You’ll be counting your blessings with this delightful nativity musical that has 8 simple songs and a great script, easily adaptable for any performance. Let the Christmas countdown begin! Available with Words on Screen™.
A brilliantly inventive new musical nativity for young children – a 20 minute masterpiece of thoughtful fun!
John Dabell Teach Primary Magazine
An Annual Performance Licence is required to perform this nativity. For more information, please click here.
Your licence allows you to record, film and stream your performance online for family and friends if they are unable to attend. If you need to cancel your performance, our guarantee enables you to extend your licence for 12 more months free of charge.
About Christmas Counts
- Ideal for ages 3-6 – includes a very simple script and easy-to-learn songs that are especially suitable for younger children
- Available with a Words on Screen™ CD ROM allowing you to display song lyrics on any whiteboard, computer screen, television or interactive touchscreen. The lyrics synchronize with the music as it plays making them easy to teach and easy to learn!
An Annual Performance Licence is required to perform this nativity.
view character list and staging ideas
There are 12 speaking parts and at least 20 non-speaking parts. The speaking parts can easily be increased if the narrator’s part is split between lots of children, the census-takers’ lines are split between more than four census-takers; and you have two innkeepers instead of one, dividing the lines equally between them.
Total length of music: 14 minutes approx
Performance duration: 7 minutes approx
A brilliantly inventive new musical nativity for young children – a 20 minute masterpiece of thoughtful fun!
John Dabell – Teach Primary Magazine
Words on Screen™ CD ROM System Requirements
PC:
- 2.33GHz or faster x86-compatible processor or Intel® Atom™ 1.6GHz or faster process for netbooks.
- Microsoft® Windows® 7 (64 bit) or later, Windows Server 2016 (64 bit) or later
- Internet Explorer 7.0 or later, Mozilla Firefox 69.0 or later, Google Chrome, Safari 12.0 or later, or Opera 36 or later
- 512MB RAM (1GB RAM recommended for netbooks); 128MB graphics memory
MAC:
- Intel Core™ Duo 1.83GHz or faster processor
- macOS 10.7-10.14.6 inclusive
- Safari 12.0 or later, Mozilla Firefox 69.0 or later, Google Chrome, or Opera 36 or later
- 512MB RAM; 128MB graphics memory
For the Download Player System Requirements, please click here.
If you have purchased a Premium Pack online which includes Words on Screen™, you will immediately receive a Words on Screen™ eSongbook in your Out of the Ark Music online account. The eSongbook is where we bring together all of the digital resources available for your product. As well as being able to play the Words on Screen™ versions of your songs, you can also instantly access PDFs and MP3s for your product at no additional cost. If you have already downloaded and installed a Download Player from our website simply refresh your player and select your new eSongbook. You will need to download the eSongbook to your player before you can extract and save the PDFs and MP3s. You will also need to have installed Download Player version 2.0 or above.
If you don’t yet have a player then follow these instructions:
- Log in to your online account
- Within the My Words on Screen™ Online panel (on the My Account dashboard) choose either to Stream Online or Download Player
- Within the player click on All eSongbooks in the left hand menu and select your eSongbook
You will find the PDFs and MP3s under eSongbook Resources in the left hand menu of your eSongbook. From there, you can choose to extract and save All Audio MP3s, All Lyrics PDFs and All Score PDFs. If you just want the MP3s, lyrics or music score for one song, then select the song in the library and use the buttons in the Song Extras area at the bottom of the screen.
Licence Information
Extended Performance Licences and COVID-19 Licence Guarantee
With our extended Performance Licences and COVID-19 Licence Guarantee, you can buy your Christmas nativity or musical now with confidence. Our feature-boosted licences allow you to record, film and stream your performance online for family and friends if they are unable to attend. And if you need to cancel your performance, our COVID-19 Licence Guarantee means you can simply give us a call and we will extend your licence for 12 more months free of charge.
Words on Screen™ User Licences
Words on Screen™ CD ROMs are supplied with a single user licence which allows the Words on Screen™ CD ROM to be installed on ONE computer only.
To license the installation of the CD ROM onto network servers and/or two or more computers, please purchase an Annual Performance Licence which includes extended digital rights.
Annual Performance Licence Information
A current Annual Performance Licence is required to perform this nativity to an audience (other than to pupils & staff).
- You can purchase an Annual Performance Licence above (it is cheaper when purchased as part of a product pack).
- The requirement for a licence is irrespective of whether admission charges are made.
- An Annual Performance Licence covers any number of performances of a particular musical or nativity within 12 months of the date of ordering.
- A new Annual Performance Licence would be required for any future performance(s) outside the date period printed on your current licence.
In addition, with so many of our musicals and nativities purchased in digital format, you need a legal way to install or distribute copies for use around the school. Your Annual Performance Licence will grant you permission to:
- Perform the work to an audience (other than pupils and staff in schools). A licence is required even if it is a 'free' performance and this is a worldwide copyright requirement.
- Install Words on Screen™ song files from a CD ROM onto more than one computer or onto a network.
- Download Words on Screen™ song files from a CD ROM onto more than one computer or onto a network.
- Continue to stream Words on Screen™ songs from your Out of the Ark Music online account on any device (beyond your free period) for the duration of the licence.
- Copy song files from an Audio CD onto more than one computer or onto a network.
- Copy MP3 audio files onto more than one computer or onto a network.
- Create a recording of the song/s with children singing over the top, whether with our backing track, our vocal track or your own backing track.
- Upload and share digital content to your school's intranet, restricted internet or learning platform.
