I no longer use the song, Jingle Bells, in my classroom as it is rooted in Blackface Minstrelsy and has some sexual innuendo in the song. Read more about that here, here, and here. So here are my top 5 ways to use jingle bells in the music classroom - note, these are all WINTER songs and activities about sleighing or wintertime, not specific to Christmas.
1. Five Little Jingle Bells from Lynn Kleiner.
This song is the PERFECT replacement for Jingle Bells and my kids LOVE it! You can also see the video here from one of my Facebook posts.
2. Make Jingle Bell bracelets!
Use jingle bells (Dollar Tree often carries them in the craft or holiday section this time of year) and pipe cleaners. Each student gets 4-6 jingle bells to thread onto the pipe cleaner. Twist the ends and trim for size. The Kindergarten and First Graders are often over the moon with their special bracelets. This is also great fine motor control work and counting (I let them make two, one for each arm, so they have to get 10 bells, then cut them in half; 5 bells for each bracelet).
3. Jingle Bell Parade from Music K8. Each student with jingle bells line up behind you and you lead them on a parade throughout the room. This works well for a concert entry or exit with littles, too.
4. Bucket Drumming with Jingle Bell Rock - the version of the song I use is from Music Connection from Silver Burdett Ginn, Grade 5, CD 10, track 10. You can use other versions and adjust accordingly (most do not have the interlude which is easily omitted).
Yes, I love the Nutcracker. The music, the story, the ballet. All of it. I have many students at my school who dance in the ballet every year and I love introducing this to my kiddos although most of them have heard the music or seen the ballet.
To begin this lesson, I teach/review the song and game, "We are Dancing in the Forest". My Kindergarten students learn this and play the game, then are introduced to quarter and eighth notes through iconic then actual notation. In first grade we review the song, read the notation, and then we are ready for how this plays into ballet.
What, you say? How does that song lead into ballet? DANCING! We sing the song and students must pretend they are in a forest dancing and by the time the song is finished they must be back in their places. We try this a few times, and then I ask them to do this again and I sing the melody of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Repeat ad nauseum.
Then I show them this through the first musical theme:
Students turn and talk to a neighbor about what they noticed. They will stand up and start showing what they noticed - it is so cute, they can't help but try out some moves! I put the music on and they try out some of the moves with the music playing - it is so sweet to watch them imitate some of what they have seen!
We discuss the meaning of ballet, that some football players take ballet lessons to work on balance and strength, and then I ask if they would like to meet a ballerina? Then I show them this:
I really like that the video has male and female dancers and talks about body image and accepting who you are and what you have.
After that we watch and learn about a celesta:
Next I break out the foam snowflakes and trees. The snowflakes I got at Dollar Tree one season and the trees I cut out from craft foam (also from Dollar Tree in the craft aisle). See where this is going yet? Snowflakes have 2 sounds and will become eighth notes, trees have one sound and will become quarter notes. I put many patterns on the floor, students clap and say, then I break out the quarter note and eighth note cards and students place these above the snowflakes and eighth notes.
Then they are ready for this visual. The theme is incomplete and missing a repeat sign, but my first graders haven't learned that symbol yet and the focus is quarter and eighth note reading. Once we practice saying and clapping the theme, half the class gets triangles to play the them on, the other half dances. Perform, then switch! Such a blast!
Hope you enjoy this one! My kiddos sure did! Happy Holidays!
This past summer I was in Finland at JaSeSoi Ry's International Music Village (Finnish Orff Association). It was amazing and I loved my time both in Finland and making music with musicians and teachers from 14 countries. I also fell a little in love with the Scandinavian lifestyle and their connection to the outdoors. Did you know there are 188,000 lakes and more than 1,000,000 saunas in Finland?!
JaSeSoi Ry has put together an amazing resource online called "Nordic Sounds". There are songs, games, and dances from Norway, Denmark, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Sweden! Pronunciation videos, background info, teaching ideas and videos make this site exceptionally user friendly! Check it out here!
When I came back home, I began looking for more music and dances from this area of the world. Via Facebook, I came across a dance teacher in Portland, Oregon, who has been a tremendous help to me. Christie teaches Scandinavian dancing to children 5 years old and up to adults. She has been incredibly generous and due to some technical problems with sharing music files, she even sent me 2 CD's via snail mail!
