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!
Skin and Bones has to be one of my students all-time favorite songs. It is so full of possibilities for drama, movement, instrument play, recorders, etc. It is also a very spooky song but does not mention "Halloween". This is the perfect song to use all those spooky sound effects on - the gongs, spring drums, vibraslaps, wind tubes, etc.
This music is from Beths Notes- such a wonderful site.
Drue Bullington is a widely respected Orff clinician and teacher. I have had him as a clinician at workshops several times and he is wonderful. The instrument brand, Studio 49, sponsors an amazing blog called "Teaching with Orff". Great lessons there, from creative and talented teachers who use the Orff Approach. Whether or not you use the Orff Approach, you can still use these lessons. Recently I received in my email box a HUGE lesson post on how to use Skin and Bones from first grade through the upper grades each year. I love songs like this - ones that you can use each year but add concepts and skills that spiral in complexity, touching upon concepts previously learned and adding new, age-appropriate skills that further develop students musicality.
The lessons are complete with wonderful graphics and pictures to clearly demonstrate the "how" and the process of how to teach the song at each age and grade level.
The first part of the free lesson is here. Once you have printed that off, you can go on to the second part here.
Amy Abbott also has a wonderful activity using solfege to prepare low la here.
If you dare, try to have your oldest kids watch this version of Skin and Bones - warning, the ending is SCARY!!
When my students perform this, with instruments, some students as "trees" with black scarves over their heads, etc., (we go all out for this one with lots of crazy props!), we ask the classroom teacher to come to pick students up a few minutes before the end of the class. Once they come in, I already have one student hiding in a closet behind the door. We turn the lights off, dress the teacher up like the old lady - scarf on head, cane, apron, the whole nine yards, and the teacher wanders around the room while singing, then as we get closer to the end of the song, "She went to the closet to get a broom.." I direct the teacher towards the door, then at the end of the song, "Boo", the student jumps out of the closet and scares the teacher! The class, of course, goes crazy, and the teacher is either truly scared or, as my teachers have been through this before, they act scared and the kids really love it. Last year I had a fourth grade teacher who had forgotten as she was on medical leave the previous year, and she got so scared she literally fell on her bottom, which was hilarious as she was laughing so hard and the kids were dying. I don't know if she ever got that group back on track the rest of the school day!
I also have lyric slides available, send me an email at musicquilt@hotmail.com for the full pdf of the lyric slides. They look like this:
This is the perfect time of year for creepy crawly spiders! Just this morning I had a pretty BIG one in my music room while a class of kindergarteners were there.. oh my! They saw it and pointed it out then of course wanted me to rescue it and send it out the door. Thankfully I have a door leading to an outside area and so we rescued a spider today in music class. The kids were so proud of themselves! If you haven't seen this post about my Creepy Crawly Spiders song, check it out. Very accessible for first graders and kindies. My first graders study bats and spiders and with Halloween just around the corner this is the perfect time to bring out all the bats and spiders songs.
The Spider Kept on Spinning song from Lynn Kleiners Jungle Book pairs beautifully with the book, The Very Busy Spider.
Create quarter and eighth note rhythms with spider, pumpkin, and bat cut outs- Dollar Tree and Wal Mart often have the foam ones this time of year - perfect for creating 4 and 8 beat rhythms as B sections to go with "Trick or Treat, I'm so sweet, may I have something good to eat". (My nicer version of the trick or treat song).
My kiddos a couple years ago with foam pumpkins and ghost cut outs playing a game. See the full post here.
I also like to do movement activities around spiders and my students are always fascinated by this video:
After some purposeful and creative movement exploration around the ideas of spiders spinning, waiting, eating, and hopping, we need some quiet body time, and turn our hands into spiders to sing, "Spider on the Floor". Artie Almeida has wonderful verses to go with this and a visual - free, here. The last verse, is of course, pure Artie, with the spider on the tush afraid of being smushed. The kids love it. We practice with hands first, moving it from floor to leg to thigh, etc., then I pass out plastic spider rings they get to take home (BIG HIT!!) and we sing again and they get very creative about how to put the spider on their body part - the rule is they can't touch the spider or the body part. It really makes them work on movement and balance and stillness.
Hope you enjoy some of these! Do you have a favorite spider tune?
I was thinking today of all my previous posts and wanted to share a few old and "older" posts for Halloween fun! Several activities do not mention Halloween overtly, but have more subtle overtones for those of you that can't have a lesson with "Halloween".
Romping Monsters, Stomping Monsters. Click here for this super fun one!
In the Hall of the Mountain King. Check out the post here for a HUGE list of activities- not only books!
Rhythm Dictation with Quarter Notes and Eighth Notes - this is so much fun! The first slide in every pairing of slides has the words only- teachers speak the rhythm and students write it, then the 2nd slide has the rhythm. Great for assessment and self-assessment.
Ed Emberly is one of my favorite artists- so many fun books! I first found him when I bought the fingerprint book - if you don't have this, it is a great gift for the younger than 10 age! Here is the book:
Today's post is all about Ed Emberley's book, "Go Away, Big GREEN Monster!". The book is available here. This is SUCH a cute book and so much fun for fall and Halloween without ever mentioning "Halloween". The boldly colored pages reveal increasingly scary features of a big green monster. "You don't scare me!" reads the caption after the monster is fully revealed. As each page is turned, the scary features disappear, as does, of course, the monster. "And don't come back! Until I say so,". The activity below comes as a pdf with choices in how to present the speech/rhythm as notation only, text only, or rhythm and text.
Process:
•Print cards and cut apart. Choose which
“set” to use – the next 3 slides use the words and the rhythm, the next 3 have
words only, the final 3 have rhythmic notation only.
• Read book, begin by speaking piano gradually crescendo, at
“Big green scary face”, descrescendoat “Until I say so”.
•Discuss story and volume of voice;
speaking voice vs. shouting voice; introduce/reinforce the four voices,
introduce/reinforce dynamics of loud/quiet, very loud/very quiet and getting
louder/getting quieter.
•Read again, speak rhythm parts of story
(two big yellow eyes, etc.) students echo using speaking voice/volume and clap
rhythm of words.
•Discuss/review unpitched percussion
instrument timbres; what instrument would work for “two big yellow eyes”? What about for “Big green scary face”?
•Show cards, students decide instruments
for each part.
•Divide into 6 small groups, one for each
card; assign instruments to groups.
•Small groups practice, add repeat -
students perform each card twice with instruments, perform with book.
Extension:Small Groups create a short 8 beat movement
piece with scarves or other props.
Here are some of the slides for the activity- email me at musicquilt@hotmail.com for the full pdf!
This is a resource I created to help students go from vocal exploration to notation. Use the individual colored slides for younger students and ask - where does it move, high to low, low to high? Does it go up and down, etc. You could also use these for movement pathways. Notice there is no clef so you can use them right side up or upside down. If you would like to have the full pdf with 113 slides, please send an email to musicquilt@hotmail.com.
Each slide begins with a colored vocal exploration or movement pathway:
In the United States, the song literature we use in elementary music education is rooted in folk songs. As we grow as a culture and deepen our sensitivity and understandings of our past history, we learn things about our culture that are problematic and offensive. Some of our songs have histories with inappropriate themes and others have racist overtones, mocking or degrading various cultures, particularly Black or African American culture. Just recently a music teacher friend learned that the folk song, "Jump Jim Joe" was racist. The New England Dancing Masters changed the title of their book, "Jump Jim Joe", to "Rise, Sally, Rise" acknowledging the sensitive and negative history of the song. Although the one song is problematic, the remainder of the collection is a treasure trove of children's song material. It is available here.
By now you may have heard that "Ring Around the Rosie" is a song about the Black Plague. That is FALSE and urban legend according to historians. The plague began in 1347 and the earliest print appearance of “Ring Around the Rosie” did not occur until 1881 when Kate Greenaway’sMother Goose or The Old Nursery Rhymes was published. What you may not know is that that "Sing a Song of Sixpence" is about piracy, and that "Lucy Locket" is about the prostitute Kitty Fisher. Back in the day, Locket was a euphemism for a particular female body part. Check out the full story, along with how Casanova plays into the story here. Is your mouth hanging open yet?
Mine was. Though many of these songs appear innocent at first glance, as the lyrics have been "whitewashed", I cannot "unlearn" the offensive and often racist histories behind these problematic songs. Below is an incomplete list - incomplete because the more we learn, the more we understand and uncover. The truth behind much of our song history has been whitewashed, in the most literal sense, and so this list will be continually updated and added to. I must add that, although sources are listed, if a link is broken please understand it is not only my responsibility to read and research and do the work. We are all capable of researching and questioning song material. Do the work, question songs, engage others in doing the work with you and check out Making Good Choices from a NAFME webinar. We are stronger together.
