Favorite Fingerplays

I love fingerplays, do you? There are so many different ones and the text is typically rhythmic and short, perfect for working on steady beat, rhythmic division, and expressive elements like dynamics and the four voices. They are also perfect to use with older students to develop ostinato (short, repeating patterns that create harmonic texture) and for improvisation. For the full slide set, click here. Here are some of the slides in the set:

Hope you enjoy!

Agua de limón

 From September 15-October 15 Hispanic and Latinx/Latine Heritage Month is celebrated in the US.  The dates coincide with  national independence days in Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Mexico.

I have a very sweet friend in Quito, Ecuador that I met through the pandemic. I say, "through" because I do not know if our paths would have crossed had it not been for the pandemic. During quarantine, my dear friend Thom Borden and I began the American version of International Sunday Sharing, already begun by our dear friends across the ocean in Finland, JaSeSoi, the Finnish Orff Association. We met on Sunday mornings via zoom and had hundreds of music teachers from around the world show up to sing, dance, and share. It was a beautiful thing, and I met and befriended such beautiful people, including MaCarmen from Quito.  Ecuador has always held a special place in my heart as our family had an exchange student during my freshman year of college. Anita became very special to us and she is my Ecuadorian sister, now living in Cincinnati. When I got married, she came from Ecuador with her sons to be at our wedding and she is a beloved member of our family. 

For more songs, books, and dances to celebrate Hispanic and Latinx/Latine Heritage Month check out this post.

Here is beautiful MaCarmen's song she shared, the song is from Colombia and is SO FUN! 

For the full slide deck, check out my Patreon.

Enjoy!

Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month

 From September 15-October 15 Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month is celebrated in the US.  The dates coincide with  national independence days in Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Mexico.

Here are a few resources I have found helpful:

Books 

Esquivel! Space-Age Sound Artist

Best Mariachi in the World

My Name is Celia

Tito Puente Mambo King

Most students are familiar with this tune - here is Tito Puente performing Oye Como Va: 

Conejito A Folktale from Panama

Cuckoo 

Drum Dream Girl

Songs

Video on my facebook -@o for tuna orff. 

El floron from my Sing a Song, Play a Game book published by Beatin' Path Publications.

Al citron, from same book above

SO many other wonderful resources included here: 

El patio de mi casa:

Arroz con leche

De Colores and Other Latin-American Folk Song for Children

Dances

Carnavalito from Bolivia - here is how to modify it for physically distant dancing: Video here.

Chililin from Bolivia - Yes, that is the correct spelling, often seen as Chilili - modified on the same video above. 

Dance: 

Dance with Legos: 

Music: 

Los Machetes- here is the incomparable Rob Amchin with a wonderfully modified version:

Check out these kids in Cuba performing salsa dancing- amazing!

These are just a FEW resources to get you started. Enjoy!

Vamos a la mar

Let's go to the sea!  I love the ocean - I recently did a video on my facebook site - @ofortunaorff with the ocean in the background while I sang a beach song and used cockle shells!
This is a lovely song from Guatemala and has a rhythm activity where small groups create rhythms using ocean animals. You can choose to have the students create the contrasting sections in Spanish or English and there are four different "sets" of rhythmic building blocks - colored, black and white, with rhythms, and without.
Consider adding ocean drums and rainsticks.  This is also a good one for ukulele - F and C7!
Email me for the full pdf - musicquilt@hotmail.com.
Now make plans to go to the beach!