Let's go fishing!

I recently came across this really cute Guatemalan folk song:

If anybody knows me, I love all things Latin American - except beans.  For some reason, I just hate those!

Anyway, this is a great song for teaching ta rest for your 1st graders, or bringing it back later on to practice low so.  I wouldn't really use it to present that, because the interval is always re-so, but it would help enforce I-V accompaniment, and is really good for practicing that interval.

Latin American folk songs often have an uneven feel to them, because a lot of the time, their phrases are a little uneven - just different from what we're used to here in the good old U.S.A.  This song has that uneven phrase thing - sort of.  It has 4 equal-in-length phrases, but each phrase is 6 beats long.  That's a little unusual - but cool.  Something that you can point out to your kiddos!  The form is ABA'B - so it's great for pointing that out as well.

The words are:

1. Vamos a la mar, tum, tum,

A comer pescado, tum, tum.

Boca colorada, tum, tum,

Fritito ya asado, tum, tum.

2. Vamos a la mar, tum, tum,

A comer pescado, tum, tum.

Fritito y asado, tum, tum,

En sarten de palo, tum, tum.

The meaning is (not an exact translation, but this way it can also be sung in English)

1. Let's go to the sea

To get fish to eat.

Mouth as red as ruby,

Grilled and fried and crispy.

2. Let's go to the sea

To get fish to eat.

Grilled and fried and crispy

In a wooden skillet.

There is not a game that I can find, but you could have the kids create their own (mine love doing this).

I found a cute little video of some kids adding body percussion to this song.  They do it a little differently - they add an extra measure of rests to make the phrases even.  Find that video here.

Also, since this song is so great for practicing/presenting ta rest, I came up with a little game I call "Fishing for Rhythms."  Basically, you print off a set of these cards:

Cut them out, laminate them, etc.  Then, you can spread them around the "pond," face down.  A student has to "fish" for a rhythm and either you can do individual assessment - that student performs it by themselves, or you can have their team perform it.  Either way, if it is performed correctly, they get a point.  If it is incorrect, have them throw it back in the "pond," and continue playing.

You can also use these cards for games like "Post Office" or the fly swatter game - you know how much I love that one :)  I've provided a set of these cards (12 in total, practicing ta, ti-ti and ta rest) in both color and black and white.  You can get my whole file on this song (and support my adoption savings) here.

OR, you can wait until next week, when I'm throwing a big Cinco de Mayo sale and get this for 20% off, as well as all of my other Spanish language files :)

Cotton Eye Joe

Do you know "Cotton Eye Joe?".  I have this wonderful folk song in a couple of my books - the standard (orange) "150 American Folk Songs," and in "My Singing Bird."

This song is great for teaching so many things - cut time, low la, practicing half notes, etc.  I like to use it in 3rd-ish grade for low la.

We talk about la in relationship to both low so and do.  Then, we notate it on the staff:

The rhythm can get a little tricky - in my primary sources, it is in cut time.

But, sometimes, this meter can be a little tricky for kids, so depending on where my kids are, I've also done it in 4/4 time:

Or, I've also actually done it where I use both versions for a compare/contrast meter thing.

Now, the first time I actually have ever heard this song was back in college, when I used to go country dancing every Thursday nigh.  I don't really even like country music, but I had so much fun dancing that I ignored that I didn't like the music :)

I used to dance to the version by Rednex, but since that's a little inappropriate for elementary school (some of the lyrics), I've actually stumbled across another great one for line dances by The Chieftains:

You can learn the line dance here:

Of course, this one is based off a different version of the song, notated here:

That version has lots of possibilities to use with your older students - syncopation, fa, etc.

What I like to do is teach the kids the first version, then introduce the second version with the line dance.  They love it!

Of course, you can help support my adoption fund by getting my file of the song here :)

Happy Easter, 100 followers and a forever freebie!

Last Friday (March 27) I reached 75 followers on Teachers Pay Teachers, so I posted a little freebie I developed to the "Bunny Hop!"  You can find it here.  It's been pretty popular, and now I'm over 100 followers, so I'm throwing a sale today!  Everything in my store is 20% off!

Here's a preview of the freebie:

I developed a little rhythm stick play-along for my 1st graders, as they are practicing ta and rest right now.  The form of this song is so repetitious, it is so easy for my 1st graders to follow along:

Then, I thought it would be fun to extend this into a stick-passing game.  Now, I don't know if you have ever tried stick passing games with your young ones before, but it is basically impossible to ask 1st graders and Kindergartners to pass sticks to the beat.  They just haven't developed enough yet.  But, I am preparing them for the future.  So, when you first start a passing game, just work on passing the correct direction.  Also, start with only one object.