"Black Joke" AKA "Hey Ho, Diddly Dum" original lyrics were vulgar and referenced sexual intercourse and female genitalia. Read more from the Traditional Tune Archive here. Original sheet music from the American Antiquarian Society.
"The Boatman's Dance" was originally titled“De Boatman’s Dance". It was performed in minstrel shows and mocked the speech of enslaved people. Read more from Song of America Project.
"The Cat Came Back" was originally titled, "“The Cat Came Back: A N...r Absurdity”. The lyrics mocked the speech of enslaved people and was sung in minstrel shows. See the original sheet music from the National Library.
"Camptown Races" is a minstrel show which mocked the speech of enslaved people. Read more here.
"Chicken on a Fencepost" AKA "Can't Dance Josey" the original lyrics contain racial slurs and theme of African American death. Original recording was on Holy Names University Folk Song Database and accessible until November 2019 when Holy Names was informed of racist lyrics and removed recording and sheet music. Library of Congress has the original recording.
"Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees" AKA "Four in the Middle" is a variant of "Can't Dance Josey" (See above).
"Cotton Eyed Joe" "Dinah" is a code word for an enslaved woman and contains a shortened racial slur. This song was used in minstrel shows. Original lyrics from On the Trail of Negro Folk Songs by Dorothy Scarborough. More information on use of "Dinah" from Collectors Weekly.
"Cumberland Gap" has derogatory terms for African Americans, "killing" of Indigenous people, "Hell", war, and "Dinah" (see Cotton Eyed Joe"), from American Ballads and Folk Songs, John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax, pages 346-347.
"Do Your Ears Hang Low" derived from "Turkey in the Straw" which was used in minstrel shows, see NPR Code Switch article. Also see "The Ice Cream Truck Song", "Turkey in the Straw", and "Zip a Dee Doo Da" below.
"Eenie Meenie Miney Mo" US variant uses racial slur. Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes shows the roots are probably Scottish or Irish where the "n word" was unknown in any English traditional rhyme or proverb. First recorded in New York City in 1815 as: Hana, man, mona, mike; Barcelona, bona, strike; Hare, ware, frown, vanac; Harrico, warico, we wo, wac
"Epo i tai tai" is often listed erroneously as "Hawaiian". From the Maori Indigenous people of New Zealand. In personal communication, the Maori Cultural Center was clear that this was not a song for children as it references male genitalia, bull testicles, and the virility of male warriors.
"Five Little Monkeys" was originally about enslaved people, one who was sick and the other one dead. "Shortnin' Bread" is the chorus of "Five Little Monkeys". "Monkeys" was a sanitized yet veiled epithet in reference to African Americans. Read the full story from Pancojams here.
"Hey Ya Na" AKA "Apache Melody" cannot be verified as being authentic.
"The Ice Cream Truck Song" is associated with a song called "N...r Love a Watermelon". See NPR Code Switch article. Also see "Do Your Ears Hang Low", "Turkey in the Straw", and "Zip a Dee Doo Dah."
"Jimmy Crack Corn" AKA "Blue Tail Fly" is about an enslaved person whose master has died. Many historians believe the enslaved person is rejoicing in his master's death.
"John Kanaka" was sung by English speaking sailors who had difficulty speaking the names of their fellow Hawaiian sailors. The Hawaiian name "Kanaka," means "Hawaiian Man" and became a stereotypical name for any Hawaiian person.
"Jump Jim Joe" began as the song, "Jump Jim Crow". From Wikepedia, '"Jump Jim Crow" or "Jim Crow" is a song and dance from 1828 that was done in blackface by white minstrel performer Thomas Dartmouth (T. D.) ... As a result of Rice's fame, the term Jim Crow had become a pejorative meaning African American by 1838 and from this the laws of racial segregation became known as Jim Crow laws.'
"Jim Along Josie" is a song that began as a blackface minstrel song in which African Americans and enslaved people are mocked and demoralized. Read more at Decolonizing the Music Room.
