Favorite Singing Games for Lower Elementary




Hi everyone, this is Sue! In my last post I shared games for upper elementary students. Below I have shared of my students' favorites in the lower elementary



Las Estatues De Marfil


Collected from Bob Walser


(a few notes)
  • A great free movement in space activity as well as improvisation
  • Accessable multicultural song for young children
  • Even if you only have 1 minute for a game this works well-you can still get in several turns!

In A Circle Dance Now
Collected from Jos Wytok
(a few notes)
  • A wonderful example and physical practice of AB form
  • A section is improvised, the B section is great for working together as one group
  • Is in do pentachord-kids may be young but need to be singing 1/2 steps in their early music experiences as well.
Link to In a Circle Notation




d
Cobbler, Cobbler
Ann Kay/Leigh Ann Garner
(a few notes)
  • This variant of the song also is out of the tritone and uses 1/2 steps in appropriate places early music experiences
  • Great practice for steady beat
  • The original game is for shoe passing-seriously? K and Grade 1?  LeighAnn Garner modified it to just keeping the steady beat with the shoe and only passing it on the word 'eight'
  • The other BRILLIANT thing she did was to NOT have the kids use their own shoes (ever try to get shoes back on a bunch of Kinders and first graders? *shudder*)
  • I used my old shoes (the ones that were not even worth donating) Collect them from parents and let the fun begin!
  • BTW-These shoes work great for upper grade shoe games as well-(avoids that pleasant 'odor' from growing kids)

2

Instrumentally Speaking

Hi, everyone. This is Liza. I seem to have instruments on the mind right now because of what my students have been studying in recent weeks, so I thought I would post a few ideas I use in my classroom to familiarize students with the instrument families. I don't know about you, but we all have the old standby activities we have used for years and for me they can get old fast...Peter and the Wolf, Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Zin Zin a Violin, The Philharmonic Gets Dressed, instrument bingo (when there is a sub), and the list goes on. Over the last few years I have tried to come up with some new and more interesting (for me AND the students) ways to review instruments in each family not only aurally but also visually. If any blog readers have fantastic new ideas on this topic, I would love to hear them in the comments!

In my school's curriculum, kindergarteners learn about classroom instruments and the 4 orchestral instrument families and then in every other grade 1st through 5th, each grade concentrates specifically on two of the families, so by 5th grade they've studied each family in depth twice. Here are a few ideas I have used recently. Some of these are great for a sub, even a non-music sub...or for those days when the teacher is sick and can't sing. I'm on my 2nd round of antibiotics right now myself.

Instrument Family Manipulatives
I make a manipulative similar to this for each family. The instrument pictures and names are printed on card stock, but then cut apart the names into individual squares. Staple either a baggie or an envelope to the back of each instrument picture card and put the little pieces with the names into the envelop or bag. These manipulatives can then be used for many different activities.

1. Students work with partners (as practice) or alone (as assessment) to identify the instruments by placing the name of the instrument on top of its picture.
   
2. Students work on aural rather than visual identification. Play a short example of an instrument and students then place a bingo chip (or the name card for that instrument) on the instrument pic they heard.
   
3. Students review facts about the instruments in the family. For example: Which instruments are bowed? Which are plucked? Which come from China? Which are typically used in an orchestra? Which have 4 strings?

4. Students can categorize instruments by family (one page has Strings,Woodwind, Brass, Percussion then you cut apart instrument pictures from all of the families) or categorize percussion instruments as woods, metals, or membranes (one page has woods, metals, and membranes printed on it, then cut apart pictures of various percussion instruments).







Instrument 4 Corners
This adaptation of the 4 corners game can also be played in many ways to practice visual and aural ID of instruments.

1. Hang pictures only of the instruments from a family around the music room. Call out an instrument name (and/or shows a sign with the word) and students walk to the correct instrument called.

2. Hang signs with only the names of the instruments only and then show the class a picture of an instrument and students walk to the correct name for that picture.

3. Hang signs with both the pictures and names of the instruments around the music room and then play a short example of that instrument and students walk to the correct instrument.

4. Hang signs with the names of the four instrument families around the room then shows pictures of various instruments and students walk to the correct family in which that instrument belongs.

When we first play any version of this game it is just practice and I joke about "tricking" the students who go to the wrong place in the room. Once students become more familiar with the instruments it can be played as an elimination game in which students who go to the wrong instrument or sign must sit on the carpet and be out for the rest of that round, but if they are sitting nicely on the carpet they may rejoin us when we play the next round. My students have become amazingly accurate at identifying instruments in the families both visually and aurally and are now much more capable of identifying specific instruments heard in other listening lessons we do. They will play this game over and over with joy.

