in the Hall of the Mountain King Part 3

 The saga continues.. Peer in the castle, Troll King nearing... 

This piece of music will forever be my favorite for this time of year!

I published Part 1 of this in early October 207 - check out Part 1 of In the Hall of the Mountain King here.

Then Part 2 was published a short while later - check out Part 2 of In the Hall of the Mountain King here! 

Today, a few MORE ideas for you! 

Body Percussion with Sevens! 

 Did you know you can play the hand game, Sevens, along with In the Hall of the Mountain King? This is SO much fun!  The game is from my Hands to Hands, Too Book: 

Need a more visual demonstration of how to play the game?  Here you go! 

Movement/Body Percussion/Instruments with In the Hall of the Mountain King from Musication

Perfect for these times of not sharing instruments- this one is SO fun to add lots of various movement and/or instrument sounds from Music Packs! 

Super fun! Enjoy!!

All Things PUMPKIN!

Mmmm... pumpkin pie.  Mmmm... pumpkin bread.   Mmmm... pumpkin spice.  A few weeks ago we were still in the 90 degree temps and I came across this fabulous pic:

Seriously, I do love everything pumpkin!  I also love using the word pumpkin (a perfect eighth note pair) in many ways in the music classroom in the fall.  It is also a very inclusive way to celebrate fall if you have students that do not celebrate Halloween.  Here are a few of my favorites:

1.  Pumpkin Chant

I just found this one yesterday and am already in love with this for my littles!  It has such a cute ending and ties in nicely to the Lynn Kleiner song "Peek a Boo" to use with scarves. I also love this as a lead in to the book, Pumpkin Soup (see below).

2.  Pumpkin Stew Song/Pumpkin Stew Book

I love this musical book-the cat plays bagpipes, the squirrel plays banjo, and the duck sings.  Insert the song, Pumpkin Stew after each page.   Click on the book to see it on Amazon.  Here is a video with an idea for a game with solo singing to play with the song. I use this song with Kindergarten and First Graders:

 I have a homemade fabric pumpkin with a zipper in the side and my students go on a hunt through the music room to find something small they can put in the pumpkin- mini containers of playdough, shaker eggs, castanets, finger cymbals, plastic spider and skull rings, markers, etc. have all made their way into our delicious stew!

3. Pass the Pumpkin

Check out the previous post here with the full activity and song.  My kids LOVE this one!

4. Pumpkins and Ghosts Game

This one uses foam ghosts and pumpkins (Dollar Tree or Wal Mart has these). Perfect for eighth and quarter note rhythm exploration!   Original post here. 

5. Five Little Pumpkins 

This is a well known chant and fingerplay.  It is wonderful to act out, add scarves and movement, too! Click on the book to link to amazon.

6.  Pumpkin, Pumpkin

Original post here - fun game and song!

7. Vanishing Pumpkin Book

This one is great for adding sound effects for each character.

8. Big Pumpkin Book

I have long loved this funny story of a witch who wants to make a pumpkin pie and can't get her pumpkin off the vine.  Along comes a ghost who tries, and then a vampire and several other characters. Of course, it is the bat who finally gets it off the vine.  Each time another character comes along students decide on an instrument sound for their character. Of course it is great for adding scarves, movement, and dramatic play also. 

What are some of your favorite pumpkin activities?

Ye Toop Doram - an Interview with the Composer

When I first heard Ye Toop Doram I realized what a great game song it is. I always thought it was traditional until a conversation with my friend, Marilyn Shepard, a 49 year veteran (!!!) of teaching children music who lives in California. Marilyn is an amazing teacher, musician, and collector of songs from around the world she has learned from students in her classroom! Oh- and one she learned while sitting on an airplane next to a woman from Ireland! She has a true collector's heart!
Following is an interview with Marilyn about Ye Toop Doram.

Marilyn (red shirt) and her twin sister, Nancy (black shirt).

Aimee (me):  How did you get interested in music from cultures not your own?
Marilyn:  My twin sister, Nancy Paxson and I have had a passion for collecting folk songs, singing games, and instruments from around the world since we were very young - as well as composing songs for children.
My training was Orff and Kodaly and ethnomusical multicultural classes as well as vocal/choral.  Traveling with choirs to Russia, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, China, Costa Rica, Spain, and Portugal have added to my collections.
I am a Past President of our San Diego Orff Chapter and was a presenter at the National AOSA Conferences in 1991 and 2015. The sessions were titled "Indonesian Folklore for the Classroom", and "Children Sing and Play Music in Worship".
Now I am retired from the classroom, but work at the "Museum of Making Music" in Carlsbad, CA (an extension of NAMM) as a docent for student tours and still direct my Children's Choir at church.  Many anthems are sung in non-English languages and use instruments from my collections; Hawaiian, Native American, Chinese, Indonesian, Kenyan, etc.  My choir kids all play dulcimers, ukuleles, and recorders as well.

