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)

What We CAN Do and Moving Forward

Can you relate to the question marks above?  I think many of us are stumbling forward with Remote/E/Distance Learning but also looking to next school year and asking the question of "What will that look like?"
Are you feeling the pressure of all this uncertainty?  Take a moment and watch and listen to Jimmy Fallon and crew (with pots, pans, glasses, even a toaster as instruments) perform Under Pressure:

We are all wondering and there are no clear answers. If you would like to see me talk about this, head over to these links - technology was not my friend today, so it is in two parts.

What We CAN Do Now and Moving Forward, Part 1: 

https://www.facebook.com/ofortunaorff/videos/292163971950026/

Part 2:

https://www.facebook.com/ofortunaorff/videos/576850692962689/

Here's What We Know

• Virus is not going away.
• Singing can be dangerous -Webinar:  What Do Science and Data Say About the Near Term Future of Singing with National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Chorus America, Barbershop Harmony Society, and Performing Arts Medical Association (PAMA).

• Comparing your lessons to others creation of padlets, flipgrids, SeeSaws, Google Slides, Google Classrooms, and Virtual Classrooms damages your

1. Sense of Self
2. Doesn't Help You Get to Your Goals
3. Limits You

• Next year may include a mix or one of these teaching realities: remote, streaming live from our classrooms, face to face with small groups in our classrooms, face to face with large groups,  traveling on a cart, with a mask, without a mask, with a face shield, without a face shield, seeing our students on a different schedule, remote one week or day, face to face the next, etc.

We Also Know

We are creative.

We want to be relational with our students.

We will teach children.

We will teach children music.

We will teach the elements of music; rhythm, harmony, melody, form, and expressive qualities. 

Things to Consider

 Some things will be more important than ever - a focus on social/emotional learning. Students will need music to heal, to celebrate, and to move forward in a positive way.  

Structure and routine.  Students will have been out of school and away from tradition, routine, and socialization for almost six months. It will be a time of re-learning, particularly for our youngest students, and our more vulnerable students. 

Moving Forward

So, what can we do now?  SO much!!!Think about what you want your Kindergarten, Fifth Graders, ________ to know about one element of music - rhythm, for example.  What would you normally teach your students to prepare division of beat?  A song?  Ok - If we are unable to sing the song together due to restrictions, make a recording of yourself singing the song to play during the class. Students can sing the song "in their heads and hearts". Perhaps they can sing specific words or the highest, lowest or "home" pitch.  Learn the song the same way you normally would- maybe you record yourself teaching the song by rote in sections with space for students to sing "in their heads and hearts" until they can lip sync the whole song. Now of course, that is not the best and it will be awkward at first, but we are moving forward, right?  Then maybe you may have had students keep the beat with the song - use body percussion or non-locomotor movement- jump, twist, wiggle, sway, etc.  Perhaps students clap the "way the words sound". Then maybe you had them play instruments. Uh oh- sharing may be problematic due to virus.
But wait - what if each student brings in an empty oatmeal box, 4-5 pairs of chopsticks, and 2 plastic eggs filled with pennies, plastic beads, paperclips, etc. (no food items- bug/insect/vermin issue).  If parents are unable, others could donate. No plastic eggs?  Oriental Trading has 144 for less than $5.00. The best part - everything goes INSIDE the oatmeal box, AKA drum. These would be stored in classrooms along with art supplies, etc. They do not take up much space and everything for music class goes inside the oatmeal box. Play with lid only, use chopsticks as mallets or create rhythms using chopsticks as manipulatives or use as conducting batons, tap together for light wood sound, etc. 

  

Hopefully, you are getting the point here - we can still teach music!!! No, it won't be the same. Grieve that, mourn it, and choose to move forward.  

Technology

Obviously, there is some amazing tech, sites, and apps available to many of us that we will continue to use remotely or face to face.   

 If your students will not be able to use barred instruments next year or you are on a cart AND your students have access to tech in their rooms, Brent Geyer has created some fabulous internet based virtual xylophones for our students to use. Not an app, nothing to sign up/in, no personal info shared, and beautiful sounding!  Many thanks to Brent for providing these for FREE!!!

Full Diatonic:

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/388230026

G Major Pentatonic:

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/395530134/

C Pentatonic:

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/389122389

F Pentatonic:

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/395199236

       

   There is a line from my favorite medical drama that is in every episode. The director of the hospital asks a simple, yet powerful question - "How can I help?"  

Let me know.  I may not have an answer, but I am here for you. 

Mountains, Lakes, and Camp Songs - Musical Vacations

 A couple weeks ago I posted about taking your children on a musical vacation before summer begins.  Many of our students do not get to take fun family vacations in the summer, and so a virtual visit to the ocean and a camping trip might be a fun activity for your students.  I haven't met a child yet who did not like to sing silly camp songs and it is the perfect ending to your time together and keeps the kiddos singing right up until the final day of school!! So today we are heading to higher elevations - we are going to the mountains!

1.  I Love the Mountains

My students love this song and I was lucky enough to find a big book of it from Scholastic several years ago, with additional words including famous American landmarks such as Lady Liberty, Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, and Mount Rushmore among others.  I don't think it is available any longer, but this book is available from Amazon:

Get it here.