 Instrument Basketball
1. Tape pictures of the instruments from the family being studied on small boxes and mark 2 tape lines on the floor, the 2 point shot line, and the 3 point shot line.

2. Divide the class into 2 teams and a student from each team comes up to play. Call out the name of an instrument. Students had to decide whether to try a 2 point shot (closer to the boxes) or a 3 point shot (farther away).

3.Students have to not only know the correct instrument, but also make it into the box to earn points for their team. (I don't comment on whose answer was correct or incorrect until both teams' players shoot so as not to influence the 2nd player's instrument choice). Teammates on the carpet are not allowed to give help/call out or their team forfeits points for that turn.

4. You can also play this with instrument family boxes, show a pic of an instrument, and they shoot into the box for the correct family. Although I haven't done it yet, I suppose you could have them play this game for aural practice as well.

Individual Answer Baggies and Flip Card Packs
I make up baggies that are individual answer packs to use for various things such as quick non-paper, pencil assessment. I have baggies with instrument pictures for each instrument family (baggies each include all of the instruments from that family students are familiar with) and I have instrument flip card packs as well, for instance a pack of 4 cards that say String, Brass, Woodwind, Percussion or a pack that says Wood, Metal, Membrane that are hole punched and on one of those book rings. Then instead of a whole group game like the above activities, students can practice or be assessed alone or with a partner on the carpet. I've found them quite useful for many things.

1. I might play a short sample of an instrument and students have to flip their flip card to show me if the instrument they heard was a string, brass, woodwind, or percussion instrument. (Or show a picture, or say the instrument name as in previous activities)

2. We might do a rapid fire review in which I name instruments and students identify and hold up the picture for that instrument from their baggie as quickly as they can. (Or for aural ID as before)

Instrument Cakewalk
1. Place instrument picture cards (cardstock preferable for durability) in a circle on the floor. There should be enough pictures to equal the number of students in the class.

2. As music is played on the stereo, students walk around the outside of the circle. When music stops, all students place feet on one of the cards.

3. The teacher then draws an instrument name out of the hat  and asks, "Who has the ____? If the child standing on that card can identify their instrument I give them a sticker. I often use the rule that students who get 2 stickers in a round sit out until we play another round so others have a better chance to have their instrument called.

Those are some of my recent ideas. What ideas do YOU have for helping students identify instruments? I would love to hear your creative, new ideas.

6

I Can't Sing

"I can't sing."

This is one of the top responses I get whenever I tell someone I am an elementary music teacher (another response I often get is an air-recorder version of  "Hot Cross Buns." Love that one...). I always cringe when I hear the stories of "my teacher told me to mouth the words" or, "I always had to stand in the back row so people wouldn't hear me." Each year, I establish goals for my teaching and my students. This year, as I started in a new building with kids who had limited Kodaly exposure, two of my goals were:
Every child will sing
I will not say "good" unless it is true.
I have to admit, it is not always easy to stick with these goals. It is much easier to let that student who is not singing slide under the radar or give a student who is not matching pitch a meaningless "good job" and move on to the next thing in your lesson. Unfortunately, I believe that this is where much of the "I can't sing" mentality comes from. When people say they "can't sing," many times they actually are referring to struggling with pitch matching. Taking the time to truly TEACH singing and pitch matching requires thoughtfulness, dedication, and a commitment to EVERY child in your room. Tanya, Christopher, and Aileen have all discussed fabulous ideas for helping your students sing, so today I am going to try to stick to strategies for pitch matching.

Pathways to Matching Pitch

1. Establish a supportive environment with high expectations.

Singing can be very personal and make people feel very vulnerable. It is important, especially if you are working with older beginners, to take steps to create a supportive community for kids to learn to sing. Provide many opportunities for group singing, frequent positive feedback and always celebrate progress and courage. Make sure that your students understand that singing is a skill that requires effort and practice to achieve. Ultimately, my goal is that students not only can sing, but that they want to sing. Creating an environment where students feel comfortable, supported and encouraged to sing is a huge piece of the pitch-matching puzzle.