Once they are doing well with the right direction, you can start encouraging them to pass only on the downbeat.  This reinforces the downbeat, as well as slows it down enough so that your kids can be successful.  Add more objects as your kids feel more successful.

Older grade levels could have fun with this as well.  Have them pass to the rhythm of the rhythm stick play-along.  On the fourth measure every time, though, have them hold on to the stick instead of passing it right away.  They tap to their right (in front of neighbor), then in front of themselves, then to their right again, where they finally pass it.  It's kind of like the end of "Pass this Shoe," if you've ever played that one before.  If not, check out Amy Abbott's blog here.  She has a fantabulous post about shoe passing games.

Of course, the Bunny Hop would not be complete without actually doing the dance.  Here are the steps, if you are not familiar:

You can also see people doing it on the Lawrence Welk show here:

My kids are really enjoying this!  Hope you have fun with it as well!

Play Parties and Pie!

I have always loved the song "Great Big House."

The melody is so catchy that even though I usually use this in 2nd grade for "re" and half note, I have used this very successfully in older grades for improvisation, I-V harmonies, etc.  The kids love it.

Of course, I prepared a file for Teachers Pay Teachers (found here) that has all of my regular stuff - intro to the rhythm, melodic preparation, etc.  It's all great stuff, if I do say so myself.

But, that's not why I'm here.  I'm here because I recently attended a conference, and up until then, I had no idea this song had a "game."  It's really an old play party song - so it's traditional and everything!  And, my goal for this year was to make the kids do more folk dances and move more, so this fits right in with my goal.  Yay!

Formation:  single circle, with class divided into partners

Verse 1:  The whole class stands in a circle and walks to the right (or the left, it doesn't really matter).

Verse 2:  Partner #1 walks to the center of the circle and joins hands with the other #1s.  Then, Partner # 2 reaches in between the center circle to join hands with the other #2s.  On "put one arm around my wife," the #2s raise their arms up and behind the #1s, and on "the other round my daughter," the #1s raise their arms up and behind the #2s.

Verse 3:  All shuffle to the right or left while still holding their hands in a "basket weave." 

The kids love this!  It is so much fun!  I am so surprised I didn't learn it until recently, but I'm so glad I did.

Here's a video of some random 3rd grade class I found on YouTube for better visualization:

I've Been Impaled!

How do you teach solfa?  How do you get your kids to remember it?  I am a Kodaly teacher at heart, so I love the sequence of teaching these notes, but sometimes my kids would still struggle with remembering which ones go where on a staff.

I teach that my solfa notes live on a magical mountain called "Melody Mountain."  (Next door is "Rhythm Valley" for when I teach rhythmic concepts).  I've seen other people use "Music Street" or "Pitch Hill" kinds of ideas - and these are great.  I love the mountain concept because it helps the kids remember which notes are higher than others - because they can see it visually.

Last year, I had an entire bulletin board specifically for Melody Mountain.  I wish I still had that.. My principal also doesn't want us hanging stuff on the walls because of holes/residue....anyway, I'm trying (still) to figure out how to get it up without a bulletin board.  I'm supposed to get one eventually....

I made the rise on the hill smaller for mi-fa, and again for ti-do (this really helps my kids with half steps).

When I introduce a new note, I tape one of these guys up on a house:

I don't know if you can tell (so sorry about the picture quality), but I alternated girls/boys with them.  Do is a girl, Re is a boy, Mi is a girl, etc.  I did that for one main reason:  lines and spaces on the staff!  My kids used to really struggle with this, but now, they are so, so good.

I make up silly little stories about each note.  For example, "do" is a girl who just really loves rocks.  Her favorite music is "rock and roll," her favorite candy is "pop rocks," and her favorite game is "rock paper scissors."  She always does "rock," of course.  And, because she built her house out of rocks, it is pretty heavy, so it has to be at the bottom of the mountain.

Each of my stories helps the kids remember where the note is in relation to the others, as well as the hand sign with the note.  Then, the kids remember that when do is in a space, all of the other "girls" are in spaces too, and when do is on a line, all of the other "girls" are on lines as well.  This quickly resolves which note goes where.  All the kids do is find do, or look for the do clef, and they are all getting great at alternating lines and spaces on the staff.

This technique has worked pretty successfully for me for a few years, and then came along the movie "Frozen."  For some reason, this little clip stuck with me:

My kids love this part!  We talk about how when notes live in spaces, they don't even really touch a line, but when they live on a line, they are "impaled" by that line.  The kids just giggle about that - they love it so much :)

Whenever I show a "mystery measure" on the board when the students come in, sometimes the first thing I hear is:  "Oh, look - the girls are impaled today!"

