Play is Okay!

Play is okay! Children learn and have learned for ages and ages through play—engaging, joyful, creative action. For some reason, however, teachers sometimes get it in their heads that learning requires work and that work is not play—is not fun. I suggest two points relative to this misunderstanding:

First, play is NOT the opposite of work. Think of someone who has a passion for hiking—researching to discover the best gear (shoes, backpack, sleeping bag, food) and places to hike—a set of crystal clear mountain lakes, for example. The actually hiking trip takes considerable effort; the path is steep and full of rocks. Somehow, though, the hiker enjoys the entire trip, both the challenge of the hike and the view of the lakes. This is play, recreation, fun. It is also a lot of work. Similarly, singing games are fun AND require considerable cognitive, kinesthetic, and social engagement. In fact, they likely would not be as fun if they didn’t require significant effort.

Second, many people enjoy their work.  Sometimes people say, “I can’t believe I get paid for this!” Some vocations allow significant levels of autonomy, creativity, and social interaction. Some people even have a knack for making the most mundane tasks, such as yard work or household chores, interesting and fun (this is called autotelic personality, by the way).  Work doesn’t have to be unpleasant or boring. In fact, if the work of learning is unpleasant or boring it will likely be less effective than if it involves ample opportunity for physical, social, and creative engagement.

The reason that children’s singing games have endured over time is that they naturally engage students in meaningful musicing and musical learning. In the process students learn far more about music and develop musical skills at levels far surpassing anything that could be accomplished through a music worksheet, for instance. Of course, a music worksheet might have a place once in a while, but if learning is the aim (and, of course, we all know it is), we will allow the joyful and creative play/work or work/play of traditional singing games.

Lesson Plans

It's important to plan instruction. However, you simply cannot plan everything that kids will learn; some might "get it" and some might not and kids will potentially learn much that wasn't even outlined in the lesson plan. Also, concepts such as dynamics and tempo terminology can be taught quickly if the children have already experienced the concepts musically (i.e. have sung songs in various tempos with variations in dynamics). Then, it's just a matter of naming what they already know first-hand. This reasoning can also apply to reading bubble (staff or "standard") notation in that students need to experience and name pitch patterns (solfege) prior to reading them or discussing things like rhythm trees and fractions. So, basically, identifying (naming) concepts is an important process, but can constitute maybe 5 percent of the lesson . . . if that much. The bulk of the lesson should be skill development--skills in singing on pitch and in rhythm, playing instruments, and moving/dancing ("rhythming"). Kids learn these complex skills over extended periods of time by singing/playing/moving to complex/engaging/memorable songs and singing games. This portion of the lesson (learning, exploring, and transforming songs) should take up to 80-90 percent of the time! The remaining 5-10 percent is some type of warm-up--something that focuses the children and drills skills. For example, echo rhythms, echo rhythm solfege, echo melodic patterns, echo melodic solfege, create rhythm patterns, guess songs from the rhythm or hand signs, imitate movements, or even engage kids in traditional choral and physical warm-ups. So, a typical 30-minute lesson plan for second graders might look like this:

Warm-up (5-10 minutes)

• Echo teacher-led rhythm patterns (common time)
• Answer teacher-led rhythm patterns (do something different from the teacher, still in common time)
• Echo student-led rhythm patterns (common time); students initiate three rhythms and then choose another student to take a turn

Learn a new singing game or dance.

Explore the rhythm in a familiar song using classroom instruments. Discuss specific rhythm concepts (tempo, isolate specific rhythmic patterns, etc.).

Play a familiar singing game if there is time remaining.

It is not difficult to connect the musical actions in this sequence to skills and concepts in any given elementary music curriculum guide. The key, of course, is to find interesting, authentic, engaging singing games and to be creative in exploring songs (see 100 Ways to Repeat a Song).

Guess the Song!

The other morning I tapped a song on the breakfast table and asked the kids if they could guess what it was. They guessed it! I tried a couple more. Then, they each wanted to play a rhythm on the table for the rest of us to guess the song. It's difficult to do. From the perspective of an elementary music teacher, what a wonderful activity for developing inner hearing and rhythmic awareness/proficiency! I used to do this in the classroom regularly. A couple of pointers that I learned from Susan Kenney may be helpful here: Have the students avoid shouting out their guesses. Rather, they can raise their hands if they know. Then, at the end of the song, ask someone for their guess. Don't say they are right or not, but tap the rhythm again so that everyone can test whether that song fits the rhythm--practicing inner hearing. Then ask, "Did it fit?" This allows the students to make the call. Extensions on this type of activity include having the students tap the rhythm together as a group and playing the rhythm on percussion instruments.

