#2 African, AfricanAmerican (Updated as of 7/18/15)
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- Composers
- Books
- Drumming
- Follow the Drinking Gourd - Ideas
- Instruments
- Lessons and Ideas
- Movement and Dance
- Program Ideas
- Songs
- Recordings
- Videos
- Web Sites
- Dr. Martin Luther King
- Decorations
- Pronunciation
- Using Recorders
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AFRICAN AMERCIAN COMPOSERS
02/04 Notable African American Compsers:
William Grant Still --R. Nathaniel Dett --Florence Price-- George Walker-- Leroy Jenkins --Alvin Singelton-- Aldolphius Hailstork-- Tania Leon Anthony-- Davis Jeffrey Humphries.
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06/06 William Grant Still, B. B. King, Ray Charles , The Neville Brothers - did Sister Rosa...a song my kids LOVE!! , Jelly Roll Morton , Louis Armstrong , Will Smith - definitely has clean rap
Queen Latifah (be careful of some lyrics), Leotha Stanley : his most popular collection is: “BE A Friend,” He's a Madison, WI resident and choral director at Mt. Zion Church. -- Rhonda Schilling, Madison WI
06/06 Howard Swanson (on cd’s)
BACK to African Topics
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BOOKS
06/09 I have used “Laughing River” extensively during February, African American month. I teach the kids certain movements each time they hear certain words. like mountains, drums,and river, and we have verbal responses for each of the tribes named. Also there is a dance for the Che che Kule at the end of the book, which we usually learn first. its great for k thru 3rd grade. -- Janet Ryan in Conway Massachusetts http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=j2N4z2YrF2MC&dq=The+Laughing+River+by+Elizabeth+Vega&printsec
I was able to read part of the story and see the Orff parts. Looks great!
The two songs must be Funga Alafia and Che Che Koolay.
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10/08 EXPRESSIONS OF FREEDOM: [This book has a lot] of songs from the African-American heritage and a few "programs" in the back (I wouldn't call them plays). But every song is arranged for Orff ensemble. The Programs are entitled "A Message in song", dealing with hidden messages in slave songs, "Harriet Tubman:From Slavery to Freedom", and "A Conversation with Harriet Tubman". Each program incorporates songs from the book. They're basically all laid out for you. The book is published by Hal Leonard and is the main book in a series about songs and stories from the African-American heritage. -- Jason Bromley - Music Director, Kenton Elementary School, Independence, KY
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06/06 I love "LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD" which is published by our own Judith at World Music Press. It has many examples of authentic African rhythms and songs. The CD and book are excellent. It has a wealth of information. I find that one piece of music can take about four lessons at least to get into and then more of course if you are going to perfect it and really get into the groove for performance! http://www.worldmusicpress.com/bookaudio_africa.htm -- Sue Michiels
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04/05 "MAKE A JOYFUL SOUND", is a great book of Afro-American poets edited by Deborah Slier & illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright & Ying-Hwa Hu. by Scholastic. I has some Langston Hughes poetry, including his "Dreams" as well as a wonderful poem about John Coltrane and jazz.
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10/04 FOLKTALES: I teach a lot of African Folktales. Zomo the Rabbit is a great one.
Also: Traveling to Tondo.
Bringing the Rain to Kaputi Plain
Rabbit makes a Monkey out of Lion
Anassi the Spider Anassi and
The Talking Melon How Frog Went to Heaven
Here's a site where you can get other Folktale names.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0394721179/ref=sib_db_rdr/103-1726443-7643822#reader-page -- Patti Albritton
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10/04 DANCING THE RING SHOUT centers around the African-American praise dance known as the "shout" and call-and-response songs that accompany. See the McIntosh County Shouters website if you've not heard of the ring shout.
http://hometown.aol.com/Shoutforfreedom/Shout.html
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04/02 ONE HUNDRED AND ONE AFRICAN AMERICAN READ ALOUD SOTRIES is also has about famous African American inventors, songs poems and biographies. It is a compilation edited by Susan Kantor published by Black Dog& Levanthal, New York. worth the money. one of the biographical stories is of Alvin Ailey which is a great lead in to showing the dance Revelations. - Contributed by Susan Michiels
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01/03 SONGS OF THE RAINBOW CHILDREN by Cheryl Lavender: My kids love those songs, and don't forget "Roots and Branches," my favorite resource. I think Plank Road carries both of these.
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01/04 WALKING IN THE LIGHT OF FREEDOM by Rene Boyer-Alexander. Each vol. is a collection of numerous slave songs, spirituals, children's plantation song/games, etc. The print music includes simple accompaniment too. There is a bit of introductory background info provided thru out. I got all 3 and am thrilled with the selections offered. - Contributed by Gretchen in IL
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READY TO SING SPIRITUALS: This contains 11 spirituals arranged for unison singing with cd piano accompaniment. The Student parts as well as the actual piano accompaniments are both provided. Very nice treatment of each selection. - Contributed by Gretchen in IL
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LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING: This is a collection of almost every spiritual I've ever heard of. It provides the melody, piano accompaniment, and invaluable background info on each selection. I got this at Amazon.com. - Contributed by Gretchen in IL
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09/03 SONGS OF THE RAINBOW CHILDREN (BOOK AND CD): It is excellent! The music is good, and the games that go with the music are fun. Plenty of room for additional use of instruments by the students.
SONGS OF THE RAINBOWCHILDREN: What a beaut! I taught the first song to an ESOL second grade class and they had such a fun time with it. In the fifth grade we did the dance steps. This is an energetic group. I thought I would jump out the window afterwards...but I didn't. They really got involved and began improvising body movements along with the steps. They had so much fun. I really recommend this collection of South African children's folk songs. The recordings are fabulous and the songs come with games and movement, poetry written by the children Cheryl met in South Africa, pictures and history. An excellent addition for Black History month! DRUMMING LESSONS: It's online lessons for African drumming. http://www.alternativeculture.com/music/rhythm5.htm
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01/02 "OFF TO THE SWEET SHORE OF AFRICA" by a Nigerian woman: It's nursery rhymes retold with African themes and beautiful illustrations. There's so much you can do with these rhymes...add instruments, body percussion, accompaniments, chant, etc.
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01/02 JAHA AND JAMIL WENT DOWN THE HILL: An African Mother Goose" by Virginia Kroll and illustrated by Katherine Roundtree is a great book. The kids have fun listening to the rhyme and then trying to figure out which one it is.
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01/02 "IN THE TIME OF THE DRUMS" by Kim Siegelson, illustrated by Brian Pinkney Hyperion Books for Children, NY 1999.
This picture book is appropriate for up to fifth grade. It's based on an oral account that has been passed down through generations of African-American communities near the Sea Islands of Georgia & South Carolina. It is a sort of ghost story that the Gullah people told. The Gullah were often credited with supernatural powers...
I would pair this book with songs & games of Bessie Jones from the Georgia Sea Islands. You can find these in the book "Step It Down" by Bessie Smith. You can also find one of these games in MK8 Vol. 10 #3 by Judith Cook Tucker. Its called "Uncle Jessie" and is a game song from the islands. There is a lot of good history in the article Judith wrote and an interesting explanation for the lyrics and actions of the game. Other good games include "Draw Me A Bucket of Water" (gr 3 STM & Step It Down, Jump Jim Joe) and "Little Johnny Brown" (Step It Down and Jump Jim Joe) The Bessie Jones versions of the songs get the original credits.
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01/02 HOW TO PLAY DJAMBE a book and CD. The CD has drumming by a Malian drummer. I simplified the instructions alot and had the kids playing several rhythms along with the CD. We had only a few drums so used "water drums," empties from the Culligan Man. The book is at school. Let me know if you want more information on it. There's also a good 3 CD set, The Big Bang, for listening to percussion from all over the world. I also used an old cassette tape of the Ko Thi Dancers from Milwaukee...don't know if it's still available but they did an in service at our school a few years ago and were excellent.
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01/02 VILLAGE DAY There is a wonderful book by Jim Solomon (actually it is a program) that introduces African studies "Village Day"....it was out of print for a while, but I saw it last year at TMEA, either West Music or Music in Motion.
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01/01 THE SINGING MAN, a West Africa folktale by Angela Shelf Medearis - Holiday House Publication. When three brothers "were initiated into manhood, the first decided to become a farmer and the second a blacksmith. But the third, Banzar, wanted to become a musician. The elders objected, saying that music wouldn't put yams in his stomach or tools in his hands to make things to sell in the market place. They suggested he work for the good of the village or leave forever. So Banzar decided to set off for the town of Otolo. Along the way he met a praise singer, a traveling musician, who sang about the history of the African people. How this man helped Banzar fulfill his dream ends this rewarding folktale."
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01/02 You might try to track down one of the old "OUR MUSICAL HERITAGE" videos - the Music of Africa one, which gives a good, accurate overview (although stodgy)of Ghanaian music and instruments. Also, our titles All Hands On! An Introduction to West African Percussion Ensembles (booklet/CD) and Let Your Voice Be Heard! Songs from Ghana and Zimbabwe (book/CD) both available from the Music K8 Marketplace, would give you a good place to start, appropriate for 5 graders.
Jim Solomon has done some wonderful things with kids and drumming, and has published several resources that would help their understanding of interlocking layers of rhythms.
There are a couple of the BEATS OF THE HEART video series (produced by Shanachie - but not sure where to buy them)that feature African music and artists, also Paul Simon's Graceland Concert video.
Finally, Elmer Hawkes, a musician and filmmaker, has produced a film for kids introducing them to life and music in West Africa, and another for East Africa. Go to his website at www.worldstogether.com to see more.
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Here are some answers to my question about the source and language of Funga Alafia: Controversy! interesting how even texts say different things;
Be a friend: A History of African-American Music by Leotha Stanley. It comes with a tape. It costs 24.95. You can order it or save money and check Barnes and Noble (the store, not the web site). The book runs the gamut from spirituals to jazz to blues to R&B to rap.
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Try to get hold of some Anansi folk tales; great for sound, sequencing and dramatization. You could even add your own orff instrument arrangements. There are some wonderful Ghana children's folk songs and games. I went to a workshop a few years ago and we learned that African music, art and life are all intertwined. The patterns in the kenti (spelling?) cloth reflect patterns in music. The background pattern is like the steady beat. The accent colors/designs are like accent rhythms. Since the African rhythms are additive, they are like the cloth patterns because the patterns are added on in layers.
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LET'S GET THE RHYTHM OF THE BAND by Cheryl Warren Mattox is a song book (comes with cassette of music --very good) that features African American composers and musicians.
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There is a beautiful book that uses the words to LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING in fact i think there are two different books. The song has an interesting history, including the fact that the composer, also a fine poet, did not think much of the song. You might want to have the kids read some of his poems.