Many of the dances are new to me, including the one I am sharing today. This is called the Nisse Polka, though Christie calls it the Nissie Polka and her students call it the Caterpillar Dance. The Nisse is a Christmas figure - read more below! Many thanks to Christie (again) for her help in putting all of this together and for being so willing to share! On to the dance!
Here is the dance performed by Christie's kids at a Scandinavian celebration.
Planning holiday concerts is always tricky. I want to have all of my students diverse celebrations represented. I struggle with finding music that represents everyone and isn't too much Christmas, but just enough, or too much Kwanzaa, and not enough Hanukkah, or too much ________ or not enough ______. It is a tough balancing act made tougher by the limitations of the theme of holiday. It is not a "winter" concert as it happens right before we break for the holidays and most of my families celebrate Christmas or a combo of Christmas/Hanukkah or Christmas/Kwanzaa and a few families are Muslim, which is difficult.
Candles are a theme that is inclusive and not exclusive. This year our theme is "The Warmth of a Winter Candle". We are performing "Just One Candle", from Music K-8, which is really love and accessible to all. Students are also performing one of their favorites, called Give Light, in addition to several other pieces. I blogged about Give Light- an incredibly beautiful song, a few years ago. The music and post is here.
I wanted to put together a speech piece with several ostinati performed vocally and with non pitched percussion. This could be used to create movement, or as a drum canon, or as an A Section with small groups performing question and answer improvisations on Orff instruments in a pentatonic key as alternating sections to create a rondo, or it could be used to create a melody.
I am going to let my oldest grade -4th, decide how to perform it. I can't wait to see what they come up with!
I love seeds of ideas.. let me know how you use it. It is presented a couple ways below- one with speech only, the other has a possible idea with body percussion.
If your classroom is anything like mine, for the past few weeks it has been a mix of fall/Halloween/Christmas/Winter/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah. So... does that mean my students have been singing Fallowintzaakahmas? Yup! Now that Halloween is over I feel the intensity and focus shift to music for our Holiday Concert. Thankfully this year I have been blessed - I only have ONE concert! Well, two, but our Grandparent's Day concert is incredibly short and is right before Thanksgiving. ONE concert in December.. I need to pinch myself! I usually have at least 3, sometimes 4-5, so one concert is a big deal - and it is my entire elementary division together, which means that I don't need to produce a minimum 40 minute concert with just my first and second graders. That used to mean 12-15 songs (at least) and so it was crazy practicing with students to get them prepared. With the same time 40 minute concert time frame, and all the grade levels, I have about 5 songs, a parent participation piece, each fourth grade is performing one Orff arrangement, a drama (I am not responsible for) and readings (I am not responsible for), I don't quite know what to do with myself ! It is wonderful to plan some *gasp* LESSONS for the months of November and December!
I am planning on bucket drumming to Trepak from the Nutcracker and a few other activities to the Nutcracker as well. Here are some rhythm cards you may find useful - right click on each to save it and have fun using them!
I have been sick for 3 very long days (tummy bug) and am finally feeling better. Finally!!!
I had my first of three concerts this morning and it went beautifully, of course with 4, 5, and 6 year olds something always happens that makes me giggle, and today was no exception. I introduced one piece and the kids started saying, "yes", "I LOVE that one", "ME TOO", etc. The crowd died laughing and truthfully, so did I... it was soooo funny!! :)
Having been sick for most of this week, I was ready to do something fun with my third graders today after our practice and they loved the Trepak Bucket Drum Routine from here. So, I knew I had to make another one to go with one of the pieces we are practicing for the concert! Jingle Bell Rock is one of their favorites, and my daughter is in third grade and loves to listen to this all year long!
Here is the bucket drum routine:
Perform in a circle, one bucket drum per student or two students sharing in concentric circles, inner circle facing out and they will pass left while outside circle passes to the right.
Jingle Bells.... I LOVE this song, although by the end of December I am pretty tired of it, but the kids love it and it's great for all children as it is a WINTER song, NOT a Christmas one!
I begin by teaching the song, although most of my students already know it, but there are a few who don't. Ask them if the song is a winter song or a Christmas song. You know what they are going to say, right? Christmas, of course! Well, boys and girls, what makes it a Christmas song? Does it mention reindeer, presents, Jesus, Santa, gifts, birthday? No? Well, what kind of song is it?
Then it's time for a little history lesson and a few pictures about "one horse open sleighs" and "jingle bells".
