“…I wanted to write to sincerely thank you for allowing me to purchase and use Gotta Go, Camel! with my Year 7 choir this term. It was a real pleasure to teach, and it worked beautifully with the students. I’ve attached some student voice feedback below, as I thought you might enjoy hearing their thoughts. They genuinely found the song fun, memorable, and engaging. I do have a video of the students singing the piece but it is too long to send via email.

• India: The song was very upbeat and easy to remember because of its lively rhythm.
• Mia: I found the book helpful to read along with the notes, and it made the tune easier to remember.
• Miley: I think it was a fun and engaging way to tell the story.
• Cerys: I liked the camel song because it was very upbeat and fun. I liked the pictures in the book.

From my perspective as a teacher, I only taught the top soprano line, and I made one small melodic alteration on the line “the shepherds on the hill get an awful fright” to suit my groups. The students did have to work quite hard to learn the words, as there are a lot of them, but once everything clicked, the result was excellent. Having backing tracks and the website resources (especially the slowed down version) was also extremely helpful.

The students really enjoyed learning the song, and the books were particularly effective. Having the notation, lyrics, and illustrations together helped to engage some of my more challenging students – especially the boys – who were noticeably more focused and settled, sitting quietly and participating well. I also found that the students learned the melody far more securely when using the notation. I trialled two approaches:

1. one class learned the melody by rote using only a printed lyrics sheet, and
2. another class used the books with full notation.

The class using the notation picked it up much more quickly. Introducing sight reading early on really helped to scaffold their learning, and the illustrations supported their understanding of the story and aided memory.

We were delighted to use Gotta Go, Camel! in our annual Carol Service, where it was sung by the Year 7 Choir. We placed it after a reflective poem and before the reading of the Annunciation, as it provided a joyful and engaging musical contrast while moving the narrative forward. The song fitted perfectly within the wider storytelling arc of the service and was very well received.

Thank you again for such a thoughtful and effective resource. We will absolutely be using Gotta Go, Camel! again in future years. I will also be signposting other schools to this resource and your wider sight-reading materials whenever I have the opportunity.”

Bethany Durston
Head of Music/Performing Arts Coordinator
The Dorcan Academy, Swindon, Wilts, UK