Or - "The girls are in spaces, so the boys must be impaled today!"

It's just these little things that make me happy :)

Pizza!

Who doesn't love a good pizza?  Many of you probably know this song:

My kids absolutely love this song!  I have used it successfully with my younger and my older students.  The melodic structure is very easy - uses just the pitches so, mi and la, but in a way that if you use this with older kids they won't think it's too "baby-ish."

I also find that my older kids just get really nervous singing in front of others.  However, if you give them a really fun call-and-response song like this, they don't really notice that they're singing a solo, and it gives you a chance to individually assess them in a non-threatening environment.

Last year, I was looking around on Pinterest, and I found a blog post about this song with some fantastic improvisation ideas:  Pizza, Pizza, Daddy-o improvisation.  The authors of this blog, Janet and Laura, came up with a great improvisation worksheet that I have used countless times.  My kids love it too - plus it incorporates a little bit of that "writing" technique that many of us now have to use with the Common Core stuff....  (printable version of this worksheet on their blog)

After the kids come up with their different movements, each student leads the class in what they came up with.  Side note - as a proud music teacher, I love that the group above used "compose it."  Made my day :)

Anyway, another extension idea I found was on Teachers Pay Teachers.  A new seller, Megan Bracciano, came up with these adorable pizza composition worksheets.  You cut out red circles for the "pepperoni" (my school has a die cut machine that is perfect for these) and the kids can glue them on.  It helps them practice writing music left to right, placing notes on lines or in spaces, etc.  She has 3 versions of these worksheets you can download for FREE!

One is with "high/low" - you can use this with your kiddos who haven't labeled "so-mi" yet:

Another version is with just "sol/mi":

And finally, this is the version I will be using with my 2nd graders, as we have just labeled "do":

After they glue on the pepperoni (or just color them on if you want to go that route), you can have them color the rest of the pizza with other toppings, or whatever you want to do.

So cute, right?!?!?!

Going back to the "Pizza, Pizza, Daddy-o!" song, I made some files for Teachers Pay Teachers (you can find it here) for my kids to practice the melodic patterns found in the song, both on and off the staff.

Off the staff:

On the staff, where do is in a space:

On the staff, where do is on a line:

I also made some printable tone ladders, both in color and black and white:

And I even added a steady beat chart, though I don't use this song for rhythm as it contains some complicated syncopation:

Improvisation slide:

Game/dance instructions:

A couple of other great places to find extension ideas on this song:

Beth's Music Notes

State of Utah music games

I also found another really cute song called "Rico's Pizza Restaurant" on Beth's blog that would be great for practicing "re" and using some improvisation!

Rico's Pizza Restaurant

Have lots and lots of fun with this song!  My kids LOVE it!

Just for funsies for you music teachers - love this clip by Brian Regan!  :)

Beriozka

You have probably all heard the Russian folk tune called "Beriozka," or more commonly, "Little Birch Tree."

It is a really beautiful little folk song!  I love that it is in minor, and that it is very rhythmically and melodically accessible to my kids.

I'm using this song this year to present "tom ti" to my 5th graders (dotted quarter, eighth).  It happens only in 2 places (both loo-li-loos) with otherwise very simple rhythm, so it is in a great place to point it out.

Basically, this is the sequence of how I work my transitions from rhythm icons to actual notation:

We discuss things at every step, while the students are discovering where the beat falls and why we need to have the tie (the note is held out for 1 1/2 counts).  Finally, I introduce the finished rhythmic notation:

This song is also absolutely wonderful for reviewing l,t,drm.  I don't use it to present low ti, because I like presenting that in a way that goes ti to do, but this is a great review.  I also have melodic practice slides that I love using:

You can find my whole Teachers Pay Teachers file here.

Did you know that Tchaikovsky used this little melody in his 4th symphony?  It is in the 4th movement.  After I have taught my kids the song, they love listening for how many times the melody occurred in the movement, and how Tchaikovsky changes it a few times, with different dynamics, different embellishments, different instruments, etc.  So much to discuss!  You can find a great recording on YouTube.  Note - the movement is almost 9 minutes long, so you really probably want to make this a guided listening example.

I just finished my 5th grade program, and they sang this song.  I found a great unison choral arrangement by Mary Goetze.  It has a beautiful flute or recorder ostinato.  This would be a great piece for an elementary chorus.

Here's an example of Fort Wayne Children's Choir singing this piece: