"La Bastringue" Canadian Folk Dance Grade 2

2nd graders finished up their Canadian studies in music by performing a Canadian Folk Dance called "La Bastringue." I simplified and adapted the original folk dance moves a bit, but the overall idea is the same!

2G/G performing "La Bastingue."

2S performing "La Bastingue"

Maori Unit Grade 5

5th graders enjoyed learning about the Maori culture of New Zealand.
First, students learned a Maori poi-poi song called "Koo-ee". Then they learned how to use poi-poi, which are foam balls on a cord swung rhythmically.

5B poi-poi song

Students then practiced the Maori stick games. They tapped and even tossed their sticks across to their partners. Very fun!

Lastly, students learned about the Haka dance, which is a traditional war cry or challenge dance. This dance became popularized by the New Zealand rugby team performing a Haka for their opponents before each match. Haka can also be for other occasions too, such as funerals, as entertainment, and even simple routines are performed by children.

5th graders got to compose their own haka routines in small groups. Students utilized some of the famous haka challenge moves such as showing the whites of the eyes, sticking out the tongue, and hitting the arms to show strength.

China Unit Grade 3

3rd graders have been studying China in their classrooms the past few weeks so I decided to do a China unit in music too!
Week 1 students learned a song called "The Jasmine Flower" and played an accompaniment on the orff barred instruments. We then talked about Chinese Zodiacs and played a zodiac movement game.

Week 2 we talked about the different aspects of the Chinese New Year, which was on February 19th, 2015. One of the popular traditions is to have dragon dancing on the streets on the 5th day of the Chinese New Year when people have to go back to work. We got to make our own dragon dance in class!

3P Dragon Dance. 

The song used is called "Chinese New Year" from Silver Burdett Making Music Grade 2.

3S Dragon Dance

Students then made Chinese New Year Compositions using different Chinese symbols and writing out the stick notation. The words they could choose from were dragon, lantern, coin, fan, and firecrackers. Find the composition templates in this very useful bundle here.

Week 3 class 3P learned a Chinese song and game to the song "Hao Peng You" and finished with a Chinese ribbon dance. Class 3S spent the entire class going more in depth with the ribbon dance and added instruments. 

The music used is called "Ribbon Dance" from Music Connection 2.5 and the movements were adapted from the routine in "Mallet Madness" to fit the music. The instrument parts were written by fellow music teacher Lindsay Wadleigh.

Ribbon Dance Routine

1. Large circles in front- 4m.

2. Right arm circles (forwards or backwards)- 2m.

3. Figure eights in the front-  4m.

4. Left arm circles (forwards or backwards) 2m.

5. Figure eights side to side. 4m.

6. Lassos just above head 2m.

7. Snakes (start with ribbon stick high, bring downward quickly zig-zagging) 4m.

8. Fire (ribbon stick pointing down, make very fast, small circles) 2m.

3P Ribbon Dance

3S Ribbon Dance with Instruments

Lion King: Arts Enrichment K-4

Credit- Raymondsanti

Students in grades K-4 began the Lion King unit this Monday during Arts Enrichment time. Arts Enrichment is an extra music/art time a week taught by the Art teacher Mrs. Divis and the music teacher Ms. Moon.

Photo Credit

The Lion King on Broadway Trailer

For the next two Mondays students will be learning a fun dance to "The Circle of Life" and making African necklaces. Students will wear the necklaces while showcasing "The Circle of Life" dance at an upcoming school assembly.

Photo by: Swiss.frog

After those two weeks students will explore The Lion King theme more through various art projects and music activities. Some of the music activity videos are shown below:

Hakuna Matata:

The Lion Sleeps Tonight Music Video

Lion Sleeps Tonight- Just Dance 2 Video

 I made two different arrangements of Lion Sleeps Tonight (and found the ukulele online) for grades 2-4, to align with what instruments they are learning in general music class. Grade 2 will learn the song on boomwhackers, grade 3 on the barred instruments, and grade 4 on the ukulele. I will also give a brief description of some common African instruments and add appropriate percussion parts (likely only one or two per grade of the percussion parts listed below).

Below is a video from a 2nd grade class of students playing the boomwhacker part and some African instruments.

Here is a 3rd grade class practicing the mallet accompaniment to "Lions Sleeps Tonight".

Although the Lion King takes place in Kenya, the theme of the unit opens up the wonderful opportunity to explore musical activities from all parts of Africa. Obwisana is a folk song from Ghana. Students will play a rock passing game while singing the song. 

The words of the song mean "The rock has crushed my hand, grandma." I found this description in a book I have: 

"A child singing this song is repeatedly receiving a message of security and comfort, even in the context of a phrase and game which tells of injury. The injured child can take comfort in the fact that he or she can turn to "Nana" for sympathy and assistance- the ever-present circle of relatives supports Ghanaian children and adults during times of misfortune and celebration both."

Che Che Koolay is also a folk song from Ghana. The words have been said by some to be nonsense words. But the movements to the song lean toward this translation: 

Hands on your head

Hands on your shoulders

Hands on your waist

Hands on your knees

Hands on your ankles

Hands on your ankles

Hands on your ankles, hey! 

Notation found here

Students will learn a dance similar to the popular American song, "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" to Che Che Koolay.