Elementary Music Curriculum: Simple or Complex

Keep it simple! What can be simpler in curriculum planning than teaching children a singing game like Bluebird or A-Hunting We Will Go? On the other hand, playing the singing game is a very complex activity for the children with so many interesting things that can happen while interacting with others and a delightful song to sing over and over until they know it "by heart"--a beautiful thing! In other words, simple curriculum planning can lead to the musical/cognitive/kinesthetic complexity that little brains and bodies crave. I think this principle works the other way around, too. Plan a detailed curriculum addressing concepts like high and low, fast and slow, syncopation, pentatonic scales, and so forth in a sequential manner and end up with simple, boring musical engagements for children. For example, a lesson addressing fast and slow tempi might require the students to draw a circle around the turtle or the bunny on a worksheet while listening to a musical excerpt--a simple, boring task that will be more likely to prepare children to someday work obediently on an assembly line than to collaborate with others in creating something new or solving a real-life problem. Set up the curriculum and the classroom like a factory and prepare factory workers (low wage employment nowadays for the factory jobs that haven't already gone overseas). Set up the curriculum as a creative, interactive space and prepare children for an engaging world of work and life. The nice thing is that interesting musical activities abound--they grow naturally as musical practices take shape and continue because they satisfy real needs for real people. In sum, look for the naturally occurring and complex musical practices in outside-of-school contexts (singing games, for one) and bring them into the classroom. It's easier than making up your own stuff from scratch and likely more engaging for the children. And it's fun. And that's okay.

Skip to My Lou (Hello, How Are You?)

Learn the names of the children beforehand or ask three students what their names are. Then sing, "Hello, Cindy, how are you? Hello, David, how are you? Hello, Kayla, how are you? Skip to my lou my darlin'" clapping the beat of the last bit and waving at each student as they are named--all to the tune of Skip to My Lou, of course. I did this one with many groups and they love it (kindergarten or first grade--probably not so effective with sixth graders). Another variation is to then let those three skip around the circle while everyone sings "Skip with me, I'll skip with you . . . etc." I learned this variation from Susan Kenney who, I believe, picked it up from the ETM folks. Yet another variation is with all students in groups of threes singing the names of each child in their group and then holding hands and skipping in a circle on the Skip with me, I'll skip with you part. Or, better yet, make up your own variation. I remember singing this timeless folk song in third grade back in the 70s--just singing it in class with no games but with a variety of verses. (Flies in the buttermilk, shoo fly shoo; Little red wagon painted blue; Lost my partner what'll I do; I'll find another one, it might be you). My students at Eureka Elementary enjoyed making up their own verses that rhymed (I found a stink bug in my shoe; We left my sister at the zoo, etc.). You know, it can be a lot of fun to just play the guitar and sing with kids. An important thing is to avoid getting caught up in whether you are doing it right or not--whether you are following the method or the rules of the game correctly. I was worried once about remembering the tune of a song learned at a workshop and someone suggested that if I forgot I could just make up my own tune. Good advice . . .

Go Tell Aunt Rhody (I'm Thinking of Someone)

Here's a great singing game for focusing a group of students sitting on the floor in a circle: "I'm thinking of someone. I'm thinking of someone. I'm thinking of someone, who is wearing red" (or any other descriptor about clothing, etc.) to the tune of Go Tell Aunt Rhody. If the other children want to guess who you are thinking of they can raise their hands and be called on at which point they ask, "Is it (child's name)?" The kids love the potential of being the one who you are thinking of. For a refresher on the tune:

Another game is plain old Go Tell Aunt Rhody. The one who is it runs or walks around the outside of the circle where the rest of the players are sitting. On the word "dead", they touch (don't hit) someone who is the closest on the head and that person falls over as if dead. Then everyone says, "Oh, no! The goose is dead!" at which point the one who is it asks the person on either side of the goose, "(child's name), will you go tell Aunt Rhody the old grey goose is dead?" It's a lot to say, yes, but it's good for the kids to put the entire sentence together just like that. Then that person goes to tell Aunt Rhody and the one who was it sits in their place in the circle. Whether the dead geese stay dead throughout the remainder of the game is up to you. Too harsh for children? Death is real. Why avoid the topic?

Partner Songs: Bluebird & Skip to My Lou

Bluebird is a great game for young children. I have found it effective to have the kids press hands together rather than hold hands in order to make the windows. The person who is "it" flys around through the windows and lands in front of someone at the end of the song and asks, "(name), would you like to be the bird?" If the answer is "yes" then the new one is "it" and the previous one takes their place. This game can be played with multiple birds or students can choose what kind of bird to be in which case there might be two questions, "Would you like to be a bird?" and "What kind of bird would you like to be?" As the teacher, I like to eventually drop out of the singing and let the students sustain the singing game. Whoever begins the song, of course, chooses the starting pitch. I don't think the starter needs to give the pitch beforehand either. We start and everyone settles in on a pitch. The idea is to keep it complex and interesting.

Once the children know the song and game, it can be partnered with Skip to My Lou. In fact, there are quite a few songs that will partner with these.