This is a link to the sheet music from Beth's Notes. 
Here is a link to the song, with instrumental and vocal sound clips. 

2.  Crazy Moose

I am a proud Maineiac, meaning I am originally from Maine, home to the beginning or end of the Appalachian Trail.  Beginning or end depending on when you start and if you through-hike the AT which can take many moons to complete!  I now live in NC, another AT site!  While taking a hike, in bear country, particularly in warmer months, it can be important to make a little noise to let the bears know there are people near by.    Singing songs also helps keep everyone hiking together, especially up those steeper parts of the trail.  "Neat-o repeat-o songs" are great for kids unfamiliar with camp songs and this one is perfect! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.  Alligator

Yup, this is the "lakes" part of our theme today.  Alligators can be found in marshes, wetlands, rivers, ponds and, you guessed it, lakes!  Another "Neat-o Repeat-O" song, this one is so funny!  To truly understand, you have to watch it: 

Here is the music and the version I learned (slightly different than the video):

Oh- and by the way, my third graders loved to play this on recorder- just make the low A into a high one.

 

4.  The Other Day I Met a Bear

Perfect song for hiking!

 

5.  For other camp songs, check out this previous post!

Hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation!  What other camp songs do you sing with your kiddos?

Books to Sing, Songs as Books

Picture it:  Inside a _______ bookstore (insert your favorite bookseller), deep in the children's literature section. Soft pitter patter of feet, moms reading quietly to children when suddenly a loud joyous laugh breaks through the (almost) silence.  Yup, that'd be me finding a new song/book book/song.  I love finding these little gems and there have been more and more published in the last decade or so!  Yeeeha!! 
Of course being a musician and music teacher I love songs, especially those "magical" ones that are timeless treasures, and I also love children's books and have a bit of an obsession with them- this is my bookshelf at school with *some* of my picture books.

 I am trying to keep the top shelf as songs which are books or, depending how you look at it, books that are songs.

Good news for me is they keep spilling over. Last year I finally changed how I was organizing them and now have them alphabetically. Phew- I used to have them by author and genre, but that just didn't work for me.
Second shelf has books that I have found or created music lessons to accompany them, with third bookshelf holding seasonal activities and books I have yet to create music for but have ideas. 


Aileen Miracle over at Mrs. Miracle's Music Room has a great post about ten of her favorites, which inspired me to make my own list of favorites. 

1.  I Got Two Dogs available here from Amazon.com. This song is addictive!  I ordered it a couple weeks ago and just played the song with my daughter on the ride home last week and it is hysterical!  "AGAIN, AGAIN", I kept hearing from the back seat! It is highly infectious and another gem from the amazing John Lithgow but I have to say, it's probably my favorite one he has written!

2.  Twenty Four Robbers by Audrey Wood, available here. 

OK, technically not a song with a melody (although I do know one to go with it), this skipping rhyme has a wonderful sing-song cadence to it and the illustrations are fabulous!









3.  Sing, available here.

Oh, where do I start?! "Sing! Sing a song. Sing out loud, sing out strong."
The song was first made popular on Sesame Street, then interpreted by a WIDE variety of musicians, from Gloria Estefan to the Dixie Chicks to R.E.M., as well as famous personalities such as Conan O'Brien, Katie Couric, Nathan Lane, and Liam Neeson!  Lively, happy illustrations accompany the book as well as a CD with the music.



4.  I Ain't Gonna Paint No More, available here.

Oh, this is such naughty fun!  My students love to combine this with "Johnny Works with One Hammer", eventually changing the lyrics to "Johnny paints with one paintbrush, etc.", reading/singing the book- oh they love the little mischief maker, then we play Trepak from the Nutcracker while pretending to throw and smear paint.  Finally, we make classroom statues while singing a song about statues and I visit the "museum" where various statues move, giggle, and snicker and "scare" me, while I pretend to be scared of the moving ones. Such wonderful fun!!



5.  If it's Snowy and You Know It, Clap Your Paws, available here.

Yup, "If You're Happy and You Know It" with polar bears, seals, beluga whales and other artic animals!  Sure to delight your kiddos and wonderful to leave with a sub!






6.  Day is Done, available here.

I happened to be wandering through Big Lots one day and found this for $3.00!!

This is Peter Yarrow's beautiful song, “Day Is Done."  As night falls, animal parents tenderly tuck their little raccoons, rabbits, field mice, deer, and child into bed.  Far more than a lullaby, though, this is a wonderful song (and book) to share for Earth Day; "you shall inherit what humankind has done, but all will be well when the day is done (as I am here)".

7.  Conejito, available here.

 

 

This is a folktale from Panama written by Margaret Read MacDonald.  In the back of the book you will find the song that will be sung each time Conejito  goes dancing and leaping (bailando y saltando).  This is a wonderful trickster tale and a few years ago I included a loose interpretation of the story as a program.  Here is the orchestration my students performed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  8.  Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name. Whew!  What a name!  Available here.