I posted about Jingle Bells a few years ago but just updated the post and changed a few things. Check out that post here, it's called "Jingle What"
This is one of my favorite activities from that post:
Unpitched Percussion Timbre Tantrum:
Students divided into four groups. I place four hula hoops on the floor with drums inside one, rhythm sticks in another, metals in another and shakers in another.
Drums play rhythm of "jingle bells"
Metals (break out the jingle bells) for 2nd "jingle bells"
Woods on "jingle all the"
Shakers for "way". (teach how to shake through 4 beats on "way")
On "Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh" everyone plays 8 beats together.
Back to drums, metals, woods, then shakers, then everyone plays together again for the final 8 beats of "B".
Dances:
Mrs. Q's blog has a simple dance for your younger students here.
Amy Abbot has an awesome parachute dance here.
Rob Amchin's Jingle Bell Dance:
Here are a few more my students enjoy!
A Section for the first one - concentric circles, partners facing each other. Sashay (or slide if you prefer that word) right for 16 beats, sashay left for 16 beats back to partner.
Oh, Nutcracker, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways..
Seriously, better than chocolate. Inner music nerd speaking to self, "There is something so thrilling about having a class recognize the music from the Nutcracker!".
My students are in the midst of rehearsals for 3 holiday concerts; yes, 3! My junior kindergarten and kindergarten students have a short one, followed by classroom holiday parties (so smart), then first and second graders have one at 9 AM on the 14th, third and fourth graders at 1 PM same day. Fun, fnu, nuf! Nope, that's not a misspelling, that's how I feel by the end of the day!
While we are practicing for concerts, I am doing a wee bit of Nutcracker with our time remaining in each music class. I especially love Trepak, the Russian dance. It's so quick, lively, and exciting.
1. Trepak Body Percussion and Bucket Drumming (focus on form and beat)
I begin by performing this for the students (listen to the music and you will understand WHEN to do the movements). The sequence happens during the A Section and will be repeated for a total of 4 times. I ask the students to notice everything I am doing.
Have them turn and talk. This is such an underrated and underused teaching tool. I love turn and talk. They literally turn to a neighbor and talk about their observations in "kid speak". I find this to be so helpful. What did they hear/see? How many times did it happen? Was it a pattern or random?
They quickly discover a repeating pattern, and some of my fourth graders will also notice there was no introduction (!). I have the students perform the movements and then listen to the next section- more turn and talk, etc. until we discover the B section and then we perform the following movements:
Patsch: Alternate patting knees for 8 beats
Clap: Clap own hands for 8 beats
Clap Sides: Hands out at sides, clap side neighbors (on each side) hands, 8 beats.
Combo: To half note count: Pat, clap (own), clap (sides), clap (own). Four movements total.
The next parts I teach by imitation to the "interlude" or "C" section; whole notes count: Soldier with one arm going straight up, then other arm, then half note count; arm straight up, switch, then quarter note count right arm, left arm, right arm, left arm.
Back to the A Section for 2 patterns, then clap the beat and continue through the rallentando at the end!
Now you're ready to transfer that to bucket drums:
You can find the previous post AND a video here.
2. Composition and Arranging
One thing I love about the Nutcracker is the timeless appeal it has to every age. The Nutcracker is so deliciously recognizable and I love the various arrangements out there. Students enjoy hearing and seeing it performed so differently and it is a wonderful jumping off point to talk about composers and arrangers.
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy on Glass Harp
Same piece, a capella with Pentatonix
Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Overture
Chinese Dance (I particularly love their use of the traditional Lion Dance seen at Chinese New Year)
3. Another Trepak lesson:
Using pretend brushes, paints, and a visit to a "museum" children use movement to create statues and paintings with this idea from a previous post. Uses the book, "Ain't Gonna Paint No More".
4. Paper Plate and Cup Routines to "March".
Check out youtube, there are many variations! I think Artie Almeida was one of the first (or THE first) to develop this idea and it is fabulous and fun!!
Our Holiday Concerts (I have 3 of them) this year are all a play on our school theme of "Reach for the Stars". My older students concerts are called, "Songs of Night, Songs of Light". In addition to a couple songs I wrote, and songs about candles, stars, and moons, we are also singing "Silver Moon Boat", "Oh Watch the Stars" and "This Little Light of Mine". As I was completing the concert line up I found a very special song called "Give Light". You know how you find those songs you know are going to resonate in a very deep way with your kiddos? I LOVE this song, it is probably my new favorite. Especially for this moment in time.