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THE LEOPARD'S DRUM, an Asante Tale fromWest Africa" by Jessica Souhami...a folk tale about how the tortoise got his hard shell....beautiful illustrations with lots of musical possibilities. Publ. Little Brown. "Off to the Sweet Shores of Africa and other Talking Drum Rhythms" by Nigerian author Uzo Unobagha, Chronicle Books, 2000....Mother Goose-type poems on African themes with beautiful illustrations of Africa...this book just cries for musical enhancement.
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I also got a book with CD from Music in Motion last year. Morgan Freeman reads the book on the CD and Taj Mahal sings the song. I'm doing it this week with my 2nd graders. Here's a link to Amazon where you can purchase it...http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0689802420/o/qid=950569215/sr=8-2/102-2739400-9443228
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MORGAN FREEMAN dramatically reads the story of a slave family's escape to freedom by way of the Underground Railroad. With just the right amount of change in vocal pitch and pacing, he effectively transports listeners as the family travels northward and makes them feel the dangers of the journey. Taj Mahal provides vocal and instrumental accompaniment using guitar, harmonica, banjo and mandolin which add authenticity. The bluesy tunes will echo in listener's memories and are repeated without narration on the second side. The telling of classic family stories in audio format just doesn't get any better than this." Our media specialist ordered a video of this. Morgan Freeman and Taj Mahal. It isn't live action but the water color drawings are beautiful. Excellent!!
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There's a book entitled JAMBO means hello which lists many different swahili words that I have found very helpful in composing and performing.
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WEE SING AROUND TGHE WORLD: It's simple, accessible and authentic. Also Ladysmith Black Mambazzo has lots of stuff on recordings. I don't know if there are notated resources. If so, I'd like to know! I'd like to see your past program ideas.
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HOW SWEET THE SOUND the story of African-American History through song. GET IT!!! I got mine for under $5 from a scholastic book order form from January. Someone else posted that Amazon has it. This is GREAT stuff. The book has beautiful illustrations, and the lyrics to many songs. Not all of the songs in the book are included on the tape, but those on the tape include Kum Bah Yah, Over My Head, Take This Hammer (Huh)--a favorite of my students, Lift Ev'ry Voice, This Little Light, Take the A Train, Get on Board, Little Children. A brief historical synopsis of the song precedes each selection. My students ate this up today......begged for more. This is a great resource, and I can also see the format (progression of Af. Am. music in the US) as program material.
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Maya Diangelo (sp) has some wonderful poems that might be a very dramatic addition to your program. I think you can get some info on her from the A&E site.
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ZENU DIN DIN DIN It's the story of a little birds eating - you'd need drummers, because while the kids sing the words of the story, they act out the rest while the drummers are playing. I fyou don't know it, let me know, and I'll send what I can.
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PLAY: We had a sort of silly play-the adventures of Dr. Deadpebble and Mrs.Stanley (a variation of Stanley and Livingstone) The Orff Schulwerk's African Supplement by Amoaku is super (there is a tape that now accompanies the book which is very seful). Planet Drum by Mickey Hart is a wonderful set of percussion pieces (the African piece "Jawe" is one of my favorites on this tape)
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I use WORLDS OF MUSIC by Titon in my World Music course (Schirmers) and there are some nice activities , songs and projects (instrument building) that might be useful too. This comes with CD's as well as the text. Go to the local book store ... there are now hundreds of stories and books related to Africa. There is a great African Web page also that may be of help. Of course, look in the AOSA web page for appropriate links to literature and music.
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I hope you're all aware of Walt Hampton's HOT MARIMBA: Music from Zimbabwe sources arranged for ORff instruments (and/or marimbas!) Available through World Music PRess, with a cassette or CD of the music as well. This collection is arranged sequentially and makes it quite feasible to teach some of the complex African rhythms - firstly by leading up to them, secondly by listening to playable pieces on a recording to help with familiarity. Also Walt has a CD of his Grade 4 and Grade 5 marimba groups made earlier this year called "Smiling through the Storm". I've found it wonderful to be able to ply some African-style music to MY Grade 4 and 5 children and tell them that this music is being played by Grade 4 children in the USA. Walt can be contacted at [email protected] - I've enjoyed a very fruitful email connection with him through this year, and look forward to hearing his group live when I come over to Seattle for the AOSA conference in November! I've been using his book (Hot Marimba) since it came out with my jr high boys. They love it and I've taught them how to add bridges and imporvistional parts to the form. It really works!!!!!:)
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LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD by Judith Cook Tucker has an excellent collection called There are many songs that can be adapted for k-3. Great action pieces, also story songs which would allow for drama and sound effects on Orff instruments. Phyllis Weikhart has a movement series, 15 cds strong. #3 has an African piece called Bele Kawe. I use every year with 3rd grade. The love it. Also Olanji (artist) has a cd entitled Drums of Passion. Title track is a great piece for steady beat with an African flair.
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HOLIDAYS: There is a very nice piece in the book from Memphis Music (believe it the book was a compilation from Memphis Music Orff Teachers several years ago.). Nice beginning is almost a vocal ostinato. "Dream, Dream, gotta have a dream". The lyrics then proceed to tell the life of MLK. Nice Orff accompaniment. There was a recording available of the entire book. I think the book is still available from West Music. Since you are indicating early grades, I will tell you I have used (almost yearly) just the beginning ostinato with little ones and then I read or sing the more wordy verses to them. They add the ostinato between verses. Then we take the beginning ostinato "Dream, dream, gotta have a dream..." and each child has the opportunity to sing about their dream. EX: "I dream I'll be a teacher" I dream I'll be a scientist" "I dream of peace on earth". My teachers and I also use this opportunity to allow children to learn that it's a good thing to have dreams and goals for the future. Sometimes with young ones we branch off into discussions of dreams while we sleep, nightmares etc. This can also lead to children's literature...EX: "Nightmare in my closet" "Nightmare under my bed" "Where are the Wild Things" etc etc. You might also consider creating a setting or carpet of sound to some poems. There are two nice ones from Langston Hughes (black American poet) "Dreams" (I believe you can find "Dreams" in one of the American editions of Music for Children). It's late at night and I do not have easy access to my library. If you cannot find this email and I'll look it up for you. You might also try using "Dreams Deferred" The later is quoted on a web site: http://members.aol.com/olatou/hugheshtml
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I just read a book to my 3-5th graders this week titled, LET ME FLY, THE STORY OF A SLAVE FAMILY by Dolores Johnson. Inthe story, the woman's child who escapes on the underground railroad writes back to her mother, " . . . we forded streams and walked hundreds of miles at night, always following the North Star". That may be explanation enough for your song. We, of course, then sang the song "Let Me Fly". Earlier, I read a story called the "Runnin' Aways" from the book, "The People Could Fly, American Black Folktales told by Virginia Hamilton." In this story a slave rows people across the Ohio River to freedom, I no longer had to explain the song, "Who Built The Arc" after that. I found both of these books in my school's library, check for them, I think you will like it
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References:THE MUSIC OF AFRICA by Dr. Fred Warren & Lee Warren, Prentice Hall, 1970, Royal Oak Libr., MI
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DRUMMING & INSTRUMENTS
05/04 TECHNIQUESBase: (B) whole hand (including base below thumb) hits center of drum parallel with drum but bounces off right away
Base Mute: (BM) as above but remains touching the drum head
Tone: (T) Fingers together, hit side of drum with only the fingers hitting edge of drum
Tone Mute: (TM) as above but remains touching drum head
Slap: (most difficult) (S) fingers open, palm hits side edge of drum (hard) and fingers follow thru onto drum head
Slap Mute (SM) as above but remains touching drum head
The idea behind these different techniques is to get a variety of pitches, Base being the lowest and Slap Mute being the highest.
It is fairly easy to teach the base and mute tones. You can do alot of rote echo drumming with these tones. - Contributed by Sandy Toms
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01/02 There are other ways as well to provide a tablature for layered drumming exercises, including a grid of boxes, with a dot in each one indicating when you hit, and a time signature at the beginning. Remember that however you show it, there is no need to indicate duration, just attack.
When I was studying for my masters degree with Abraham Kobenah Adzenyah, learning the music of Ghana, we were given an assignment to notate one of the drumming ensembles in any way OTHER THAN Western notation. Some people came up with a spinning cylinder on a stick, with 8-unit designs, indicating that the various parts are cyclical. Another assigned a colored string to each instrument, and strung the threads into a mobile of sorts.
Once your students understand layering and repeated drum phrases, you might ask them to notate in some creative way. It is a fun exercise, and shows there are more ways to write down music than typical Western notation. (another example: guitar tablature) [email protected]
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There is a great video that was done in a public school setting by Margo...(Blake, I think) called African Drumming and Dance. It goes over drums and drumming techniques, clothing, dance steps, songs, some vocabulary....etc.
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Check out LMI. They have some interesting cultural instruments that are not outrageously priced. I have been pleased with the stuff that I have bought from them. Their phone is 1-800-456-2334 and address LMI, 1776 Armitage Crt, Addison, IL, 60101.
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Putumayo puts out more contemporary
African music rather than just African drumming, but it is great to listen to!
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FOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURD
06/06 06/06 On page 2 of Music K-8 Vol. 14, No.3 there is a play by Mary Crum Scholtens called "If You Followed the Drinking Gourd". It is really nice to have one already to go that is very appropriate for Martin Luther King activities. Iris in WA
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http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/99/railroad/j1.html
10/04 FOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURD: The one I use is a Reading Rainbow video of the book Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeannette Winter. It's narrated by Keith David and has performances by Sweet Honey in the Rock at the end. Contributed by Tina Morgan
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I just ordered a beautiful picture book and cassette tape from Scholastic book club There are approximately 50 songs with words and music for only $5.95. What a steal. "Follow the Drinking Gourd" is also included in the book. I also ordered the Martin Luther King picture book for $1.95. There was also another packet of 5 books for $5.00 that were songs.
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I'll share an idea with you that worked well with my students and set them in the mood for the song. I took poster-size cardboard, backed it with dark blue paper, poked seven holes for the stars of the big dipper, pushed a Christmas light through each hole, turned off the lights in the room, so when they , the room had a eery kind of look/feeling to it. Then explained the story of the song, listened to me or a recording sing, etc. When we had the melody learned we sat in a circle with the lights off yet and I strung the lights around the circle and we imagined a starry sky. One class, on their own, did a simple movement where they lifted the "stars" above their heads slowly on the chorus - can't explain it - you had to be there. It was way cool.
Monday- read the book and then teach the song to the kids. Talk over the secret meanings from the song lyrics. Have kids brainstorm a list in their team of sounds they would hear as a slave on this journey. Then on the opposite side of the paper have them list the instrument that could reproduce this sound. Then we perform the song again playing our instruments as sounds on the journey whenever we sing the chorus. The verses are sung without instruments.