 

If you've seen my blog before, you know how much I love camp songs, especially for the last month of school!  This is one camp song that is also a book! Score!!! Outrageously funny, undeniably one of my students favorites. Ever.

 

  

9.  Take Me Home Country Roads, available here.

 

Really, I love all the John Denver songs that have been made into picture books, including "Sunshine on My Shoulders" available here, and "Grandma's Feather Bed", available here.  Country Roads is probably the one that my kids know best, and they love to croon along with the melody!! A great book to have on hand when you have those 5 minute moments of "I need something else here". All the books come with CD's, bonus!!

 

 

 

10.  Over in the Meadow, Over in the Jungle, Over in the Ocean, Over in the Grasslands, available here.

 I love these as they can all be sung to "Five Little Ducks" and children quickly sing along with the numbers (up to 10). We often break out some instruments and play the numbers.  I really like how the illustrations were created with Over in the Jungle and Over in the Ocean; the artist used polymer clay to create the entire image; incredibly impressive! 

Brand new in September 2016 is Over in the Grasslands: On an African Savanna!

 

Hope you have enjoyed the book tour and have found some new things to buy/ask for/have parents donate to your music rooms! Happy (almost) Friday tomorrow!!!

FIVE more days!!!

Countdown!  The teachers feel it, the kids feel it, and the parents feel it!  Summer break is almost here. School for us is out next Thursday and this Friday is our Seniors graduation (we are a Pre-K through 12th grade independent school).  Very exciting!  My daughter will have Kindergarten Honors (similar to graduation but we call it something else) next Thursday and I am in utter disbelief and denial that she is going to be in the first grade next year.  Time flies far too swiftly! 
In the music room, we have been singing and dancing like crazy little chicks!  It has become tradition after our spring concert to have a campfire sing-along.  Some of our favorites are "Go Bananas" which is a chant and VERY funny; if you're not familiar with it and the movements, look it up on youtube.

 

Another favorite is Hi Lo Chickalo which is a song and hand clapping game.  It is great to play in a cirlcle and have students go through it one time with a partner, then turn the opposite direction and play with new partner. Sing/play faster and faster!  Giggles will fly!

 

Mac and Cheese is another HUGE favorite!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV46eduDyTY  We partner up, back to back, sing the song, then clap and walk around to find a new "back" to be back to back with.

Wisconsin Milk is pure fun, also!  Older kids LOVE it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BqZd0bxTrs

Singing in the Rain is hysterical!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bbHVrtx0Ow

A Sailor Went to Sea; there are quite a few variations, motions go with each.  Have your students figure out additional variations; 3 syllables that make sense on their own (you'll see...)

A Sailor Went to Sea

Traditional: 

A sailor went to sea, sea, sea (make the letter “C” with one hand)

To see what he could see, see, see (make the letter “C” with one hand)

But all that he could see, see, see ((make the letter “C” with one hand)

Was the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea (make the letter “C” with one hand)

 

A sailor went to chop, chop, chop (chopping motion with hands)

To see what he could chop, chop, chop (chopping motion with hands)

But all that he could chop, chop, chop (chopping motion with hands)

Was the bottom of the deep blue chop, chop, chop (chopping motion with hands)

 

A sailor went to knee, knee, knee (touch knees)

To see what he could knee, knee, knee (touch knees)

But all that he could knee, knee, knee (touch knees)

Was the bottom of the deep blue knee, knee, knee (touch knees)

 

A sailor went to sea, chop, knee (do actions in order)

To see what he could sea, chop, knee (do actions in order)

But all that he could sea, chop, knee (do actions in order)

Was the bottom of the deep blue sea, chop, knee (do actions in order)

 

 

 

A SAILOR WENT TO SEA VARIATIONS cont’d.

Burger King

Brrr, brrr, brrr (hands on opposite shoulders, shiver)

Grrr, grrr, grrr (hold hands over head, curled

King, king, king (pretend to put a crown on your head)

 

Chick Fil-A

Chick, chick, chick (flapping elbows up and down)

Fill, fill, fill (pretend to fill a glass of water with a pitcher)

A, A, A (make the letter A with hands in an upside-down V and thumbs touching across)

 

Disneyland

Dizz, dizz, dizz (hold head, act like you are dizzy)

Knee, knee, knee (touch knee)

Land, land, land (touch the ground)

 

Dollar Tree

Doll, doll, doll (rock a pretend baby in arms)

Arrgh, Arrgh, Arrgh (like a pirate)

Tree, tree, tree (hold hand up like a tree with fingers spread)

 

 

VARIATIONS:

Carowinds

Care, care, care (place hands across heart )

O, o, o (make an “O” with mouth, hands on cheeks)

Winds, winds, winds (move hands back and forth in front of body)

 

Panerra

Pan, pan, pan (pretend to hold a frying pan in hand)

Air, air, air (move hands back and forth in front of body)

Uh, uh, uh (put pointer finger on chin, look like you’re thinking really hard)

 

Toys R Us

Toys, toys, toys (hands up over head, excited!)

R, R, R (like a pirate)

Us, us, us (sweep hand in front of body right to left to show everyone in the room)