do do do do♪
♪passing on the tune,♪
♪do do do do do do♪
♪a melody from tree to tree,♪
♪do do do do♪
♪a hymn to sun and the moon.♪
♪do do do do do do do♪
♪the roots, they stitch their web of meaning♪
♪and passing on the tune, oh♪
♪a melody from tree to tree♪
♪do do do do do do do do do do♪
♪do do do do do do do do do do♪
♪A tree is a song from root to crown,♪
♪and since the world was young♪
♪the oak and hawthorn, and beech and rowan♪
♪all sing the heartwood’s song,♪
♪a tree’s a song from root to crown,♪
♪and since the world was young, oh♪
♪the oak, hawthorn, and beech and rowan♪
♪na na na na na na!♪
2. About the song
- Title: A Tree is a Song
- Composer: Cecilia McDowall (b.1951)
- Bespoke BBC Get Singing version composition date: 2025
- Accompaniment: Piano
- Duration: 3'00''
3. Activity films
1. Physical warm-up
2. Vocal warm-up
3. Exploring the song
Use movement to tell the story
[BBC Get Singing intro music]
Shivani:
When we sing, we're also sharing a story, because as singers we get to use lyrics in our music-making, and lots of words are associated with feelings, so we need to be able to use our facial expressions to explore all of that. So let's do this warm-up. Standing on the spot, I’m gonna read out a story to you, and I want you to create an interpretive bit of movement to go along with that bit of the story. You're walking down a road and suddenly you bump into an alien.
Young People:
[stomping feet]
Shivani:
Great job.
… who is looking for somewhere to buy trainers. You explain that it's in town, second left, third exit round the roundabout. You tell the alien that it needs to be careful because the shoe shop is run by an alien-eating octopus. The alien goes into the trainer shop and sneaks around, and it finds three pairs of trainers it likes and uses a shoe box as a disguise, and gets past the owner with no problems. It pays for the trainers using contactless, and it wobbles all the way back to its spaceship. And then it thanks you with a huge flag with your face on it.
Yeah, really well done. I like how you used really exaggerated facial expressions to show the meaning of the story without using any singing, so well done for that.
Sing intervals with Shivani
[BBC Get Singing intro music]
Shivani:
It's really important to warm up our voices and flex those vocal muscles so that we can feel like we're really supported and it will help us to prevent any vocal injury so that we can do the best singing possible. This is a numbers warm-up and we're gonna move in step and also in leaps. The whole thing goes like this:
♪One, two, three, four, five,♪
♪five, four, three, two, one.♪
♪One, five, four, five, three, five, two, five,♪
♪one, five, four, five, three, two, one.♪
The first bit’s nice and easy, so let's do that first.
♪One, two, three, four, five,♪
♪five, four, three, two, one.♪
♪Your turn.♪
Young People:
♪One, two, three, four, five,♪
♪five, four, three, two, one.♪
Shivani:
The next bit goes like this:
♪One, five, four, five, three, five, two, five,♪
♪Try that.♪
Young People:
♪One, five, four, five, three, five, two, five,♪
Shivani:
Well done. And then we sing:
♪one, five, four, five, three, two, one.♪
Young People:
♪one, five, four, five, three, two, one.♪
Shivani:
Let's put those two bits together.
♪One, five, four, five, three, five, two, five,♪
♪one, five, four, five, three, two, one.♪
♪Your turn.♪
Young People:
♪One, five, four, five, three, five, two, five,♪
♪one, five, four, five, three, two, one.♪
Shivani:
Let's put the whole thing together now. It goes like this:
♪One, two, three, four, five,♪
♪five, four, three, two, one.♪
♪One, five, four, five, three, five, two, five,♪
♪one, five, four, five, three, two, one.♪
♪Ready, steady, off you go.♪
Young People:
♪One, two, three, four, five,♪
♪five, four, three, two, one.♪
♪One, five, four, five, three, five, two, five,♪
♪one, five, four, five, three, two, one.♪
Shivani:
Fantastic. That is all good. Let's take it ♪up a semitone.♪ This time we'll do it a teensy bit faster as well.
♪Ready, steady, off you go.♪
Young People:
♪One, two, three, four, five,♪
♪five, four, three, two, one.♪
♪One, five, four, five, three, five, two, five,♪
♪one, five, four, five, three, two, one.♪
Shivani:
That was smashing. Well done. Let's do another one.