Our country is broken, divided, hurting. Some would say we are having "growing pains" and others would describe it as birthing pains. Any way we can describe it, yesterday, 11.9, felt oddly similar to 9.11. Whatever your thoughts, feelings, and political affiliations, we can all certainly admit how fractured our country feels. I recently posted this on my facebook account:
I. Can. Choose. I can choose to be offended by others who have different beliefs, opinions, political parties, and values. I choose faith, even when my faith in my fellow Americans, and in humanity, is at an all time low. I choose love, kindness, and the strength to speak out against bigotry, hatred, and devaluation. I choose to get on my knees and pray for all of us; red, blue, green and all in between. I choose to advocate for the millions of orphans in the world who are lonely and in need of families. I choose to celebrate our freedoms and not live in fear. I choose God, and the one nation under it. I choose to stand up and speak out. I choose. Do you?
You may agree, you may disagree. It's OK, we can agree to disagree and to move forward. The song, Give Light, calls us to come together, to love one another, to teach peace and to give light to one another so "people will find the way". It has become a powerful illustration of just what can happen with a little light overcoming a whole lot of darkness. It is not political, but the words were inspired by a fellow North Carolina freedom fighter named Ella Baker.
When I found the song, I decided to send an email to the group that had recorded it (found them on youtube). They were incredibly kind and told me story after story about how the song had been used by individuals all over the world fighting for personal and political freedoms. The song here is presented with permission, c. 1996, words and music by Greg Artzner & Terry
Leonino. The final verse we changed after Greg shared a story with me about a widow wanting to use the song at her husbands funeral. He was an organ donor, and so the final verse is "give life". We are singing it a capella to begin, then adding guitar. We also added motions for each verse. My students BEG to sing this and it will be a song I will use often, especially in the darkness, when a little light is needed. If you would like a better copy, please email me at musicquilt@hotmail.com
And here is a group of fourth grade students singing Give Light.
It is a teacher workday today and I am in the midst of chaos as I finalize my holiday concerts. We have just started Halloween music and are skipping over Thanksgiving as I have limited time to prepare concert music. My December is usually packed- two days before school is out for the Holiday Break I have 3 concerts! So we are rehearsing pretty much all of December and I have no extra time to squeeze in lessons on Nutcracker but I tend to do a little the first week back in January and of course, I play Nutcracker Music as students are entering and sing all my transitions to Nutcracker music and frequently add a movement piece into either the concert program or as a parent participation piece, which they LOVE!
I created a bucket drum routine several years ago:
Here is the video (excuse the tee shirt and lazy hair/no makeup; it was a teacher workday!)
Here is a nice listening map to the Nutcracker March:
And for all you heavy metal fans, I LOVE this one:
What a crazy past 5 weeks; our family moved Halloween weekend and we are still unpacking and trying to get everything out of our storage unit and we are almost done! Hurray!!! Moving is NOT fun and moving from a house to an apartment and then building a house and moving into it and then moving everything from the storage to the house has been a loooong, strange adventure! It has been fun to figure out furniture placement, holiday decorating, and projects around the new house and we look forward to the day when one of our neighbor cows gets loose in our front yard! Haha... I grew up on a dairy farm and love my mooey neighbors!
Concert season is upon us all! I have already had one big one right before Thanksgiving and have another one next week and then the Big One with 240 kids on the 17th! Whew! It's always a tricky balance, finding or writing songs that honor students beliefs and the seasonal expressions of joy, peace, gift giving, etc. I wrote the piece below for my 2nd grade students as I wasn't going to see them very much due to schedules and I needed something we could put together quickly. They have enjoyed the song and we have a good laugh when they accidentally switch the words "candles lighting everywhere, they're melting on my tongue"... haha, giggle, snort.. OOPS!
Enjoy! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Aimee
December is CRAZY, isn't it? So much going on, so little time.. etc. I have two concerts that turn into four as the little kiddos come to watch the bigger ones and vice versa, then the concerts for the parents. We call them "Holiday Concerts" but I am very careful to be inclusive and not exclusive about singing songs from various perspective. Tricky, tricky! So, December is always extra busy with these concerts and sometimes, like this year, our final concert is the day before the Holiday Break, so I don't have too much time for other activities. But I try to sneak in a few between rehearsing music.
