Fruit Canon!

This is part of a series I am doing on TikTok and Instagram - Favorite Canons! The Fruit Canon is one of my absolute favorites - students LOVE this earworm! If you aren't already following on insta and TT check it out - more to come over the next week or two.

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A post shared by Aimee Pfitzner 🎶 (@aimee_ofortunaorff)

Make an Ocean Drum and Ocean Canon

My most lovely friend and fellow Orff teacher, Crystal Pridmore, shared  a beautiful ocean canon on the facebook group, The Singing Space. Most of you know I am originally from Maine and have a pretty serious love affair with all things ocean.  When I heard this lovely canon, I loved it for it's simplicity, but also for the orchestration and minor key tonality. Beautiful! Crystal so kindly gave me permission to share the song and also the activity she sent to her students remotely on making an ocean drum.
Originally pitched in a minor, I have written it in d minor as that would work for children's voices. Hope you enjoy listening and find a way to incorporate this into lessons with students as school ends or as a beginning of the year activity or anytime next year.

Make An Ocean Drum

By the Beach Canon

Have a wonderful day! 

Songs to Teach Sixteenths

I have been working on sixteenth notes with my third and fourth graders (my top grade is fourth) and realized I needed to finish a collection I began last year. Time got away from me but now it is finally finished. There are singing games, activities, and even a canon. This is not a comprehensive list of songs with sixteenth notes, simply my favorite ones and ones I want to develop further. If you would like the full 30 page pdf with 26 songs (!!!) shoot me an email asking for the collection at musicquilt@hotmail.com.
Enjoy!

2-12-2021 Update- the collection no longer includes Chicken on a Fencepost or No One in the House But Dinah due to racist themes. I thought it best to leave that information here for those seeking best practices and decolonizing their classroom libraries. 

Rainforest Songs Part I

So I really need to put some of these rainforest songs on here- these are rough ideas, certainly not finished products, but very fun to play and sing!
The first is an Arachnid Canon- you'll recognize the melody as "Toembai". VERY fun- my third and fourth graders LOVE the spookiness and we always love a good canon. Simple arrangement, too, which is always nice to play around with. Add some theatrical expressions while using hand spider puppets (or just your hand) and very fun!

A caiman is a small alligator who lives mostly in the Amazon jungle- google it and you'll find lots of fun pictures!
More to come later!