Raising the Bar: Bulgarian Folk Songs, Vol. 1

These thirteen Bulgarian songs, especially chosen for treble choirs (chilfden's and women's ensembles), range from simple children's play songs to a Christmas processional to three-part arrangements by Bulgarian composer Petar Krumov.

Included in the book are scores, word sheets with translations, a pronunciation guide and a short history of Bulgaria and its music, plus rehearsal techniques and tips for performance.

The accompanying DVD features pronunciation tracks, teaching video for the individual voice parts, and full performances for each song. The teaching DVD was filmed with 28 singers aged 8-18 from the Chicago Children's Choir and Bulgarian singer Elitsa Stoyneva. Scores (a cappella, no accompaniment) and word sheets in the book may be copied for your choir.

Contents:

• Introduction
• Tips for teaching & performing Bulgarian music
• About Bulgarian folk songs
• A brief history of Bulgaria
• A guide to Bulgarian pronunciation

Songs:

• De ima voda studena
• Rado lyo (trad. folk song)
• Ergen deda more prez plet gleda (trad. folk song)
• Haide Tsone (children's play song)
• Hodila Doina za voda (trad. folk song)
• Izgubila Veselinka (children's play song)
• Maro le mari hubava (trad. folk song)
• Maro, Mariyke, fida builiyke (trad. folk song)
• Moma Angelina, mamo (children's song)
• Oi, Koledo (Christmas wassailing song)
• Sardit Daimyan (composed by Petar Krumov)
• Snoshti sam minal (composed by Petar Krumov)
• Taz vecher ne mi e veselo (composed by Petar Krumov)
• Zhivovale bratya drugovale (trad. folk song)