2. Help your students build a "pitch vocabulary"

Building what I call a "pitch vocabulary" goes far beyond just teaching solfege. Generally speaking, a pitch vocabulary is your singers' vocal range. However, when working with your kids, it is important to guide them through their exploration of range and add to their "vocabulary" of sounds. Aileen wrote a great post about singing and including vocal exploration a few weeks ago (you can read it here), so I am not going to steal her post by diving too much into vocal exploration. However, as you approach pitch matching remember that your singers may not know what it feels like to create very low or very high sounds. They speak in a very limited range, so it is incredibly important to give students an opportunity to see what their voice can do, especially in their higher range.

Using vocal roller coasters and things like John Feierabend's Pitch Exploration Pathways are great tools to help your children do this in the classroom.
Many people use these with K-1 (appropriately, so), but don't be afraid to use them with your older kids if you have older beginners, students new to you, or simply have older students who need help matching pitch. I have done them with 5th grade, and they get a kick out of seeing how high and low their voices can go. You can also modify these to create vocal warm-ups for your classes or choirs. I have a set of cards I created using vowels that I use regularly with my 4th and 5th grade choir. They have to sing the shape of the card on the vowel shown. It is a quick and easy way to explore range and work on vowels at the same time!




3. Use visual models

One of the greatest challenges that comes with teaching singing is the fact that singing is largely based on feeling. When you are working with a student who is not matching pitch, one tool that can be incredibly helpful is to provide them with a visual. I have several ways I do this...
  • Pitch Matching Mountain
    • I often make the analogy of a mountain to my singers (we are in Colorado, after all!). When a singer is too low in pitch, I will say something like, "I am at the top of the mountain, but you are here (show them on the mountain). Can you climb up the mountain with me?" Then I will progressively have them sing a serious of echoes moving higher and higher up the mountain. I love this visual because it draws in another key aspect to good singing: breath and energy. Often, students singing too-low simply need to give their sound more energy. I especially see this with my older students. The idea of climbing a mountain is a perfect visual, because students understand that it takes more effort to climb up the mountain when you are hiking. 

  • Bulls-Eye!
    • This is a variation of Pitch Matching Mountain that I use with my older kids. I used it a lot when I taught middle school choir, too! The idea is the same, except the correct pitch is the center target and then you can use the surrounding area to show where a singer is. To make this even more fun, you can laminate it and use Nerf Sticky-Darts. They love it. :) 

  • Body Symbols
    • I have a set of motions I use with my K-2 students for pitch matching. As students are singing, I can give them feedback about where their voice is while the class is singing using these body symbols. You can also have the students give you feedback by singing with them and asking them to show you what you're voice is doing. 
      • Hands on Head= singing too high
      • Hands on Hips= singing too low
      • Hands Crossed on Shoulders= juuuust right (it helps if you say this one with a cool-dude tone) 
  • Just Draw It. 
    • Visualizing pitch for your students can be as simple as a dot on your white board or holding your two hands up to show where your student is and where you want their voice to be. Don't feel like you have to take a huge amount of your time to create incredible pitch matching activities. Instead, just build it into your everyday practices. 
4. Use Student Models and Encourage Solo Singing. 

Let's be honest- it is very easy for your non-confident singers to "blend in" to the class or hide behind the stronger singers in the class. I often see classes where 30-40% of the students do 100% of the singing. One of the most effect strategies I have found for building student participation and confidence in singing is to use solos. This may seem counter-intuitive, but when you approach it correctly, I think you will see positive results. When you use student models and soloist, here are a few things to keep in mind...

  • Give positive feedback. Students are motivated to volunteer for solos when they see you providing positive feedback to other singers, and your soloists will gain confidence when you can give them a boost. Make sure your feedback is accurate, but always find something that you can celebrate in your soloists. 
  • Celebrate growth, not perfection. This is HUGE for your kids that are still not feeling confident. When they see you celebrating the progress another student makes, they become more comfortable exploring their voice. It also re-establishes your goals of good singing and pitch matching to all your students
  • Encourage students to try again. I know that I am always nervous the first time I present something to my peers or in front of others. Giving students a chance to try again will help them feel more confident and secure singing in front of others. 
Many times, it takes singing alone for a non-pitch-matcher to hear themselves clearly and understand what they need to change. By building a culture in your classroom where solo singing is practiced, celebrating, and encouraged, you will be giving your "stars" opportunities to shine and your struggling students opportunities to grow. 

5. Don't Give Up!!

We don't expect students to read on their first day of instruction, shoot three pointers on their first day of basketball, or color inside the lines the first time they pick up a crayon. Learning to sing and match pitch is a skill that takes practice, time, and effort to achieve. In my classroom, we make a BIG deal when a student begins to consistently match pitch (clapping, cheering and high fives are all involved). Make sure your students know that you not only want them to match pitch, but that they can and that you will support them along the way if they keep practicing. With a few tricks, some patience, and a little bit of care I truly believe we can create a culture of people who no longer say, "I can't sing," but instead jump at a chance to sing together.

