Help Them Live © 1985 Merrill Collins

Excerpted from
Everybody’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 Live
Project Overview

Help Them Live is an excerpt from the musical Everybody’s Everybody,

which incorporates education for youth about the state of the world’s
children, 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 focused
inclusively on children in any chosen area of need. For example, looking at
the plights of children affected by natural disasters in recent times, a project
could focus on victims of tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, war, or famine.

As a month-long curriculum, this project is a form of education for youth as

well as the general public. In addition to raising awareness, it may be used
as a fund raiser.

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

The Help Them Live Project

Spiraling Music is collecting documentation of Help Them Live
presentations, to be edited into a documentary about this project. Please
send us clippings, videos or DVDs, letters, photos or simply a report of how
your project went. If you do choose to document your presentation, be sure
to have all participants sign a release form, included in this kit. Participants
are granted free documentation licensing for this educational project by the
publisher. Not for commercial use. Please contact the publisher for any
additional licensing.
 Help Them Live
Project Instructions

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

Step 1: Research the Children

Find facts about the children in the crisis or area of need that you are focused on. If you
are working with a non-profit, ask them for information. A good general resource is
UNICEF’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 for
performers or audience members can be ordered online at www.hrusa.org.

Step 3: Learn the Song

Using 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 will
go.

Step 3: A Creative Writing Exercise

Prepare a script to be spoken during the bridge of the song, telling facts about children in
the 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 Parts

Practice speaking during the bridge of the song. Try dramatizing the script, pretending
to be a TV or radio news announcer. Take turns performing for other children. Edit to fit
the timing. (If more time is needed, begin as early as measure 21; finish no later than
measure 12, verse 3.)
Step 6: Prepare Artwork
Select articles from magazines and newspapers pertaining to the topic. Write articles,
choose headlines, collect pictures or make your own artwork. Prepare a display of the
lyrics for audience participation.

Step 7: Bulletin Board

One suggestion for a visual presentation might be to divide a bulletin board into three
columns.

“Write a Right” Q: What Can We Do?

• Choose an article • Identify
from the Convention Display organizations which
on the Rights of the Visual are helping
Child Art • Identify and state
• Collect and state how individuals and
facts about children groups can offer
affected by hunger, support.
poverty, loss of
family, orphans,
need for education,
etc. from natural
disasters.

Step 8: Presentation
Present the song for peers, parents, and the public. If you are documenting the
presentation for the Help Them Live Project, make sure each performer signs a release
form, included in this booklet.

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

Step 10: Follow Up

If it is possible, follow up a few months later to inform participants and the public about
any 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 94611
www.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, I
hereby grant permission to you to utilize my appearance in the Program in any and all manner of
media throughout the world in perpetuity.

I agree that my participation in the Program may be edited in according to your sole discretion. I
consent to the use of my name, likeness, voice and biographical material about me in connection
with 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 of
privacy, defamation or any other cause of action arising out of production, duplication, broadcast
or 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 (or
guardian) of the minor who has signed the above release, and I hereby agree that we shall both
be bound thereby.

Signed: _________________________ Date: ________________

Address: _________________________ Phone: ______________

_________________________
 Help Them Live
by Merrill Collins
Lyrics

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)

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