A:  How did the song Ye Toop Doram come about?  Were you inspired by students or a family at your school?
M:  Yes! Inspired by two students- one from Iran and one from Afghanistan.  Both families with Persian language background.
I looked for very easy, repetitive music so that my primary age students would make connections with these girls (from Iran and Afghanistan).
I had seen a song, "My Ball"  (Yeh Toop Dooram) in a book by Mary Lee Walker, A World of Children's Songs, Friendship Press, 1983.  I had made recordings of my Iranian student singing her very long and ornate version of the song and we agreed that it was not "accessible" to teach to other kids in her classroom, so we composed a whole new song.

My twin sister, Nancy, who also is a music teacher in Minnesota where we were raised, suggested the "hot ball" game for the rolling part of the song.  Our melody started out super basic and then invited variations with more ornamentation.  The song text evolved over the next years as I taught with an Iranian teacher at an International Baccalaureate School. We added instrumental experiences and varied language and rules.

A: How did the song spread?
M:  I first presented it in 1999 at the Inland Counties AOSA workshop. As you know, music teachers like to share "fun finds" so it was passed along in Orff and Kodaly circles. A teacher friend from Iran wrote out the Arabic version we ended up using.

 We changed the B Section text to "ghelesh bede" ... roll the ball away, and drums other instruments accompanied changing from a steady beat during the passing part, to the rhythm of the text on the rolling part. 

A:  How did you play it?

M:  We always did it in a seated circle. Using a small 6" playground ball. The person in the middle closed their eyes as we passed it. They would not know if we were passing clockwise or CCW. Then open their eyes on the third count and quickly assess their jumping/dodging needs. If they were not tagged or caught by the rolling ball after 8-10 rolls they became a "champ" and chose another jumper.

A:  What is the translation?

M:  Toop = Ball, Doram = mine, so "The ball is mine" or "It's my ball". 

Yek Doh Seh = One, two, three.

Lol-beday - = roll it away, Toopeh to cha - small ball.

Ghelesh behday = roll away.

  

Many thanks to Marilyn for sharing her information, pictures, and songs with us!  Hope you have enjoyed learning more about Ye Toop Doram and if you haven't tried it, give it a go with your students- it is a perpetual favorite in my classroom!

Monsters Love Underpants

There is nothing funnier than saying the word, "underpants" to children.  It is hysterical.  Giggles galore! If you have been on my blog before, you know I love giggles, in face, when my publisher asked me to name my site for my books, I had to get "smile" in there- it is www.singsmileplay.com! 

I love this collection of books by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort- SO funny - if you haven't seen them, hop over to Amazon to see them! Monsters, Aliens, Dinosaurs, Pirates, It is a nice way to finish the craziness of Halloween without being too "Halloween-y". Of course, as the theme is monsters (and aliens, etc.) in underwear, these children's books are good for any time of the year! 
A couple years ago in the Dollar Spot at Target they had some really wonderful heavy-duty chipboard underwear games.  These were perfect for creating rhythms on one side with words!  I have included a few cards with colors, shapes, and lines for you to begin the process as the underwear pieces are no longer available.
There is so much you could do with the rhythms once they have been created - transfer the rhythms to F and D in the d minor pentatonic scale being used, transfer to unpitched percussion, small groups could create non-locomotor or locomotor movement to illustrate their shape and pathway! Possibilities abound! If you would like the pdf, please send me an email at musicquilt@hotmail.com.
Happy Fall!

Rhythm and Melody Activity Powerpoint FREE on TpT

I don't usually post twice in one day, but I know most of you are starting school next week (I'm just finishing my first week!!) and so I wanted to get this out... just finished it! I found some AMAZING clip art (web address included in ppt.) that was free using the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle. In the spirit of sharing and since the lovely clip art was free, the powerpoint is also free! Hope you enjoy and you can find some ways to use the activities in your classroom this year! One of my favorite books!!! Click HERE

Winter Snowflakes Song with Orff Arrangement and Improvisation

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.

All I Want For Christmas ... Orff Style!

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!

Chinese New Year Song

Here's a song I wrote for Chinese New Year- easy peasy! Simple level bordun for accompaniment- add unpitched percussion (UPP) for the percussion line- lots of gongs, drums, etc. to "scare away" evil spirits. Very nice with a big, low gong at the end. Good for your upper level recorder players, too- those who have a solid low "C".
Look on youtube for pronunciation guide - Xin = Shin, Nian= like it sounds, Kuai= kwahee, Le = luh Yi (number 1) = eee, Er (number 2)= are, San (number 3) = sahn, "Jia You" (Let's Go! as in cheering people on) = jya yo.
Enjoy!