♪Up another semitone. A little bit faster.♪
♪Ready, steady, off you go.♪
Young People:
♪One, two, three, four, five,♪
♪five, four, three, two, one.♪
♪One, five, four, five, three, five, two, five,♪
♪one, five, four, five, three, two, one.♪
Shivani:
♪This is the last one.♪
♪And a tiny bit faster again.♪
♪Ready, steady, off you go.♪
Young People:
♪One, two, three, four, five,♪
♪five, four, three, two, one.♪
♪One, five, four, five, three, five, two, five,♪
♪one, five, four, five, three, two, one.♪
Shivani:
Great counting, everybody. I hope your voices are feeling nice and warmed up, ready for singing. Fantastic job.
Learn to scat
[BBC Get Singing intro music]
Shivani:
‘A Tree is a Song’ features scat singing, or scatting, which is where we sing rhythmic syllables instead of words. It can mimic how an instrument might sound. We're gonna focus on getting these scat rhythms in time and with crystal-clear articulation. So here's the phrase we're gonna be looking at:
♪do do-do do-do♪
♪do do-do do-do do♪
♪do do-do do-do♪
Let's break that down into a couple of chunks.
♪do do-do do-do do♪
♪Your turn.♪
Young People:
♪do do-do do-do do♪
Shivani:
♪do do do-do♪
Young People:
♪do do do-do♪
Shivani:
♪do do-do do-do do♪
Young People:
♪do do-do do-do do♪
Shivani:
Okay, those three chunks together are gonna sound like this:
♪do do-do do-do♪
♪do do-do do-do♪
♪do do-do do-do do♪
♪Your turn.♪
Young People:
♪do do-do do-do♪
♪do do-do do-do do♪
♪do do-do do-do♪
Shivani:
Lovely. Let's try a version where we sing it super smooth, as if you're attaching each note to the next. So it might sound like this:
♪do do-do do-do♪
♪do do-do do-do do♪
♪do do-do do-do♪
♪Your turn.♪
Young People:
♪do do-do do-do♪
♪do do-do do-do do♪
♪do do-do do-do♪
Shivani:
Beautiful. Let's try the polar opposite of that, which would be short and spiky, as if there are gaps after each note.
♪do do-do do-do♪
♪do do-do do-do do♪
♪do do-do do-do♪
♪Have a try.♪
Young People:
♪do do-do do-do♪
♪do do-do do-do do♪
♪do do-do do-do♪
Shivani:
Awesome. Let's try a balanced point in the middle where it's nice and clearly articulated. A bit of smooth, a bit of spiky.
♪Ready? Off you go.♪
Young People:
♪do do do do do♪
♪do do do do do do♪
♪do do do do do♪
Shivani:
Lovely. Those rhythms were really clearly articulated and you sound like you're scatting. Nice job.
It's important to breathe in time together before we sing each phrase. We’re going to look at where to breathe and working as a team to do this as one. I'm gonna show you where to audibly breathe before each phrase.
[Breath]
♪The trees, they bind their whole horizon,♪
♪recording ring on ring,♪
[Breath]
♪sunlight, shadow, and wind and wonder,♪
♪the autumn and the spring,♪
So the first breath was a little shorter and the second is longer. So let's try one after the other.
[Breath]
♪The trees, they bind their whole horizon,♪
♪recording ring on ring,♪
Young People:
[Breath]
♪The trees, they bind their whole horizon,♪
♪recording ring on ring,♪
Shivani:
[Breath]
♪sunlight, shadow, and wind and wonder,♪
♪the autumn and the spring,♪
Young People:
[Breath]
♪sunlight, shadow, and wind and wonder,♪
♪the autumn and the spring,♪
Shivani:
Lovely. Let's try those two phrases together. And we're gonna breathe out loud before each one so we can feel as a team. Here we go then.
Young People:
[Breath]
♪The trees, they bind their whole horizon,♪
♪recording ring on ring,♪
[Breath]
♪sunlight, shadow, and wind and wonder,♪
♪the autumn and the spring,♪
Shivani:
Well done for trusting each other to breathe where we agreed. By doing that, it helped our singing to sound more confident.
4. Sing your voice parts
Press to listen to the upper voice part
Press to listen to the middle voice part
Press to listen to the lower voice part
5. Resources
6. Further teaching resources
Download guidance notes
Click here to download a PDF of guidance notes for teachers and vocal leaders, supporting you to get the most out of the BBC Get Singing resources
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