Tuesday- review secret meanings and song melody. Talk about the meaning of a map song. Have the students work in their teams to create a map song telling someone how to get from the music room to somewhere else in the school. They write the words and set them to the Follow the DG melody.
Wednesday-finish up map songs and watch the Reading Rainbow video of FTDG.
This ends my FTDG lessons and then I do a few more days on African music. In 6th grade we do spirituals, so I bring back FTDG for a day and we do this activity that could easily work with any grade level:
We make a sound composition. I put up a big white piece of bulletin board paper. I draw a line down the middle. This will be our time line. The song will be 3 minutes long. We then brainstorm what would be the first thing the slaves would do/hear on their escape plan. I get answers like sneak out, leave the gate, get chased by owners, talk about leaving. I then ask the class how long this should last. We usually agree on something like 15 seconds. So I draw a vertical line at the front of our timeline and mark it as 15 seconds. I then have a student come up and draw what's going on in the space on the timeline. I ask the remaining students what instruments we could use to reproduce this. They must use their imaginations-you don't have to hit the cymbals together, you can scrape them, etc. We continue to do this until we get 3 minutes full. A typical song looks like this: 15 seconds talking it over, 45 seconds escaping the plantation, 1 min walking in the woods, 30 seconds finding a safe house, 30 seconds escape to freedom. I then have a conductor who points to the class when it's time to switch actions, a timer who runs the stopwatch, and the rest of the class receives an instrument and figures out how to make it part of the song. This is a bit chaotic, but can be controlled and is fun! This activity usually takes 1 1/2 class periods (each 25 minutes)-sometimes 2 class periods.
On the winter solstice the Sun rises in the southeast. In the months after the December solstice the Sun rises more northerly and ascends higher in the sky each day. Migratory quail winter in the south. Peg Leg Joe. Tombigbee River, leading northward from the Gulf of Mexico toward Tennessee. Dead trees were used as markers with charcoal and mud drawings of a peg leg and a foot. Tennessee River, which flows northward across Tennessee and Kentucky. That is, at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River (over 800 miles north of Mobile), where Underground Railroad guides would meet fugitive slaves on the northern bank and transport them to safer regions. A slave who left a farm or plantation in southern Alabama or Mississippi in the winter (see note 1) would arrive at the Ohio river about a year later--the best time to cross, when one could simply walk across the ice.
At top of the right hand margin next to the lyrics I drew (with the mouse)a five pointed star and labeled it, "The Northern Star: Polaris."At the bottom of the page I drew seven smaller five-pointed stars in the constellation's shape, with the handle facing left and bowl facing up and labeled it "The Big Dipper constellation."I connected these seven stars with lines of equal length and labeled the last segment "1." Along the page's right margin I drew another five broken segments (2,3,4,5 & 6) and capped the segment labeled "6" with an arrowhead pointing to Polaris, which I darkened in a little. The idea here is that by sighting on the last star in The Dipper's bowl(facing upwards in my drawing - I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know which way it's facing at the moment in the actual sky) you can form a distance with your thumb or whatever is handy to measure out in an extended line straight to Polaris. The distance from the Big Dipper bowl's last star to Polaris is supposed to be roughly five times the distance between it's last two stars. Both Polaris (the Northern Star) and the Big Dipper are pretty easily seen in even the most light-polluted environments, so by learning this little trick anyone should be able to find bearings to the north on a clear night anywhere on Earth. All the other heavenly bodies appear to spin around Polaris throughout the hours of the evening and days and months of the year.
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Several days ago someone suggested using Christmas lights to form the star formations for "The Drinking Gourd". I have also seen this idea used for "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star to show rhythm and melody line. Kindergarten students love it. In fact I am sure it could be used for any song, especially at Christmas
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Part of the underground railroad runs through the Pittsburgh PA area -- in fact, a couple local places still have the basement hiding rooms -- so I spend a little extra time on the Drinking Gourd. I made transparencies of the eastern US and used colored dry markers to show how the song's code follows the Tombigbee north to the Tennessee then across the mountain pass to the Ohio where the old man (Peg-leg Joe) ferried them across to the 'north' where they dispersed or continued into Canada. The kids are fascinated to see how it all fits together.
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I like to have my 5th graders write their own code map. after we learn the song, and are pretty familiar with it, I give the students a "homework" assignment to write down landmarks between home and school. (If you have kids who get off at the same bus stop, they can work as a team). They then turn those landmarks into clues (for example: one student passed a fountain. His clue: where it's always raining). We then work these clues into the melody of the drinking gourd. The team sings the song for the class, and the class tries to guess the landmarks. Takes a while, but it sure is fun!!!
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MK8 Marketplace has an excellent video entitled "The Long Journey Home: Journey Through African-American Music from Slavery to Rap"........or something like that. It's very good. It covers the origins and history of these music forms quite well. I used it this past week with 5th/6th grade, and typed out question sheets for the students to answer while viewing the video.
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LESSON: Set-up: Class sitting in a circle Materials: 25 rocks/blocks.... Teacher sings (A) section, pats the floor on the beat with right hand. (This song is so easy to learn, I didn't bother doing echo phrases. I would just sing, and have the kids do the motions. Pretty soon, they were singing with me.) BACK to African Topics
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INSTRUMENTS
06/07 RHYTHM AND BEATS: Bringing African Traditions to the Classroom by Calla Isaak (Orff instructor) - Drum instruction age and up; 4 pieces of varying complexity, includes drum, bell, shaker & xylophone
Song selections: Obwahsimisah, Kébé Mama, Sansa Kroma, Tue, Tue, Jingoloba, Funga Alafia
Kuku, Yo Mamana Yo, Koombaraza, Ise Oluwa, Highlife, Samanfo Begye Nsa Nom, Cabaret, Dalah
Bala Kulandyan, Kpanlogo, Toumba, Klinwa Myedo Doh, Yankadi, Makru, Djaa, Sara Kuluya, Soli
Kehneh Foli, Kondo, The Three Brothers (folk tale), Djansa, African Christmas
https://johnsmusic.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=CALLAISAAK&pid=8640
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06/07 THUMB PIANO: Listen and make your own music:
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/shadowpuppets/artsedge.html
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06/06 UNIT: I did a month of Africa with my students. I was in a portable temporarily and only brought out big drums, CD player, large cut-outs of lions, monkeys, apes, etc.and a few rhythm instruments. There are so many pieces available in the Silver Burdette series we bought a couple years ago.
"KYE KYE KULE" WONDERFUL call-response with actions that the children love. (Also in STM) It's from Ghana, I believe. SB has a 10 minute portion on a video that is super.
"Tue Tue" Very fun! There are actions to this, clap with partner, then turn around and clap with partner behind you...it speeds up, very impossible and ends in lots of laughter!
"NAMPAYA OMAMA” (Making Music) A piece about how mama went to the market and brought back treats for the children...We formed a circle and the "mama" or "papa" walked around the inside of the circle. She/he had a basket with beanbags on her/his head and handed a beanbag to each child in time to the music. The children stood in a circle with hands out, one foot in front, sort of swaying forward and back to the music.
"ZOMO THE RABBIT" and "Tale of the Kudu" are great folktales that the children can act out and add instrumentation. There are about 3-4 other tales in SB. Really rich resource.
We also did a stone passing (used beanbags) to "FUNWE ALAFIA". That song is very great to use with drumming, too. We talked about how African villages really cooperated. We had recently gone through 3 hurricanes here in Florida and had experienced a few days to a week without power. I tried to relate that to how our society might change if we had months of no power. Would we have markets in the Winn Dixie parking lots? Where would we go to get water? Would we interact with our neighbors more? Did they help out neighbors more after the hurricanes? How did they entertain themselves without TV, video games, etc. Discussed Drum leader from villages and their important position.
"MONKEY MONKEY MOO" from D.R.U.M. by Jim Solomon was a great drumming piece. Not authentic African but we related how African people used names of tribes and villages to remember drumming patterns. We used silly sentences. - Linda Zaudtke
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02/05 Musicmakers in Stillwater, Minnesota has a nice one. Check their website. I've also had kids make them out of cigar boxes (if you can find any) which works well. One time a shop donated a good supply to us. In West Africa I saw all kinds of boxes, gourds and even a large oil can used for the body of the instruments. I once watched a man in Nigeria make one and he used the spokes from a broken unbrella, flattened out, for the keys. I saw another maker use the spokes of an old bicycle, again flattened out with a hammer, for the keys.
Encourage your kids to be inventive, as the children in Africa are. They would not use a "kit." I was told by a student from South Africa not to use the term "finger piano" as they consider it insulting, because that was what the Dutch (or was it Belgians) called the African instrument was as a form of ridicule. There are many African words for the instrument...sansa, komgoma, kondi, bondoma, mbira, etc. I preferred to use one of those terms with my students. -- Judy in Wi.
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For rainsticks, drums (making & using) see Making & Playing Instruments
WEBSITES:
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/K-12/African_Dance_19546.html
http://www.cbmr.org/lib/index.htm http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/K-12/k12leson.html
http://www.geocities.com/cassyschil/music/africa.html
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LESSON IDEAS
11/13 I see classes once a week. Each lesson had a singing section while we stood in a circle, then a sit and analyze elements section, and ended with drum circle activity.
CIRCLE AND SING: "Kye, Kye Kule" (each day we sang and moved to this as we came into the room and made a circle. Week 2: students made up their own actions like the children I had viewed from South African youtube video.)
"Tue, Tue" week 2 children made up hand clap motions with partner
"Funwe Alafia" week 1 introduced at element time (for call-response) and then continued at week2 and 3 circle time as well as at week 3 drum circle time.
"Head and Shoulders", "Head and Shoulders, Baby, 1,2,3) - week 3 this was to demonstrate how African Americans changed American music
"Swing Low" (call and response), "Follow the Drinking Gourd" - week 3 spirituals
ELEMENTS- Rhythm (off-beat, syncopation)
Form (call and response, imitation)
TONE COLOR (African percussion instruments - shekere, djembes, talking drums, caxixi, gangkogui bell, mbira into shaker, wood, skin, metal families) I put the vocabulary words with magnets on the chalkboard and we figured out their category. Then I made cards from pictures of the African instruments and children did card sort. WEEK 2 I used cps program for clicker quiz. I put in "answers" which were either pictures of African instruments or symbols of off-beat and other characteristics. Children mde up the questions. Week 3 children took clicker quiz (3-4 questions).
DRUM CIRCLE - WEEK 1 - we discussed "sharing" the beat, leaving holes, rests for others to join in. Also talked about steady beat, feeling the groove. Many classes did get to the groove!