- Share on public websites including the school’s website, YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Soundcloud, etc. However Out of the Ark Music must be credited and an inbound link to www.outoftheark.com must be provided. Please note that Out of the Ark Music's original recordings may not be posted to public websites except as an accompaniment to the children singing. However, as a special dispensation, if children are not allowed to sing for health & safety reasons, original recordings may be used instead, as long as they are part of an overall recording or stream of the whole work with the spoken parts, and not just the songs on their own.
- Permit usage of digital content at home for teachers for preparation purposes.
A separate Annual Performance Licence is required for each product title that you use in any of these ways. Please note that if you have purchased an Annual Digital Site Licence – Multi-Product, this will cover the digital usage permissions in points 2-10 above for these products but does not cover the performance rights in point 1 – an Annual Performance Licence will still be required.
How To Renew
You can renew your Annual Performance Licences by simply logging into your account if you have one and going to your My Licences page. Pick the relevant licence and click RENEW.
The following items are available for this product:
Teacher's Book
- Character List
- Fun curriculum links
- Simple script
- Music score and song lyric sheets for 8 songs (Piano music score, melody and chords)
- Percussion ideas for some of the songs
- Licence and copyright details
Audio CD
- Vocal tracks sung by children
- Professional backing tracks
Words on Screen™ CD ROM
- Words on Screen™ versions of songs so that you can display song lyrics on any whiteboard, computer screen, television or interactive touchscreen. The lyrics synchronize with the music as it plays making them easy to teach and easy to learn
- Extractable MP3s, printable lyrics, scores, scripts & additional resources
- Enhanced operation features including ‘double-click’ to hear and teach a single line
- Words on Screen™ user guide
- Single-User licence allowing the Words on Screen™ CD ROM to be installed on ONE computer only (Please note a Performance Licence is still required to perform this musical)
- Licence & copyright details
Words on Screen™ eSongbook
- An online Words on Screen™ product to stream or download
- Extractable MP3s, printable lyrics, scores, scripts, & additional resources
- Words on Screen™ versions of songs so that you can display song lyrics on any whiteboard, computer screen, television or interactive touchscreen. The lyrics synchronize with the music as it plays making them easy to teach and easy to learn
- Flexibility to create an expandable library of Words on Screen™ song collections, nativities and musicals in your Out of the Ark online account
- Enhanced operation features including ‘double-click’ to hear and teach a single line
- Words on Screen™ user guide
- Single-User licence (Please note a Performance Licence is still required to perform this musical)
- Licence & copyright details
Annual Performance Licence
A current Annual Performance Licence is required to perform this nativity to an audience (other than to pupils & staff).
- You can purchase an Annual Performance Licence above (it is cheaper when purchased as part of a product pack).
- The requirement for a licence is irrespective of whether admission charges are made.
- An Annual Performance Licence covers any number of performances of a particular musical or nativity within 12 months of the date of ordering.
- A new Annual Performance Licence would be required for any future performance(s) outside the date period printed on your current licence.
In addition, with so many of our musicals and nativities purchased in digital format, you need a legal way to install or distribute copies for use around the school. Your Annual Performance Licence will grant you permission to:
- Perform the work to an audience (other than pupils and staff in schools). A licence is required even if it is a 'free' performance and this is a worldwide copyright requirement.
- Install Words on Screen™ song files from a CD ROM onto more than one computer or onto a network.
- Download Words on Screen™ song files from a CD ROM onto more than one computer or onto a network.
- Continue to stream Words on Screen™ songs from your Out of the Ark Music online account on any device (beyond your free period) for the duration of the licence.
- Copy song files from an Audio CD onto more than one computer or onto a network.
- Copy MP3 audio files onto more than one computer or onto a network.
- Create a recording of the song/s with children singing over the top, whether with our backing track, our vocal track or your own backing track.
- Upload and share digital content to your school's intranet, restricted internet or learning platform.
- Share on public websites including the school’s website, YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Soundcloud, etc. However Out of the Ark Music must be credited and an inbound link to www.outoftheark.com must be provided. Please note that Out of the Ark Music's original recordings may not be posted to public websites except as an accompaniment to the children singing. However, as a special dispensation, if children are not allowed to sing for health & safety reasons, original recordings may be used instead, as long as they are part of an overall recording or stream of the whole work with the spoken parts, and not just the songs on their own.
- Permit usage of digital content at home for teachers for preparation purposes.
A separate Annual Performance Licence is required for each product title that you use in any of these ways. Please note that if you have purchased an Annual Digital Site Licence – Multi-Product, this will cover the digital usage permissions in points 2-10 above for these products but does not cover the performance rights in point 1 – an Annual Performance Licence will still be required.
How To Renew
You can renew your Annual Performance Licences by simply logging into your account if you have one and going to your My Licences page. Pick the relevant licence and click RENEW.
Visit our Licences page for further information.
Rehearsal CDs
- Vocal tracks sung by children
- Professional backing tracks
- Available in packs of 5, 10 or 20
I love this play
This was my daughter's first nativity play so it's very clear in my mind. I absolutely loved watching my daughter's class perform this. It's a very cute and fun play the songs are so catchy and easy for young children to perform. My daughter's usually very shy and this play really built up her confidence! Out of the ark music is a fantastic source for teachers to use and everybody enjoys the plays and song books that this site has to offer. 5 stars from me!
Brilliant!
Fantastic catchy songs that retell the true meaning of the Christmas Story. Lines are taken from the songs for speaking parts. Would definitely recommend!
Teach Primary
"A brilliantly inventive new musical nativity for young children – a 20 minute masterpiece of thoughtful fun!"
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