"Oh Susanna" contains racial slurs and theme of murder. The lyrics mock enslaved peoples speech. It was originally sung in minstrel shows. Read more from U. S. History Scene here.
"Old Dan Tucker" was sung in minstrel shows and the lyrics mock the speech of enslaved people. Read more from Pancojams.
"Pick a Bale of Cotton" pokes fun at the conditions enslaved people endured. A bale of cotton weighed about 500 pounds. An average man picked about 200 pounds a day working sun up to sun down (and often beyond). It was not humanly possible to pick a bale in a day and therefore mocked enslaved people. The song also contains the "n" word as has been referenced previously. There is some thought that the song may not have been a work song at all but a song created at the time of minstrel shows as there is no documentation of it before the 1930's. Read The REAL History Of The Song "Pick A Bale Of Cotton" (Partial Time Line From the 1930s to 1979) from Pancojams.
"Run, Children, Run" had an original title of "Run N...r Run".
"Shoo Fly" was almost certainly used in minstrel shows and contains language which mocks enslaved people. Original sheet music from the Duke University Libraries Digital Collection.
"Tie Me Kangaroo Down" is an Australian song, the original lyrics include a racial slur against Aboriginal Australians.
"Turkey in the Straw" was used in minstrel shows. Possible root was minstrel song "Zip Coon", see Ferris State University's Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia article, "Old Zip Coon/Turkey in the Straw." Original sheet music from New York Public Library Digital Collections shows stereotype image of African Americans on cover. See also "Do Your Ears Hang Low" and "Zip a Dee Doo Dah."
"Zip a Dee Doo Dah" -derived from "Turkey in the Straw", same tune as "Zip Coon", sung in minstrel shows, the chorus of which is "O zip a duden duden duden zip a duden day." See NPR Code Switch article. See also "Turkey in the Straw", "The Ice Cream Song", and "Do Your Ears Hang Low."
Some of these songs came from minstrel shows, in which performers appeared in blackface makeup. Folkloreforum has this to say about the minstrel show; The minstrel show was popular even before the Civil War, performed before audiences in both the North and the South. However, the shows’ materials changed once freedom was granted to the Negro slaves in the United States. Before the matter of freed slaves became a volatile issue, the typical minstrel show exhibited white men in black makeup performing song and dance exaggerated by lack of coordination and improper English, a style that became known as Jim Crow. After the Civil War, the stage opened itself up to new performers, recently freed slaves, willing to impersonate the impersonator. These performers, though already darker skinned, adhered to the minstrelsy tradition of blackface makeup. The tone of these black caricatures became less innocent and more damaging to blacks. Read the full Folklore Forum article, “Ten Little N...s”: The Making of a Black Man’s Consciousness by Tiffany M. B. Anderson, The Ohio State University.
What Now?
As music teachers, we control the narrative of musical culture and history for most of our students. We need to be aware of what we are supporting, perpetuating, and celebrating. Prejudices, stereotypes, and biases can be subtle and unclear. For me, I cannot use songs that have brought pain and humiliation, or devalue people. I cannot use the melodies and alter the words, either, as the melody has meaning and will be associated with the lyrics. Imagine standing in front of attendees at a POC Conference and "celebrating" by humming Dixie or Pick a Bale of Cotton. How would that be received? These songs are recognizable for what they inherently communicate. Our personal ethics and integrity is at stake - knowing music contains racist, biased, hurtful words that mock, belittle, and ridicule people based on skin tone, culture, or ability I am bound by morals and ethics wherein I cannot use this music in the elementary music classroom. I cannot "unhear" or "unlearn" the history, racist, and mocking information. We can choose to ignore, but that is the root of ignorance. NO melody is that perfect or irreplaceable.
If we are committed to including ALL of our students and fighting systemic racism, we have to be prepared to let go of these songs that have the power to exclude and choose song material that is inclusive of every child and their families. We are so fortunate to have such a variety of song literature - there are so many high quality songs that do not perpetuate stereotypes or racism. Problematic songs have their place; studied at a time when children are developmentally ready. For me, that is not with my 4-11 year old children. The choices we make matter, not only to us as individuals and educators, but also to our students sense of self and identity. The potential impact, not our intentions, guide us in deciding the choice to use a song and if so, how much information to share. If using a song may offend, or has the potential to do so, then we should reconsider our choices. Continue to research, the more we learn, the more informed choices we can make.