WEEK 2- Kalani has "rumble Ball" on Youtube. We reviewed shaker, wood, skin, metal with this game.
WEEK 3- we played "Ashay, ashay" (from Funwe Alafia) as response and each child took a turn making up a call. ---- Linda Z in FL
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Look at Langston Hughes' poetry.
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From National Children's Folksong Repository collected examples of old timey folksongs Listen to John Cephas (award winning Blues folk artist) sing the ballad John Henry. http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Culdesac/Repository/collectExamples.html recorded 1990 at Carnege Hall -- Karen Ellis
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04/05 I like using African proverbs for rhythm teaching so thought others might like to add to my list. They are great for English language development too: An egg cannot fight with a stone.
If you stub your toe, go on.
When near danger, cry out early.
Helping me, may help you.
If a crocodile deserts the water, he will find himself on a spear.
Giving something to someone does not insure everlasting friendship.
A wanderer cannot know the full meaning of a home.
I wanted to bathe but did not expect to fall into a pond.
A turtle knows where to bite another turtle.
The man who has bread to eat does not appreciate the severity of a famine. ….
Yoruba If nothing touches the palm leaves they do not rustle…..
Ashanti His opinions are like water in the bottom of a canoe, going from side to side. …
Efik It takes a village to raise a child……..
The things in a pond are different from the things outside of the pond.
Speak in silver, answer in gold.
A person used to a donkey doesn't ride a horse. -- Sue Michiels
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02/05 JUNIOR HIGH
Check out the beautiful John Williams song "Dry Your Tears Afrika" from the movie "Amistad" (the film would be a wonderful social studies lesson). The words to the song are from a beautiful poem by Bernard Dadie from Ivory Coast (English lit. connection). It was first written in French, then translated into English, then in to Mende for the song.....gorgeous music and one of my favorites! -- Judy in Wi.
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I would begin with an African market place. In the past I have had kids wearing twin bed sheets or real African material and they have entered the auditorium from every doorway singing and dancing as they came in. I have done it singing and moving to Funga Alafia. One group was on the stage playing djembes and shekeres to keep the beat. Some kids carried baskets on their heads and others wrapped dolls around on their backs. One group stepped onto the stage using the risers to go up. Two students usually carry baskets of shekeres or wood blocks which are then distributed for the next song/dance. Two other groups went and staged themselves on risers on the stage. There was African material suspended from above and I had some African masks and statues in strategic places. Not everyone got as far as the stage so there were kids dancing and singing in the aisles.
The audience was encouraged to join in. Gradually some children left after a welcoming to the market and an explanation of what we were going to do ie a brief history of African music. Some children stayed as part of the scenery during the whole performance. Individual classes came and performed songs and dances, one group did a drum circle using authentic African rhythms......
We did Sansa Kroma (talk to Judith Cook Tucker about that.)Judith 's Book and CD (Let Your Voice be Heard) are a year's worth of teaching material alone on music from Ghana and Zimbabwe with fantastic photos. One class did African rhythms with just everyday objects....cheese graters, frying pans, cafeteria food cans (empty and clean), shakers made out of yogurt drink pots(with 6 beans in them), kindergarten wood blocks, and body percussion. I look forward to doing this each year. There are many CDs that I use but probably one of my favorites is by the African Children's Choir called It Takes a Whole Village. (www.fitw.com) as the proceeds go to a non-profit organization to help African children. It has songs in English and other languages. I usually find great Nonesuch Explorer CDs at Borders each year which have great photos to show the kids eg. Ancient Ceremonies Dance Music and songs where there are women carrying plates of food on their head while dancing. I think you will find some of my ideas in the archives
http://www.musick8.com/listarchive/ViewMail.tpl
Here are a few song ideas: Share the Music grade 2 p282Martin Luther King Nigerian Boat Song p106/7, Git on board p157, Allroun' the Brickyard play party game p318 Kye kye kule call resonse from Ghana The Music Connection gr 4: The Little Shekere by Sweet Honey in the Rock p10 The Music Connection grK p36 dinner Music from Zaire THe Music connection gr 1 Everybody ought to know p240 One of my favorties to end with is Teresa's I Have a Dream (MK8)
I have two books which I use a lot for black history but they actually could be the framework for a program ....just never done it yet: Ashanti to Zulu - African Traditions by Margaret Musgrove iSBN0-8037-0308-2 This could be like a narrated fashion show. a piedpiper book/ Dial books for Young Readers A is for Africa by Ifeoma Onyefulu ISBN 0-14-05622-2 Puffin Books www.penguinputnam.com/readers $5.99 fantastic color photos of Nigeria.
In the past I have had kids paint the equivalent of kente cloth on paper which they have worn as sashes if you don't want to do the material drapery idea.
I also have made the equivalent of mud cloth with old sheets cut into strips and dyed with very strong coffee and tea solutions....then I've sewn the strips together again. It would really be more authentic looking to use brown Rit dye. -- Sue Michiels
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For Black History Program Ideas Try the American Folklife Center's A Teachers Guide to Folklife Resources
http://www.loc.gov/folklife/teachers/all.php
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04/02 http://tinyurl.com/2ttyr - Contributed by JoHanna Beebe
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04/02 Kim and Reggie Harris, who have created an entire kit about the Underground Railroad featuring one of their albums (Music of the Underground Railroad) also have some wonderful historical information on their website.
For links to varied info and other related URR sites:
http://www.kimandreggie.com/ugrr.htm
For background they've prepared: (scroll to the bottom of this webpage)
http://www.kimandreggie.com/steal_cd.htm - Contributed by Judith Cook Tucker www.worldmusicpress.com
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04/02 Arrange a carnival. We did this recently at our school sport's day. Each group chose a different theme for their presentation e.g. one group was Mexican. They color coordinated their costumes, hats etc. and learnt and performed the 'macarena'.
Another group chose street minstrels as their theme. We painted their faces and they too, color coordinated their costumes. They chose a Cape Carnival song to perform, as the so-called "Cape Coon Carnival" is a very popular event here in South Africa. We also had Zulu dancers, with traditional drumming etc.
However, this idea has endless possibilities and can be extended to all sorts of ethnic and traditional music. It also enables the learners to learn more about the cultural aspects of other groups.
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01/02 If you're intersted, I have a lesson on this at www.usamusic.org Scroll through the lessons until you see my name (Andrea Cope). It might be useful, but then again, it might not! It's more about decoding the language.
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01/01 I have a lesson where I put several line of numbers 1-12. This allows me to use different meters in the beat, which African Drumming uses. I circle the numbers of the beats that I want the student to play and put the instrument name at the beginning of the number line. I go through each line practicing with clapping. Then I begin to layer the clapping and eventually use the instruments. It is real cool to here the kids doing this ensemble!
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01/02 Lesson in Mixed Meters
Your paper should look something like this:
Big Drum 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Medium Drum 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Small Drum 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Wood Block 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Claves 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Small Cowbell 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Large Cowbell 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Guiro 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Maracas 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Now, for the Big drum, circle these numbers 1, 5, 9
Medium Drum, circle 1, 4, 7, 10
Small Drum, circle 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11
Wood Block, circle 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
Claves, circle 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12
Small Cowbell, circle 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12
Large Cowbell, circle 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12
Guiro, underline 1,2 4,5 7,8 10,11 (these are the scrape beats)
Maracas, circle all numbers 1-12
The circled numbers are the beats the instruments play. I usually start with just the drums then layer the other instruments as sectioned on the paper. By the time we get done, we have a whole lot of meters piled on top of each other and the students love to listen to themselves and how cool it all sounds together!
02/04 I found this reference to the Underground RR that has a lesson on this famous song which is included in a unit of the RR. It explains in detail the meaning of the song and gives a very detailed lesson plan.
BACK to African Topics
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MOVEMENT, DANCE
AFRICAN PLANTING DANCE directions: This dance was taught to us by some visiting performers at an assembly. I can't tell you its origin but here it is:
Dancers in circle mime raking, throwing seed, rain, sun, and harvesting.
Accompaniment:
Agogo or cowbell: ta ta ti ti ta (put these words to it "Lets go to the fields)
drum & shaker 1: ti ti ta, ti ti ta, ti ti ti ta ti ta(last part syncopated) words: gotta go, gotta go, gotta gath-er the grain drum & shaker 2: ta ta ta q.rest: (rake, rake, rake rest) (we used to say hoe, but stopped for obvious reasons!)
Begin with steady beat and add in other instruments. Dancers should start moving about circle swinging arms with bent legs ("African style") and then begin to mime each action. Start with raking, go once fully around the circle then begin to throw seed, and so on. Last action is harvesting the food into a "basket arm".
This is quite effective but loses a lot in translation.
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PROGRAM IDEAS
I did an MLK concert last year (Actually, it was my 3rd Grade class' idea, they insisted!) We sang "I Have a Dream" and "Free at Last" from MK8, "We Shall Overcome" from Macmillan's 4th Grade Music & You, "Martin Luther King" from Macmillan's 2nd Grade Music & You, "Let There be Peace on Earth", and "Abraham, Martin, and John" from I don't remember where! It is a great song from the 60's, Simon & Garfunkel, perhaps? I used excerpts from a lovely little book called Martin Luther King Day by Linda Lowery (ISBN 0-590-42379-7) that I found in a Scholastic Book Order, to tell the story of MLK's life and worked the songs in at appropriate times. One of my students (who happens to be part African-American in a very white school district), had written (of his own volition, not as an assignment) his interpretation of MLK's I Have a Dream speech, and shared it with me. I asked him to read his essay during the concert, and he did, beautifully, dressed in a suit and looking very much like a young MLK. Needless to say, it was a good thing that I was conducting instead of singing, because I was choked with tears. This student had been having some severe behavior problems in my class and the regular classroom up to the point that we started learning Teresa's "Free at Last". When we decided to do an MLK concert, this young man suddenly found whatever he needed in the music to effect a huge change in attitude and behavior that lasted for the rest of the year in music class (and at least for a while in his other classes). His parents (divorced) and grandparents all attended the evening performance and shared with me that the songs their son had been practicing at home had given them a great deal of strength while their 6th grade daughter recuperated from back surgery. It is amazing how the little things in our teaching reach out and touch other's lives. I can't help but believe that MLK was looking down upon us and smiling that day.
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I would also do "Free At Last" from last year's MK8...we did it last year and the kids loved it...also a good place to start a study of MLK's famous speech that ended with those words.
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The composer, James Weldon Johnson, is also a prominent African-American poet so maybe you could have the kids read some of his poetry as part of the program.