Of course, I love the Nutcracker, so it goes without saying that it is a piece of music I love to have students get into. Sometimes we watch segments of the Nutcracker "The Motion Picture" version (sets designed by Maurice Sendak of "Where the Wild Things Are" fame). I almost always have students perform Trepak in a variety of ways, either using the Bucket Drum Activity: http://ofortunaorff.blogspot.com/search/label/bucket%20drum or using Artie Almeida's excellent resource, "Parachutes and Ribbons and Scarves, Oh My!". There is an AWESOME parachute activity my fourth graders BEG to do again and again in there on page 47 that goes with Trepak! Artie also has a ribbon wand activity to Trepak in the book.
In the same book there is a paper plate activity (great for the littler musicians) to the Nutcracker March as well as a candy cane dance and a stretchy band activity to the same piece.
An easily accessible song about Snowflakes with Orff accompaniment (very simple) is here: http://ofortunaorff.blogspot.com/2012/11/winter-snowflakes-song-with-orff.html (original post). Here is the song:
Another activity we use is the Elf on the Shelf piece I wrote last year.. dreamed it, actually.. original post here:
Monday, 11/17 UPDATE.. cookie rhythms added! A quick post today with a song for the holidays that is "safe" for schools; doesn't mention Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa. Great to add to a holiday program whether you are allowed to mention the holidays or not. There's even a visual for the cookie rhythms color coded for unpitched percussion!
Enjoy!
So.. don't laugh.. last night I woke up at 1:45 AM with this ostinato (#1 and #2) running through my head! We had just tried a few new Elf on the Shelf things with our daughter... we love our elf, Eeewee! Most of my students have an elf and so this will be fun to try with them!
I couldn't get it out of my head so had to get up out of bed (now 2 AM!!!) and write it down; well, once I'd done that I couldn't leave it alone so had to write a little poem to go with it for an "A" section and a third ostinati. So many possibilities to play with; write a little BAG melody for recorder students to play the A section instead of speaking it; review sixteenth and eighth note patterns, play on boomwhackers, develop pentatonic melody in C and accompany with Boomwhackers; play ostinato on Orff instruments in small groups set up in C pentatonic, improvise melody using rhythm of A section, use C, E, and G for ostinato parts 1, 2, and 3, etc. As you can see, once you get going the possibilities are loaded! Have fun!
Well, Russian composer anyway! I love using music from the Nutcracker this time of year! Especially the March and Trepak! See the bucket drum routine below to Trepak. My 2nd graders are performing this in a week and a half and my fourth graders are performing a different one to the Duke Ellington arrangement of the Overture.. listen to it sometime soon- rich with possiblities!
Here's another activity with ribbons posted by Mrs. Shredder- soo stinkin' cute with these 2nd graders of hers! Enjoy!
This is an Orff arrangement I wrote a few days ago. You could make the accompaniment simpler by using a closed bordun and not adding the additional percussion. For those of you unfamiliar with Orff process; teach using body percussion first; patsch the BX/BM rhythm, add snaps for glockenspiel part.
Clap the rhythm of the song then transfer to instruments set up in C pentatonic to create a contrasting "B" Section. Have fun and let me know how you used it/changed it.
So I was going through my holiday program with my first graders and realized we are simply running out of time.. we have a weird schedule and sometimes I see them and other weeks I don't... a tad bit frustrating and it's changing in January!
We have been working on the song, "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" but there is simply not enough time..... so.... I got busy!
Here's the new arrangement:
Introduction played on piano, straight to the chorus.
Back to the introduction, students speak: "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men SAID (roll dominant chord on piano while they hold out the word "SAID"); "All I Want for Christmas.... (sing the chorus again)
Back to the introduction, students speak: "Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown, and SAID; "All I Want for... "
Back to the introduction, students speak: "Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey. Along came a spider and sat down beside her and SAID; "All I Want ...."
Sing Chorus one final time.
We are also going to add some body percussion to each spoken part; if we had more time, we might add another Mother Goose rhyme... Hey, Diddle Diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such sport and SAID...
I would also consider having the students play the beat on UPP instruments; drums/skins for Humpty Dumpty, metals for Jack and Jill, shakers for Little Miss Muffet, and woods for Hey Diddle Diddle.
Have fun with this one!