Kate

5

Celebrate Music: A Concert Theme


Hi everyone! This is Jamie, and I am in full concert preparation mode with my second and third graders. Each year, I try to pick a theme for my concerts to help me stay organized, and I thought I’d share my process of selecting materials with you.

Before choosing a concert theme, I think about the following questions:
1.     What kind of song literature do I want to use?
a.     I try to pick themes that are broad enough to use many different types of songs. I like to include the following in my concerts:
·      Song tales
·      Pieces that includes partwork
·      Folk dances/movement pieces
·      Pieces that include an instrument accompaniment played by students
·      Multicultural songs
·      Expressive/beautiful pieces
·      Pieces that include a component that has been created by the students (composition)
2.     Does the theme allow for me to still teach my curriculum while preparing for the concert?
a.     Let’s face it. Preparing and planning for a concert can eat up A LOT of class time. Since I only see my students for 30 minutes twice a week, every minute is important to me. I try to include songs in my concerts that the students might know already or songs that they will learn later for a melodic/rhythmic concept. I also try to include skills on the concert that meet my curricular goals.
3.     Does the theme allow for student input/extra student opportunities?
a.     Concerts are a perfect time for students to take leadership roles. I try to include pieces in which groups of students can perform on instruments or show the audience the movement/game for a song. The students could also write a description of a piece and introduce it to the audience.
4.     Does the theme allow for audience involvement/teach the audience about the music program?
a.     When I have families come to a music concert, I want them to enjoy watching their child, but I also want them to leave with knowledge about music and the music curriculum in my district. This can be accomplished through including the audience on a particular piece or by explaining the concepts behind each selection.

With that said, this year I have chosen a “Celebrate Music” theme for all of my grade levels. Students will learn and perform songs utilizing different components of music.  For each component, I will choose one song/piece for the students to perform. Here are some examples:
·     Music is Joyful 
·      Music is Historical
·      Music is Movement
·      Music is Multicultural
·      Music is Creative
·      Music is Playful
·      Music can have Multiple Parts
·      Music expresses Emotion
·      Music has Melody
·      Music has Rhythm
·      Music has Form
I’m sure you could come up with even more!

I’ve used the component, “Music is Creative,” in my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade concert programs. Here is what I’ve done:

2nd Grade
The second graders will perform the song, “William He Had Seven Sons.”


At the concert, several students will come off of the risers. Each time the song is sung, one of the students will create a 4-beat motion for everyone else (including the audience) to copy. After each repetition of the song, everyone will repeat all of the previous motions (making the movement cumulative).

3rd Grade
My third graders just started learning recorder in February. They have learned the notes B, A, and G, and they are ready to create their own music on recorder. For the concert, each class will compose their own 16-beat song. We will go through the following teaching process:
1.     Choose a form to follow. I have found that when students compose to a given form (Ex: A Av B Av), they are more organized in their writing.
2.     Compose rhythm (we will only use the rhythms ta, ti-ti, and rest in the compositions)
3.     Add in the letter names (BAG)
4.     Finger through our composed song
5.     Play the composed song
6.     Make any alterations that the students feel necessary
7.     Play the composed song again
8.     Write the song in the music staff
9.     Continue practicing the song until it is memorized

This process will take SEVERAL class periods to get through. At the concert, each class will present its’ own piece to the other students and the audience.

4th Grade
My fourth graders had their concert earlier this school year. At the time, we were reviewing the do pentatonic scale. Each class added an 8-beat melodic interlude on xylophones between the verses of the song, “Firefly.”

Here is the teaching process we went through:
1.     Create 8 beats of rhythm (we only used the rhythms ta, ti-ti, rest)
2.     Add in the solfa sounds under the rhythm (do re mi so la)
3.     Inner hear the composition
4.     Sing the composition out loud
5.     Make any alterations that the students feel necessary
6.     Sing the composition again
7.     Write the composition in the music staff
8.     Perform the composition on xylophones
9.     Continue practicing the composition until it is memorized

At the concert, all of the students sang the verses of the song. Then, between the verses, students who wanted to perform the melodic compositions played on xylophone. During the singing of the verses, the students who were playing passed on the mallets to the next performer.

