Year: 2022

Is this the year to try some music for the holiday between December and January?    Maybe  …

December-January holidays that have their roots in the Northern Hemisphere grow during a time of decreasing light.  The further north you go, the less sun-light there is as mid-December approaches.    Was it fear?  or longing?   or cabin-fever from cold?    Whatever the reason, fight off the darkness by decorating, remembering, celebrating, praying for light to return.   The date for Christmas was chosen  (yes, sorry to stomp on widespread myths because no one today knows Jesus’ birthdate) to be linked with the Winter Solstice (shortest day of year in Northern Hemisphere) traditions.

Christmas and Chanukkah are religious holidays that naturally fall into the Solstice pattern.

Even though the date of Diwali doesn’t fall into this pattern, its ideas do.   Diwali once marked the beginning of a new year, celebrating the defeat of darkness by light  (much of India doesn’t experience a large change in daylight hours) and usually falls in late October-early November.

A little exploring can link other religious holidays with the very human longing for light     e.g.   Ramadan remembers the time when the Quran was revealed, bringing the light of understanding,  fasting during the month of Ramadan ends each day when the first star may be seen in the sky (the advent of light).      In the Northern Hemisphere, many aboriginal myths and celebrations coincide with the Solstice.

So,  Advent candles,  a Hanukkah menorah, sometimes called a hanukkiah, clay lamps and stars might all be included in a teaching unit.

Light The World   Holiday Lights   This Little Light of Mine

Hanukkah:   In The Window   Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel

Christmas  –Sacred:   The Friendly Beasts  Mary and Joseph

Christmas Around the World:   Twas In The Moon -The Huron Carol  (Canada)    Japanese Carol  African Noel  O Christmas Tree (Germany)

Secular Christmas:   Santa Claus Has 10 Toys!   Jolly Old St. Nicholas   Up On The Housetop

Multi-cultural Celebration:  We Wish You a Happy Holiday   The Holiday Hop   We Wish You ? (cumulative)

Alternatives:  The Nutcracker   In the Hall of The Mountain King

 

Since the advent of Covid, viruses have taken on a new prominence in daily life.    Singing about “Cold and Flu Season” won’t make it go away  —but it is one of many activities that may help “regularize” its presence.   Check out this add-on to the chant.

Germs spread with the greatest of ease

So wash your hands with the ABC’s

Use a sleeve when you feel a sneeze,

If you don’t want to catch a disease,

Stop those germs,  NOW!

 

And now there’s an alternative to singing  The Alphabet Song to time hand washing.   Remember the describing how to wash song that was a joint effort of Dr. Nisha Thampi and her daughter Lekha in Ottawa with collaboration by Dr. Yves Longtin in Montreal?   (tune:  Frere Jacques)  As a person with an immune deficiency,  I particularly like the idea of going on the “thumb attack” against germs.

Scrub your palms, between the fingers

Wash the backs,  wash the backs,

Twirl the tips around, Scrub them up and down,

Thumb attack,   thumb attack!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/washing-hands-song-1.5398385

 

“Soft Kitty” may help Sheldon Cooper  (Big Bang Theory)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-qra604RbU   feel better when he’s sick, but what works for you?    Try the “Soft Kitty” song with your class as an ideas starter   OR    try  Farmer Brown’s Cow  for a barnyard take on comfort ideas.

 

October music is nearing its end  –next week look at November ideas!

There are so many wonderful Halloween songs to try  …   its a short season squeezed in between Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day, so don’t overlook the classics Five Little Pumpkins   and  Old Mrs. Witch   .  Two new songs on the site  —There Was An Old Witch  and Skin and Bones   (? too scary for Grade 3 ?)  Twinkle Bat   explores variations on Twinkle Twinkle.  Try these or use your own favourites  –the most important thing in teaching a song is that your real enjoyment of the song will be contagious.

There are parts of Halloween that meld beautifully with music curriculum, without actually being Halloween!    Dressing-up,  let’s pretend fantasies,  acting in theatre,   miming to music,   teaching minor keys,   harvest foods (including turnips and pumpkins).      I’m Gonna Be A …  (2 versions of this, one for Halloween, one just for “let’s pretend”  or  “when I grow-up”) which can be paired with the Role Playing Music ;   or try dancing to Fossils;   or singing  Humpkin Pumpkin;  and  Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater.     Satisfy those cravings for sweets by making a Making A Purple Stew   or chanting I Never Saw A Purple Cow.

Next week:    Remembrance Day and Songs about Peace Making

Thanksgiving, Autumn Leaves and Halloween  –a plethora of musical possibilities.

Red Red Leaves   and   Red Orange Yellow Brown  are very simple in form which gives them many ways to be varied, encouraging creativity.   Zip new words into their phrases,   accompany on instruments  (the mp4 for Red Red Leaves includes playing a scale in C),  make a rondo using “Red Orange” as the “A” and improvising a “B”, “C” and “D”.

Young children sometimes struggle to find their “singing” voices.   Mimicing the high hoot of an owl is a fun way to encourage use of the high register of voices.   Everyone can join in, no English language skills required!

 

Next week:   Dress-Up and Halloween Songs

Last Week:  Turkey In The Straw   Shoo Turkey

We Give Thanks    Thank You

My grandmother was born, in what is now Saskatchewan, in 1895.  My great-grandfather grew up on the north shore of New Brunswick.   He came to Saskatchewan by working on the railway as it was being built across Canada.   My great-great-great Grandfather came to what is now Canada in the mid-1700s.    Family legend says he was escaping a charge of sheep stealing in Scotland.     My Great Grandmother did not have 21 children.   But  singing Great Grandma helps me feel like I’m part of Saskatchewan, even though I’ve never lived there.

Folksongs have a way of bringing what is past into the present.  They add colour and life to history.     And, because music crosses both hemispheres of the brain, memory of folksongs has a good chance of outlasting many lessons we learn.

Explore the songs in CanDo Music for folksongs.   Wherever possible, I’ve included tidbits about a song’s story/history to unravel its links to culture and history.

La Cucaracha      Sur Le Pont      My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean        In The Summer    are a few from outside of Canada.

And, explore Canadian folksongs!    Singing our songs helps to bring us together.

 

Note:  CanDo Music3 is still in the process of being completed.  Some of the songs and lessons are on the site.   Anticipated completion is summer 2022.

After a January  with Omicron, blizzards and too many grey days, that just seemed to crawl by, February will be a treat.   Even with snow storms, its a short month and speeds by as we all anticipate Spring’s arrival.

Musical themes built in to the month include the Lunar New Year (Tigers!);  Black History Month;  Winter Carnival-Bonhomme Season, and a celebration of love.

Enjoy the snow songs learned in January, as we all hope appropriate opportunities to sing them will soon vanish.

Cccc Cc Cold  Jingle Bells  (not just a December song)

Shoveling Snow   I Want To Go Outside

Sing about the Lunar New Year or sing about the moon!

Aiken Drum  Zoom Zoom Zoom   Twinkle Twinkle

Celebrate Winter!   Bonhomme Bonhomme