Also, for older students, show some of the stylistic elements of American music that can be traced back to their African American roots. My students are always amazed to find out that the banjo is an African American invention! Also, they have been surprised when we listen to Country, Bluegrass, Gospel, Rock and Roll, etc., to analyze all the black influence the book and tape which the last person was referring to is entitled: Shake It To The One That You Love The Best. it comes complete with the cassette tape and the book with the melody, words, wonderful pictures/illustrations of art, and game ideas to be used along with the songs. the kids love this YEAR 'ROUND and not just for one month. these songs are old songs in a traditional black/Afro-American style. it's fantastic! hope you and everyone else can get ahold to it. Some of the book stores (B.Daltons, Barnes & Nobles, etc. carry this item). ENJOY ! It doesn't have an address because it's not a mailing list. Click on Windows, and under that click on Netscape News.Then click on File and under that click on Add Newsgroup. In the space provided, type "alt.music.african"
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Your students might enjoy studying some biographical info on some of the African American music greats, like Scott Joplin, Dizzy Gillespie, Stevie Wonder (very inspirational story), the Fiske Jubilee Singers, etc
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Most famous for creating hundreds of products from ordinary peanuts and sweet potatoes, such as paint, glue, cheese, soap, rubber, milk, and coffee. Who was it? Thurgood Marshall George Washington Carver Frederick Douglass
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The art teachers at my school and I are collaborating on the art and music of African American heritage that will result in an evening of the arts, called "i see the rhythm" (based on the book by the same name by Toyomi Igus). Each grade has music/movement and an art activity. The artwork will be displayed in the auditorium and the cafeteria as well as presented in a Powerpoint show. Each school in our division received $500. from our local Arts Commission to use for showcasing the arts.
Kindergarteners are sponge painting 12" x 45" kente cloths that they will wear while performing "Jambo" by Ella Jenkins.
1st graders are making African masks that they will use while singing "Ifetayo" (Love brings happiness) arranged by Margaret DuGard. I've got 5th grade girls that will lead them down the aisles while singing, then do a B section up on stage, and exit to the A section again.
2nd graders are going to do "Scat Cat" (Mk-8) complete with berets and sunglasses. Their art project was to create a picture in the style of Faith Ringold where she is flying over somewhere she wants to go; it is "framed" by a border of 3" quilting fabric squares.
3rd graders are doing a stone-passing game (thanks to those who answered my request for how best to present this - I've decided to have them in the semi-circle that someone suggested) - and possibly another class will do "Ezekiel Saw De Wheel" with Orff instruments. Their art project is a spider's web with a 3-D "Anansi".
4th graders are working on "BAGgie Boogie Woogie" (from Mk-8), and a group of go-getters are going to do "Oh When the Saints". In art, they are doing jazz posters for the event.
5th graders will perform "Follow the Drinking Gourd", "blues" songs that they have written themselves (making up our snow days on Saturday was a popular topic!), a cool ragtime piece for recorders and xylophones by Chris Landriau, and a jazz round from the Share the Music series. In art, they studied the artist Romare Beardon, who did collages of many jazz artists. They are making their own collages of their choice of jazz artist, learning how to draw the instrument (in music, we talked about what instruments were used in the different forms of jazz). For the evening performance, we will have students take digital pictures of selected pieces of artwork and put them into a powerpoint presentation to be shown during the musical performances where appropriate, and by themselves with the appropriate musical accomp. (i.e., music from the era or artist in the 5th grade collages). So the computer teacher is involved too.
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SONGS
Amani Utupe (about peace & courage)is very simple to learn & very beautiful. It's not a holiday song, but certainly fits the spirit. - Mary Grebe, Shenendehowa Central School Music Department, Clifton Park, NY
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01/07 CHILDREN GO WHERE I SEND THEE
1. Sing it a couple times. It is so repetitive. That is all it takes.
2. Try out a few really cute , small kids with good pitch to be the "little bitty baby."
3. Place that kid front and center
4. Select two strong singers for row two [Paul and silos]
5. Three for row three
6 and so on until you have 10 rows in the form of a large triangle.
7 have everybody kneel.. Most of the time but pop up for their solo/duet/trio/quartet/ensemble part. This takes some practice until everyone remembers to stand up and sing every verse.
8. This takes a minimum of 55 kids.. If you have more than that just put all the rest on verse 10. If you have fewer I think it best to have just one person on each solo. Its a lot of fun. It is Oolong but the parents love it too. They get to see their little darlings.
9. I recommend self accompaniment of possible so you can adjust for
human error. It makes those slip-ups more humorous too. -- Anne Brazil
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CHRISTMAS around the world (Click on country at top): http://northpole.net/world.htm#IRELAND
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CHRISTMAS: 12/05 http://snipurl.com/i33r -- Heri Za Krismas (Merry Christmas!Swahili) - Sab (6-PACK) List price $9.90 Your price $8.42 About Heri Za Krismas (Merry Christmas!Swahili) - Sab (6-PACK) For choir. Choral/Vocal (Choral Performance Music). Published by Alfred Publishing. (23559) 6-PACK includes six original copies of this piece. It's a multicultural "Merry Christmas" sung on a combination of Swahili and English texts. A strong African pulse drives this original music, which includes a chorus from the traditional "Joy to the World." Try something different for the holidays and incorporate authentic rhythm instruments or the optional SoundTrax CD. Staging is featured on "Follow Me to the Top!" DVD #23853, VHS #23855 - Patricia Albritton
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01/02 Beautiful song "DRY YOUR TEARS AFRICA" from Amistad. The song is not African but is by John Williams.He does use the Mende language spoken by the slaves on the Amistad....a very moving song! I did it with my 3-4-5 choir....difficult but they did it beautifully. Lots of social studies connections of course.
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FAVORITES: Do, Lord, Wade in the Water, Follow the Drinking Gourd
Other favorite Black History Songs: O, Happy Day!, Harriet Tubman, Under the Bamboo Tree - Ragtime, We Shall Overcome, Siyahamba, Kwaheri, Funga Alafia -- Rhonda Schilling, Madison WI
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02/05 Freedom, Freedom (Tune: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star) Freedom, freedom, let it ring,
"Let it ring," said Dr. King.
Let us live in harmony
Peace and love for you and me.
Freedom, freedom, let it ring.
"Let it ring," said Dr. King -- Sue Michiels
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We did a stone passing (used beanbags) to "FUNWE ALAFIA". That song is very great to use with drumming, too. We talked about how African villages really cooperated. We had recently gone through 3 hurricanes here in Florida and had experienced a few days to a week without power. I tried to relate that to how our society might change if we had months of no power. Would we have markets in the Winn Dixie parking lots? Where would we go to get water? Would we interact with our neighbors more? Did they help out neighbors more after the hurricanes? How did they entertain themselves without TV, video games, etc. Discussed Drum leader from villages and their important position.
06/09 FUNGA ALAFIA Partnered with This treatment of the African chant, "Funga Alafia" will probably be known to some of the older folks here. It's very easy (too easy for 5th grade?)and do-able.
1. Teach the chant, Funga Alafia
2. Teach the "Tom, Tom Gready Gut" poem for the purpose of learning the ostinato percussion parts, then start your layering. You could try your hand drums on the 1st part (ta, ta, titi ta), your seed rattles & shakers on the 2nd part (titi ta titi ta), and have the cowbells / agogo bells do the 3rd, "Eat all the meat up" part (synco-pah ta ta).
3. Teach the arm/hand movement poem to be used as an interlude
In performance you could have the students start with the percussion parts, adding one at a time, two bars per entrance times three could equal six bar introduction. Then have the students continue with the regular Funga Alafia chant together with the instruments for another eight bars. The instruments can stop while everyone recites the English language poem, "With my thoughts I welcome you ..." along with the motion for another five bars, then finish up with with ostinato intrument parts and chant one more time together.
I just spotted at least one, very basic dance step version on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxrkwEgAq00&feature=related
It's described there as a Liberian song of welcome. I think I may also try the dance steps shown on that YouTube video with my younger students.
FUNGA ALAFIA|_ | |_ | | |_ | |_ | Z d' d' s l s m s mi sFunga A - laf-ia, ashay ashay
|_ | |_ | | |_ | |_ | Z d' d' s l s m m r d Funga A- laf-ia, ashay ashay
|_ | |_ d |_ | |_ d m s m s l s m rAshay, Ashay Ashay, Ashay
|_ | |_ | | |_ | |_ | Z d' d' s l s m m r dFunga A-laf -ia, ashay ashay
Percussion Poem (Divide into three group ostinato): | | |_| | ||: Tom, Tom Greedy Gut :||
|_| | |_| | ||: Greedy Gut, Greedy Gut :||
|_ | |_ | | ||: Eat all the meat up :||
Motions poem: With my thoughts I welcome you
[Both hands to top of head, both hands outstretched at hip level]
With my words I welcome you (Hands to either side ob mouth, then hands outstretched at hip level]
With my heart I welcome you [Hands to heart, then hands outstretched at hip level]
See, I have nothing up my sleeves [Point to eyes, then show upen palms with nothing in them, then run hands along opposite wrists where sleeves would be]
Explain what expression "Nothing up my sleeves" means. I often clumsily show a magic trick and let them spot how I'm hiding something in my sleeves and talk about how it could be a weapon, etc.
SYMBOLS KEY: |_ one eighth note, |_| two eighth notes, | quarter note, |. dotted quarter note, d half note, d. dotted half note, o whole note, 7 eighth rest, Z quarter rest, *:|| * repeat sign
d = do, r = re, m = mi, f = fa, s = so, l = la, t = ti, d' = high dot, etc. – on behalf of David Saphra
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06/07 A few years ago I created an Acrostic worksheet on which students had to write a fact about spirituals for each letter of the word Spiritual. From their ideas, I created a bulletin board. The final product was:
Started with the slaves, Passed from singer to singer, Includes call and response, Religious meaning, Included syncopated rhythms, Talked about the Bible, Underground Railroad, A way to communicate, Led slaves to freedom, Secret code -- Judy Jackson
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01/07 FUNGA ALAFIA (Liberia) It is sung in fractured Yoruba. I did it this year with K-6 and accompanied on Djembe, and all of the kids loved it. They still sing it around school. -- Karissa
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08/02 FUNGA ALAFIAK
I did a fun activity with Funga Alafia with my 5th graders. I made a rondo out of the song. I had three statons in the room with three different things to do to the music Station one is the singers. Station two is the djembe drums. (I have three) Station three is some xylophones, soprano and Bass.
Intro: xylophones playing do so pattern 8 counts)
A Section: Singing the Song, accompanied by xylophones
B spoken part "with my words, I welcome you...")
A SInging again with xylophones
C Playng the djembes (16 counts)
A singing one last time. w/xylos of course I divided the class into three groups and rotated them so everyone got to sing and play. It was pretty successful.