This was a great experience for the audience, the students, and me! The fourth graders took ownership of their creations, and the audience members could see the hard work that went into creating a piece from scratch.


I also created a music advocacy bulletin board that features the different components of music.  It’s called “Owl” About Music, and it’s available here at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. This bulletin board could be used at any time during the year and would be a great addition in any music classroom. Here are some pictures from the kit:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Music-Advocacy-Bulletin-Board-Kit-Owl-About-Music-1151575

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Music-Advocacy-Bulletin-Board-Kit-Owl-About-Music-1151575


Have a good week!
4

"It's the music, stupid!"

Hi folks, Christopher here.  When I took Kodály Level I, all those years ago, what initially drew me in was the approach to pedagogy.  After a student teaching experience in which I felt like I was lurching from activity to activity, each one fairly well designed (OK, so maybe not always so well designed – I was a novice teacher after all…), here was a way to know that my students were actually gaining skills and knowledge in a way that worked.  Music literacy!  In-tune singing skills!  Part work!  Inner hearing!  With a sequential approach that efficiently progressed through skill development in a logical way, I knew that my students would learn.  And this measurable growth would allow non-music teachers and parents to realize that music class wasn’t just a frill, that it was an important content area that was not solely singing-along-with-a-recording.


My first year of teaching was very pedagogy-focused, with lesson plans that addressed the various standards that the students should meet.  But in my second year of teaching, I had my second a-ha moment, and that came courtesy of Jill Trinka.  She came out to Seattle to give a workshop, an experience that made me realize: 

It’s the music, stupid!   

The workshop reminded me that the whole pedagogy comes from the music, and that the best curriculum in an elementary music program is comprised primarily of folk songs and children’s singing games that have stood the test of time.  Like Kodály, I believe that in folk music, the rough edges get worn off, leaving music that remains as its pure, essential core.  After hearing Jill’s mesmerizing singing and playing, I realized that providing students with emotionally rich singing experiences was essential to what I must impart to children. 

Which is all a round-about way of getting to some repertoire that I have done this year that my children love.  Sometimes, I do repertoire simply because the music is beautiful and age-appropriate, and I think that the students will develop a hard-to-describe sense of the simple joy that can come from performing a piece beautifully.  It can be a particularly effective way to end a class – after they’ve done all the literacy work and played the singing games and engaged in the other objectives of the curriculum, to finish up a class with a beautiful song allows them to go out of my classroom humming a piece of music that I want to enter the core of their beings.

I teach elementary school music half-time, this year with grades 1, 3, and 5.  Here is a song from each grade that my students have loved during the last month.

GRADE 1
 


Source: Seeger, R. C. (1948).  American folk songs for children in home, school and nursery school; A book for children, parents and teachers.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Also found in: Trinka, J. (1996).  Little black bull.  Dripping Springs, TX: Folk Music Works. 

I usually have the children standing in a circle for this game, with one child holding a large gold star.  When the counting begins in measure four, the students pass the star around the circle, with each number representing a child.  On “number one,” the first student passes the to the child on the right; on “number two,” that child passes the star to the next player; and so forth.  The student who receives the star on “number three” holds onto the star, moving it up and down to show the contour of measures 6-7-8.  After the last word is sung, the child holding the star chooses a new number between one and ten, and play resumes, with measures 4-6 repeated often enough to reach the number chosen by the child.

This slow, gorgeous song is a wonderful calming activity for younger students, particularly after an active game.  The range is an octave, which is fairly large for first graders.  Most of the songs that I ask the first graders to sing fall in the range of a fifth or a sixth, but having opportunities to reach their voices higher and lower is important for extending that range.  The contour is fairly easy to follow for the students, with the octave leap down followed by the step-wise ascending pattern. 

A beautiful recording comes from Jill Trinka's Little Black Bull, one of my all-time favorite resources.




GRADE 3


Source:   Locke, E. (1981).  Sail Away: 155 American Folk Songs to Sing, Read, and Play.  New York: Boosey & Hawkes.  p. 30. 
Per Locke, found in: Murray, T. (1952).  Folk Songs of Jamaica.  London: Oxford University Press.

 2.  Oh the moon shines bright down, Hill and Gully
Ain’t no place to hide ‘m down, Hill and Gully
An’ a zombie come a-ridin’ down, Hill and Gully.

 3. Oh, my knees, they shake down, Hill and Gully
An’ my heart strings start a-quakin’ down, Hill and Gully
Ain’ nobody gonna get me down, Hill and Gully.