I spoke with a Nigerian musician named Francis Awe of the Nigerian Talking Drum Ensemble (http://www.nitade.com/) about Funga Alafia. He says it is Nigerian and that the words are in Yoruba and are pronounced fun-wa la-lafia (not funGa). He said that there is no such word as funga (with a hard g). His translation was "Give us Peace" for fun-wa and "amen" for "ashay". He said the choreography and words (We welcome you with our thoughts, etc) were western add-ons and not Nigerian. So Share the Music is mostly correct (at least about the language and origin of the song.) Fun-wa-la-lafia (the way he pronounced it) is "give us peace". -- Contributed by Dianne in San Diego
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04/05 KINDERGARTEN: Che Che Koolay and Tue, Tue... They might try Funga Alafia, too....
My kids still love the Ella Jenkins Pole Pole. It's a Swahili echo song.
There's a song in World of Music K called "My Head and My Shoulders" which my K's did one year when we needed a song from Africa. It's not one of the versions we usually hear for these words. One more word is left out with each of the eight suggested repetitions. It is marked as a Zulu Children's Game Song.
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04/05 KAORI DREAMTIME (Shenanigans) that's not traditional, but very good. It mentions a lot of the animals to which the kids improvise movements. -- Denise Phillips
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UNIT - KYE KYE KULE: I did a month of Africa with my students. I was in a portable temporarily and only brought out big drums, CD player, large cut-outs of lions, monkeys, apes, etc.and a few rhythm instruments.
There are so many pieces available in the Silver Burdette series we bought a couple years ago.
"KYE KYE KULE" WONDERFUL call-response with actions that the children love. (Also in STM) It's from Ghana, I believe. SB has a 10 minute portion on a video that is super.
"Tue Tue" Very fun! There are actions to this, clap with partner, then turn around and clap with partner behind you...it speeds up, very impossible and ends in lots of laughter!
06/05 Kindergarten Songs: Kye Kye Kule, Oboo Asi Me Nsa, Sansa Kroma, Tu wey'i tu wey'i, Ta Ta Te ye ye ye, from Let Your Voice Be Heard and also from Komla Amoaku's book African Songs and Rhythms for Children, www.worldmusicpress.com
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04/02 LOWER ELEMENTARY
This Little Light of Mine
"Sing About Martin." It's found in the 1st grade Share the Music series. On the 3rd repetition, we had the audience do the echo part. I cannot tell you how much this energized the children. All present really REALLY loved the song. It's easy and very effective.
"Follow the Drinking Gourd" vol 13 No.3
"Kum ba ya", "Miss Mary Mack" or "Hambone"
"NAMPAYA OMAMA” (Making Music) A piece about how mama went to the market and brought back treats for the children...We formed a circle and the "mama" or "papa" walked around the inside of the circle. She/he had a basket with beanbags on her/his head and handed a beanbag to each child in time to the music. The children stood in a circle with hands out, one foot in front, sort of swaying forward and back to the music.
"MONKEY MONKEY MOO" from D.R.U.M. by Jim Solomon was a great drumming piece. Not authentic African but related to how African people used names of tribes and villages to remember drumming patterns. We used silly sentences.- Linda Zaudtke
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O6/15 OBISWANA-Game
GAME A: (each student has an bean bag placed in front of them)
1) Pick up 2) Tap it on R. knee 3) Tap on L. knee 4) pass to Left.
GAME B (hard floor) (rock hidden beneath one cup - each student has one cup face down in front of them)
1) R. hand taps & grabs cup
2)Slide cup to right without lifting it off the floor
GAME C (students have one rhythm in hand)
Beats 1) & 2) Hit stick on floor 3)Pass stick to right, placing in front of next student 4) Pick up stick
(Can do this with a partner or small group)
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06/06 OBOO ASI ME NSA - OBWISANA
(It is in Let Your Voice Be Heard - www.worldmusicpress.com)
"Grab, pass, thumbs, thumbs". Grab the stone (I used shells), pass to the right, point thumbs up twice. I also made an elimination game out of it by stopping at random times and selecting a shell (the shells had names based on their physical characteristics) to be "out". That person then called the next out shell (couldn't look, tho). When enough of them were "out", they started a circle of their own. -- PattyO in AR
I say "grab, pass, thumbs up". 4 beats: pick up on 1, pass to the R and put down on 2, thumbs up on 3 and 4. I use small plastic cups instead of stones. They are placed upside-down and can be picked up easily by small hands. I put a small pin-hole in the bottom of one cup. I stop the music at different times - whoever has the cup with the hole in the bottom is out. Process of elimination makes it more fun. Also, if they have more than 1 cup, or no cup, they are out because they messed up the beat. I play with 3rd grade at the beginning of the year - they LOVE it! -- Pat Price
I have kids who get "out" in games be the "rhythm section"- chose a non-pitched instrument to keep the beat, & they sort of form a larger circle around those who are still "in". Our circles are teeny-tiny in some rooms (I do 4 schools a la carte), but the kids adapt so quickly to space & noise limitations. They're pretty amazing! Mary Grebe, Shenendehowa Central School Music Department, Clifton Park, NY
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09/03 ‘OBWISANA’: There is no such thing as "obwisana"!!! That is a corruption of OBOO ASI ME NSA (the rock crushed my hand) from Ghana. It is a rock passing game from Ghana, in Akan. While singing, the players pass a rock in various rhythms and rhythm patterns that they create. Tempo increases gradually. The object of the game can be twofold: one is to maintain a steady beat and position the rocks precisely, the other can be as a game of elimination: to not make a mistake or cause your neighbor to make a mistake so that you stay in the game. More info in Let Your Voice Be Heard! Songs from Ghana and Zimbabwe (book/audio cd set by me, A Kobena Adzenyah, Dumi Maraire, available from Music K8 Marketplace and other music ed dealers).
02/05 SING ABOUT MARTIN (echo) Sing about caring (echo)
Sing about peace (echo) All around the world (echo)
C D F A A C D F G G
C D F G A G F D F
Second verse the same except second line is "sing about freedom" -- Stacey DeVaney
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Sorida is a hand game from Zimbabwe, and was probably originally taken from our book, Let Your Voice Be Heard! Songs from Ghana and Zimbabwe because it had never been written down before that. THe word is a multipurpose greeting like jambo in Swahili, Saalam in Arabic and Shalom in Hebrew. While you sing the song, you play a sort of pattycake game, starting with sweeping hands apart in a large circle on sori- and clapping on -da. We featured it with all hand gestures and background in Music K8 Magazine, volume 2 number 5 pg 51.
Funga Alafia had a long thread a few weeks ago- perhaps you'll find it all in the MK8 archives or someone who did that research will fill in here. The typical gestures done to it are not indicated in the words, which are also a sort of blessing and welcome. If I remember, it turned out to be from Nigeria.
Other resources, besides Let Your Voice Be Heard! include Komla Amoaku's book/cd African Songs and Rhythms for Children (Schott). - Contributed by Judith Cook Tucker
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TRAIN SONG: In the folk song "Chicka Hanka," the group chants or speaks "chicka hanka, chicka hanka" while the leader holds onto the last note of every phrase. This song can be found in "Echoes of Africa in Folk Songs of the Americas" by Beatrice Landeck or "This is Rhythm" by Ella Jenkins.
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What I would (ahem) really like to recommend is, A MIGHTY MAN, a song that has a midi file over at the site that Deborah Jeter set up for me at: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/8075/ My own students in the Bronx love singing this song, and the adults enjoy hearing them sing it. If it's too hard, just leave out the bridge ("And Martin's work...") and they should be able to handle it. (If you have Music Time, you can download score free)
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Another very appropriate song from MUSIC K-8 is "I Have A Dream" from Vol.1, No. 2. Both "Free At Last" and "I Have A Dream" are also available as Singles Reproducible kits. You will see more details on our web site.
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Down By The Riverside
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Orff songs of David Saphra (free)http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/8075/ [Orff arrangement of Guidon Bulford (black astronaut)]
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We Shall Overcome and Lift Every Voice and Sing
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Spirituals: Angel Band Swing Low Sweet Chariot All Night All Day This Little Light
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For the song "Celebrate Kwanzaa" I added the following verse which includes the 7 tenets of Kwanzaa (combining the one on "community", ie, "Work Together"): Kwanzaa, Kwanzaa, Celebrate Kwanzaa. Work together with Unity and Purpose Self-Determination, Creative and Faithful. Kwanzaa, Kwanzaa, Celebrate Kwanzaa. Movements are as follows: Starting position: Feet together. Arms bent in front, clinched fists about chin level. 1. Kwan- zaa (bounce both elbows down) (Rt Elbow point to side, look Rt) 2. Kwan- zaa (bounce both elbows down) (Lt Elbow point to side, look Lt) 3. Celebrate (roll hands in front) 4. Kwan- zaa (bounce both elbows down) (both Elbows point to side, look Up) Work Together With (pound fists on top of the other in front, arms are straight forward) Unity and (Slap hands on knees) Purpose (Pivot, Turning and facing Rt) Self-Determination (Bounce both hands on knees, soar with rainbow hands overhead while turning to face front) Cre-a- tive (Step in place Rt) (Step in place Lt) Faith- ful (Clasp Hands in front) (thrust clasped hands up) Repeat 1. thru 4. Freeze I was so very pleased with how this song/movements turned out. My second graders performed it, but I have every grade wanting to learn it...in addition to some 4th graders wanting to perform it at our Talent Show in March.
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"Wade in the Water" (movement)comes to mind immediately. vignettes from the Addie books.... Adiie is an American Girl doll that has a series of six books that tell about her life. Use a djimbe for the down beat and claves for beats 2 and 4. I grow Hopi Indian rattle gourds
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My favorite is "Ise Oluwa" in the Music Connection grade 2. (This is one I love just because it always does something to me deep down, especially when the lower voices come in.) It is also repetitive and your children could enhance it with instruments such as the kola nut shaker and agogo bells. Do you have any parents or local dancers familar enough with African dance to teach a few simple steps to go along with this one? Another good one that invites participation is "Spider the Drummer" from ..... (The name of the book went totally out of my head just then) It is a book you can order from West or any other catalog music store. It has a tape to help the children along until you are ready for them to work on their own..
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I can't remember all the music we used-I'll have to find a program at school, but we used Banuwa, The Lion Sleeps tonite, O Sifuni Mungu, Siyahamba (we are walking in the light of God), and I'm sure there were more-oh, we did a little scene from "George of the Jungle" and that was before the movie!
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"Heart of the Forest" album of Baka Pigmy music called "Nursery Rhyme". We tap the beat to it. The words are (Bumalena eyaya ye eh, Bumalena eyaya ye
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African songs--a few years ago we did a whole year of Africa."Roots and Branches" was a great resource, as was Music K8---check their index. Our spring concert was all African music. We began with "Sorida" from MK8 and ended with "Go Well and Softly," a Zulu parting song. Because I lived and taught in Africa(Sierra Leone) for two years this was alot of fun for me.We made rhythm instruments out of "found objects" just like Sierra Leonean children do.
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I forgot - we just finished one in a workshop called "Allunde, Alluia". Beautiful number and we did it with all ages of children - I know third grade could handle it easily.
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The Vulani Ringi Ring is a great dancing song. And the kids *love* hearing the songs that are sung in Zulu. Several of them have repeated phrases so are pretty easy to pick up quickly. And most of the songs work out great with Orff accompaniments.
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Dance: - Bele Kawe from Phyllis Weikart's _Teaching Movement and Dance_, Rhythmically Moving album #3.
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- The Nigerian Boat Song (Eh Soom Boo Kawaye) - it's in Share the Music Grade 2 or Music and You grade 3. My kids love it. - Take Time in Life - I think it's in Share the Music grade 4; it has a singing game with it. - Tina Singu - Share the Music grade 4, Exploring Music 4 - Obwisana - I think it's in Share the Music grade 4; it's in Share the Music someplace, but I learned it at an in-service a few years ago, so I don't remember exactly where I ran across it again in a series text. Ladysmith Black Mambazo CD, "Gift from the Tortoise"? Try "Siyahamba," "Banuwa," "A Ram Sam Sam," and "Sorida," all from SBG Music Connections. Music K8 has "A Ram Sam Sam" as well Orff instruments with "Gift of the Tortoise," Ecologyand/or Martin Luther King . The other day I stumbled across some sample music in our school music closet. I found the following.The Dream Lives On! by Mary Donnelly, published through the Sing Out Series, Heritage Music Press
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Middle school children really enjoy the song Follow the Drinking Gourd. (Elementary too) There is also a video of the same name. I haven't seen the video but have heard good things about it. I'm sure it is available through the general music sources (West, Music in Motion, Friendship House, etc.)
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I like to have my 5th graders write their own code map. after we learn the song, and are pretty familiar with it, I give the students a "homework" assignment to write down landmarks between home and school. (If you have kids who get off at the same bus stop, they can work as a team). They then turn those landmarks into clues (for example: one student passed a fountain. His clue: where it's always raining). We then work these clues into the melody of the drinking gourd. The team sings the song for the class, and the class tries to guess the landmarks. Takes a while, but it sure is fun!!! -------------------- In the McGraw-Hill (1995 ed.) 5th grade text on p.55 it states that "Funga Alafia" is a greeting song from western Africa. In the teacher's edition it also says that.... " 'Alafia' means 'good health' or 'peace' in Yoruba, an African language" and that "...'Ah-shay' is similar to the word 'oh-shay' which means 'thank you'."
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Someone recently asked about music from Mozambique. Probably some of the most important music from that area is the beautiful xylophone music of the Chopi people. Search Chopi+music on the web for some information and sources. Also, Smithsonian Folkways lists three recordings from Mozambique. I have found them to be my best resource for authentic African music. Their phone # is 800-410-9815 and they also have a website.
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Our first graders made African masks from tag board which they drew and painted a face and designs, then cut and stapled the corners to make them 3D and tied raffia on the side. They sang a song called "Ifetayo", in Share the Music 1st grade, but we did a different version that I had by Margaret DuGard - great Orff parts that I had some 5th graders play to accompany them. They also wore black so that the attention would be on the masks.
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The 3rd graders did the stone passing game "Obwa si men sa" in Share the Music 3rd grade (and just about everywhere!). They painted stones in art and used them in our performance. As suggested on the list, I had them sit in a semi-circle. They wore black and I made Kofi hats from African fabric- I sewed a rectangle about 5" x 26" and put velcro on the ends - that went around their heads and velcroed in the back. One student had the box of rocks by her and the student on the other end had an empty box. They began by tapping their fists with thumbs up on their knees, and the student with the box of rocks began to pass them. As each person got a rock placed in front of them, they started the passing pattern. This created a wave of arms each direction as the rocks were passed - it really was fun, and impressive.
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"O Sifuni Mungu" is my favorite!!! First Call has recorded a version of it. JW Pepper has it in several different vocal arrangements.
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I"ZOMO THE RABBIT" and "Tale of the Kudu" are great folktales that the children can act out and add instrumentation. There are about 3-4 other tales in SB. Really rich resource.
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RECORDINGS
10/01 Call Response Music: There is a recording called "Rhythm of the Pridelands." It was some of the music by the Lion King guy (not Elton John, but the African music guy) that didn't make it to the movie. It's a GREAT CD! There is a song called "One By One" on that recording that would be perfect for call response.
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10/01 Try this site, I saw them at a conference I went to and they have great stuff. Lots of multi-cultural instruments that I had not seen before at resonable prices. They also had a great selection of tapes/cd's from all over.
http://www.creativediversity.com/music.htm
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There is a relatively new tape of children's music that includes a book of scores, illustrated by African Amercan artists.($15?) It's called "Shake It To the One That You Love The Best" The tape is terrific, the songbook, lovely. One side has a collection of lively songs like "Little Sally Walker," "Miss Lucy," "Miss Mary Mack."The other side has mellow lullaby-like songs. I have seen it at our area children's bookstores.
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Rhythm of the Rocks has three songs from and about the continent of Africa: Obwisana/Rhythm of the Rocks(Ghana) - a rock game and chant A Rum Sum Sum - (Morocco) - weaving song with verses about children in Morocco
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Everybody Loves Saturday Night(South Africa) - Sung in four languages: Africaan, English, French, Spanish; Cassette $10, CD $15, Songbook $8
The recording won an ALA Notable and a songbook with activities, melodies and chords is also available through FRIENDS STREET MUSIC, 6505 SE 28th, Mercer Island, WA 98040 (206) 232-1078
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Abiyoyo!!!!!! (Pete Seeger classic South African Tale) "Why Mosquitoes buzz in People's ears" Look into "Roots and Branches" published by World Music Press (Danbury Ct.) A great resource of songs from round the world with children singing, plus background information.
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You can always start with Black Mamzambo. They have fabulous recordings in English & Azulu. Ella Jenkins (African American) also does some interesting things with rhythms that are African in origin. They can be done with simple percussion instruments that the kids can make themselves. You could always tie in African music origins and the African American spirituals. Local churches might be a good source of material. Many of the songs sung now have old origins, but continue to be wonderful, uplifting, and easy to learn chants or leader-chorus kinds of things that encourage audiences to participate (a very African practice)
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African American Music/History Wade in the Water was used by Harriet Tubman to warn runaway slaves to wade in the water to throw of the dog/people trackers. It is one of many "map songs," which used secret code messages to give directions for safe passage, link families, and give warnings in the Underground Railroad movement. Other songs like this are "Down by the Riverside" and "Im on My Way" --- In addition to Kathleen Williams remarks, 'Wade in the Water' also concerns the story in the Bible where diseased and infirm people waited for the "Spirit of God " to trouble (move) the waters at Bethesda. They believed that the first one who made it into the water when this was happening would be cured. (See John 5: 1-9). Many Black spirituals have this kind of double meaning.
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The music I ordered from Wingert -Jones in a "Trak Pak" The accompaniment tape/demo has good voices on it with only piano accompaniment. I got the single as a preview in the mail last year. If you don't have a number for them, I can get one for you. It was very affordable, and the trak pak had several styles of music on it. My students are loving this song, since it has sort of a jazzy feel to it. The high note is an e flat. I borrowed a book from a friend that comes with a CD / tape called "Let Your Voice Be Heard." It has authentic African songs and movements along with new and authentic recordings...I love it! It is easy and fun to teach!
There is a relatively new tape of children's music that includes a book of scores, illustrated by African American artists.($15?) One side has a collection of lively songs like "Little Sally Walker," "Miss Lucy," "Miss Mary Mack."The other side has mellow lullaby-like songs. BACK to AfricanTopics
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VIDEOS
See also "Follow the Drinking Gourd" above.
01/02 Another wonderful resource on this topic is the video "The Language you Cry In, the Story of Mende Song." It is a true story about my friend anthropologist Joe Opala and ethnomusicologist Cynthia Schmidt. They found a Gullah woman in Georgia, Mary Moran, who sang a song she didn't know the meaning of. The film tells how they traced to song to Senehun, a Mende village in Sierra Leone where the song is still remembered. It ends with a visit of the Gullah family to the village in Sierra Leone. It is a wonderful example of what an ethnomusicologist does. My kids were fascinated by it(I did have to fast-forward it in a few places). I did it as a follow-up to learning the song "Dry Your Tears, Afrika" which is in the Mende language.
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There is a good video called "Rhythms of the World." It is narrated by Bobby McFerrin and Peter Gabriel. The video shows performers and groups from a variety of places in Africa. It also shows alot of dances. I purchased mine at Amazon.com. ---------------
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WEB SITES
06/06 GULLAH MUSIC (South Carolina) (Song history/development, maps, kid oriented) http://www.knowitall.org/
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02/05 Reading Rainbow also has an excellent "Follow The Drinking Gourd" video, which is carried by MusicK8.com. To see the video:
http://www.musick8.com/store/alphadetail.tpl?productgroup=1055x
This video follows the book with Sweet Honey & the Rock singing; beautiful paintings;-----------------------------------------
08/02 www.africanmusic.org - very good glossary
lots of links & listening examples
www.dancedrummer.com - examples of instruments from Ghana
01/02 www.negrospirituals.com
(African and African American) "Curriculum Studio" to the address where you'll find the "African Music Diaspora". http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/cshtml If you problems with the address, try: www.siba.fi/Kulttuuripalvelut/music.html and click on "Music and Arts Education"
Educational resources
Black History Month: Exploring African American Issues on the Web; All levels, activities
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad - http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/tubman/tubman.html All levels, interactive;
The purpose of Africana.com is to promote understanding of black history and culture. The Africana Blackboard will be the center for many lesson plans as well as a lesson exchange. The exhibits allow students around the world to access images and sounds few could see or hear in their area. Radio Africana lists radio stations worldwide webcasting Black music.
For those of you who are working on an African unit, African animals, rivers (live feed video) www.africam.com would be a way to get regular classroom teachers involved.