4. That’s the last, I sit down, Hill and Gully
Pray the Lord don’ let me down, Hill and Gully
Ain’ nobody gonna get me down, Hill and Gully

I love the text in this song, in part because you don’t know exactly what happens.  Does the zombie get the rider at the end?  It’s hard to tell.  Asking the students to infer from the text gets them thinking critically.  Some kids will say that the words “that’s the last, I sit down” means that it’s the last thing that happens to the rider before the zombie eats him/her up (or whatever zombies do), while others think that the last line of the song “ain’ nobody gonna get me down” means that the rider lives, that he or she will stand up and show that zombie who’s boss.

This is a song that ultimately serves double duty (or triple duty!) in the classroom.  The verse-chorus/call-response form lends itself to solo singing very easily, and since the children like the song, almost every child wants to sing a verse alone.  The fact that some of the lines are a little tricky (see the second line of verse three) can be a good challenge for higher-performing kids. After singing the song in third grade, I bring it back in fourth grade for music literacy purposes: the tone set of s,l, drm sl makes it a good song for low so, which I get to in fourth grade, and the rhythmic content means I use it to teach syn-co-pa. 

You can find many field recordings of this folk song from Jamaica.  Most of them are uptempo, with instruments, and I prefer to introduce the song in a more spooky, slower fashion.  Eventually, though, making the connection to a field recording is an important way for the kids to feel that this is actually a song from Jamaica, not just a song with some weird English words.  Here are a couple of recordings I like:  Lord Composer and Valerie Walker.







Grade 5


Source: Sharp, C. (1909).  Novello’s School Songs.  London: Novello & Co., Ltd.
Also found in: Trinka, J. (1989).  John, the Rabbit.  Dripping Springs, TX: Folk Music Works.

2. The first doe he shot at he missed
     The second one he trimmed, he kissed
     The third one went where nobody whist
     Among the leaves so green-o.

Chorus

3.  The fourth doe she did cross the plain.
     The keeper fetched her back again.
     Where she is now she may remain
     Among the leaves so green-o.

Chorus

4. The fifth doe she did cross the brook
     The keeper fetched her back with his crook;
     Where she is now you must go and look
     Among the leaves so green-o.

Chorus

5.  The sixth doe she ran over the plain
     But he with his hounds did turn her again,
     And it’s there he did hunt in a merry, merry vein
     Among the leaves so green-o.

Like Hill and Gully Rider, this song also has a text that grabs kids.  What’s a Keeper?  What happens to each of the deer?  Who is “Jackie?”  There’s ample opportunity for students to have different perspectives on how they interpret the fate of each deer.  I find that this process can take a long time – the kids really want to give their opinion – so limiting the topic of each day to one verse and cutting off discussion after a certain point ensures that the majority of the lesson segment is spent on making music.   There’s a lot of historical context that can come out here, as well, such as of hunting and class, and the role of a Keeper on an English estate.  In addition, some fifth graders have read Roald Dahl’s book, Danny, Champion of the World, a book that has a keeper as one of its main characters.

When I first started using this song, I sung it a cappella, and the students enjoyed the song.  Once I learned to play the mountain dulcimer, I was able to accompany the students, using an arrangement based on Jill Trinka’s recording on John, the Rabbit.  Her singing style on the recording is winsome, a sound that I find works well for this song, more than the rollicking approach that can be heard on other recordings, such as the one on Pete Seeger’s Birds, Beasts, Bugs, and Fishes, Little and Big: Animal Folk Songs

I basically never use this song for literacy purposes; while I could use it for fa or any number of rhythmic elements, I find this is one that is best to just be a pure song.  Sometimes, I might extract short elements as part of a transition between lesson segments (the ticka-ti pattern in the beginning of the chorus, for example), but for the most part, I just want it to be an opportunity for the students to sing beautifully.  It’s a great song for solo singing, as well -- because it’s hard!  The ascending line of the verses and the quick back-and-forth between the two characters during the chorus can be challenging for some children, allowing for some good assessment.  The most important thing, though, is that they love the song.

A couple of recordings I like: from Jill Trinka's John the Rabbit (you really can't go wrong with Jill, ever!), and the inimitable Pete Seeger.



I encourage you: Sing quality music!  Find what resonates with you, what music you think has stood the test of time (or will stand the test of time), what music makes you cry, and make sure that you have some of music in every lesson.  If you think a song is stupid, it probably is.  Cut it loose.  I looove teaching music literacy, but I believe that it is these beautiful singing experiences are what will stick with the children after everything else is gone.

Sing on!

7
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