For additional Martin Luther King, Jr. and Black History resources, see the African-American Experience section of the TeachersFirst U.S. History section.
http://www.mnh.si.edu/africanvoices/ From the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, this site explores Africa's past and the history of the land and people. Middle School, High School
1) African Odyssey Interactive - a site hosted by ARTSEDGE, created to promote the interactive exchange of ideas, information, and resources between artists, teachers, and students of African art and culture
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Other Student Research Pages (in categories "Cultures," "People," "Themes," and "Times & Seasons") can be found at http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/srphtml
BR>Black Americans and Music lessons on Black composers
Lecture with music in background (list of music and comments to accompany)
The Black Snowman (Lesson): http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=13696
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DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING
10/12 There's a great musical/play by Ruth Roberts, called "I Remember Martin Luther King, Jr." It is probably out of print but you might be able to find a copy through a used book seller. It might get you started to write your own. ---- RitaOglesby
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12/11 SONG: Nice Song at Music Notes ($5.25) http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtdFPE.asp?ppn=mn0036448 (w/piano accomp.)
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06/10 SONG: Martin Luther King was a good, good man.
He had a dream and he took a stand.
He said it doesn't matter 'bout the color of your skin.
What's important is what lies within!
He worked for justice; He worked for peace.
He worked to make a better world for you and me! 1)Say the whole poem as a whole group; let the boys take one line and the girls another;
2)Add an ostinato like "For you and me" or "Mar--tin--Luther King," or "He had a dream." My kids love it.
3)We also do "I Have A Dream" and "Free at Last."
If any of you decide to try the poem, will you let me know how it goes? (email Sandy Toms, address near top of Home Page. --- JoAnne Kucerak
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06/09 SONG: "Sing About Martin" was written by "Miss Jackie" Weisman.
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01/07 IN HONOR OF DR. M. L. KING (Tune: Twinkle, Little Star)
Freedom, freedom, let it ring. Let it ring, said Dr. King.
Let us live in harmony, Peace and love for you and me.
Freedom, freedom, let it ring. Let it ring, said Dr. King.
STICK ACTIVITY
Tapping on the floor the first two lines of only the words Freedom freedom let it ring let it ring....then held sticks on shoulders for "said Dr. King".
No sticks for next line
Sticks at the ready upright position for "peace" then crossed in front for "love" then sticks point for "you" and then to self for "me". then repeat the the Apart actions. - Sue Michiels
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OTHER, MISC.,
DECORATIONS: I had the kids bring in all sort of stuffed animals, and we had a blast decorating-we used lots of green "vines" out of paper, and they were very cretive with the animals-with the Lion King being fairly new, we had a lot of Simbas!
One of the most meaningful programs that I have helped with was several years ago. It was not a "play", per se, but a mix of poetry readings, spirituals, and presentations about famous African-Americans. One of the poems recited was Maya Angelu's "Still I Rise".
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PRONUNCIATION
03/01 Pronunciation rules to Remember:
~MOST IMPORTANT: vowels should be PURE PURE PURE! no diphthonging!
~ use your lip muscles to help create the pure vowel oo sound (u). stick those lips way out!
~ consonants: less asperate than in English. Try to say the k's, t's, p's, etc... without letting a puff of air out, only a little air.
~ Ah sound is pure (said with mouth in one position only) and is more vertical than horizontal mouth position (drop bottom jaw) as oposed to wider mid-western American Ahh sound.
~ "Tu Tu" say with lips frozen protudingly. do not move mouth for each word. as in "Zulu" example above.
~ "Y" pronounced ee with relaxed cheek muscles, makes a sort of throaty grunt at beginning. hard to describe: make ee inside mouth but cheek muscles are relaxed and bottom mouth only slightly opened, not wide/tight like English ee.
~ "key": if that's the real spelling than it's pronounced with short e sound and relaxed face muscles. If however, you wrote "key" because it's pronounced like our English word "key" than pronounce it with a very pure ee sound, DO NOT change position of mouth while saying it.
"Yenge" stress on first syllable, pronounced as in English "ng" said in back of throat, no front of tongue for the n. "g" as in English word "baggie" and e after it can be either pronounced short E or long A sound depending on duration of the note in the song.
Contributed by Sandra Elder
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USING RECORDERS
6/14 AFRICA/RECORDER: One of the great American art forms created by black people, is the blues. You can have them improvise using the notes E, G, A, B and D. This is the E minor pentatonic scale. You can play a blues backing track in the key of E. Or, you can combine lessons and teach them to play a blues progression. They can just play the root note of the blues progression on the recorder. That would be one bar of E, followed by a bar of A, followed by two bars of E, followed by two bars of A, followed by two bars of E, followed by a bar of B, then a bar of A and then two bars of E, or if you do a turnaround, a bar of E and then a bar of B at the end. That is a typical I IV V 12 bar blues.
You could even have them play chords. All the chords are minor! One of the great American art forms created by black people, is the blues. You can have them improvise using the notes E, G, A, B and D. This is the E minor pentatonic scale. You can play a blues backing track in the key of E. Or, you can combine lessons and teach them to play a blues progression. They can just play the root note of the blues progression on the recorder. That would be one bar of E, followed by a bar of A, followed by two bars of E, followed by two bars of A, followed by two bars of E, followed by a bar of B, then a bar of A and then two bars of E, or if you do a turnaround, a bar of E and then a bar of B at the end. That is a typical I IV V 12 bar blues.
You could even have them play chords. When they are on the one chord, have half the class play E, and half the class play G. When they are on the four chord , have half the class play A and half the class play E. When they are on the 5 chord, have half the class play B and half the class play D. When they are on A chord, half the class plays A, and half the class plays C. Again, this will be a minor blues, but it will still work and be cool. A perfect opportunity to talk about how chords are constructed. This will be a minor blues, with a major five chord, but it will still work. You can basically have the kids just play the chords on the downbeat of every measure, while one of them keeps a beat on a drum, and they take turns improvising using the pentatonic scale.----- Gary Heimbauer BACK to African Topics
(Just click on the category you want to view)
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AFRICAN AMERCIAN COMPOSERS
02/04 Notable African American Compsers:William Grant Still --R. Nathaniel Dett --Florence Price-- George Walker-- Leroy Jenkins --Alvin Singelton-- Aldolphius Hailstork-- Tania Leon Anthony-- Davis Jeffrey Humphries.
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06/06 William Grant Still, B. B. King, Ray Charles , The Neville Brothers - did Sister Rosa...a song my kids LOVE!! , Jelly Roll Morton , Louis Armstrong , Will Smith - definitely has clean rap
Queen Latifah (be careful of some lyrics), Leotha Stanley : his most popular collection is: “BE A Friend,” He's a Madison, WI resident and choral director at Mt. Zion Church. -- Rhonda Schilling, Madison WI 06/06 Howard Swanson (on cd’s)
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BOOKS
06/09 I have used “Laughing River” extensively during February, African American month. I teach the kids certain movements each time they hear certain words. like mountains, drums,and river, and we have verbal responses for each of the tribes named. Also there is a dance for the Che che Kule at the end of the book, which we usually learn first. its great for k thru 3rd grade. -- Janet Ryan in Conway Massachusetts http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=j2N4z2YrF2MC&dq=The+Laughing+River+by+Elizabeth+Vega&printsec
I was able to read part of the story and see the Orff parts. Looks great!
The two songs must be Funga Alafia and Che Che Koolay.
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10/08 EXPRESSIONS OF FREEDOM: [This book has a lot] of songs from the African-American heritage and a few "programs" in the back (I wouldn't call them plays). But every song is arranged for Orff ensemble. The Programs are entitled "A Message in song", dealing with hidden messages in slave songs, "Harriet Tubman:From Slavery to Freedom", and "A Conversation with Harriet Tubman". Each program incorporates songs from the book. They're basically all laid out for you. The book is published by Hal Leonard and is the main book in a series about songs and stories from the African-American heritage. -- Jason Bromley - Music Director, Kenton Elementary School, Independence, KY
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06/06 I love "LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD" which is published by our own Judith at World Music Press. It has many examples of authentic African rhythms and songs. The CD and book are excellent. It has a wealth of information. I find that one piece of music can take about four lessons at least to get into and then more of course if you are going to perfect it and really get into the groove for performance! http://www.worldmusicpress.com/bookaudio_africa.htm -- Sue Michiels
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04/05 "MAKE A JOYFUL SOUND", is a great book of Afro-American poets edited by Deborah Slier & illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright & Ying-Hwa Hu. by Scholastic. I has some Langston Hughes poetry, including his "Dreams" as well as a wonderful poem about John Coltrane and jazz.
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10/04 FOLKTALES: I teach a lot of African Folktales. Zomo the Rabbit is a great one.
Also: Traveling to Tondo.
Bringing the Rain to Kaputi Plain
Rabbit makes a Monkey out of Lion
Anassi the Spider Anassi and
The Talking Melon How Frog Went to Heaven
Here's a site where you can get other Folktale names.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0394721179/ref=sib_db_rdr/103-1726443-7643822#reader-page -- Patti Albritton
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10/04 DANCING THE RING SHOUT centers around the African-American praise dance known as the "shout" and call-and-response songs that accompany. See the McIntosh County Shouters website if you've not heard of the ring shout.
http://hometown.aol.com/Shoutforfreedom/Shout.html
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04/02 ONE HUNDRED AND ONE AFRICAN AMERICAN READ ALOUD SOTRIES is also has about famous African American inventors, songs poems and biographies. It is a compilation edited by Susan Kantor published by Black Dog& Levanthal, New York. worth the money. one of the biographical stories is of Alvin Ailey which is a great lead in to showing the dance Revelations. - Contributed by Susan Michiels
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01/03 SONGS OF THE RAINBOW CHILDREN by Cheryl Lavender: My kids love those songs, and don't forget "Roots and Branches," my favorite resource. I think Plank Road carries both of these.
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01/04 WALKING IN THE LIGHT OF FREEDOM by Rene Boyer-Alexander. Each vol. is a collection of numerous slave songs, spirituals, children's plantation song/games, etc. The print music includes simple accompaniment too. There is a bit of introductory background info provided thru out. I got all 3 and am thrilled with the selections offered. - Contributed by Gretchen in IL
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READY TO SING SPIRITUALS: This contains 11 spirituals arranged for unison singing with cd piano accompaniment. The Student parts as well as the actual piano accompaniments are both provided. Very nice treatment of each selection. - Contributed by Gretchen in IL
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LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING: This is a collection of almost every spiritual I've ever heard of. It provides the melody, piano accompaniment, and invaluable background info on each selection. I got this at Amazon.com. - Contributed by Gretchen in IL
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09/03 SONGS OF THE RAINBOW CHILDREN (BOOK AND CD): It is excellent! The music is good, and the games that go with the music are fun. Plenty of room for additional use of instruments by the students.
SONGS OF THE RAINBOWCHILDREN: What a beaut! I taught the first song to an ESOL second grade class and they had such a fun time with it. In the fifth grade we did the dance steps. This is an energetic group. I thought I would jump out the window afterwards...but I didn't. They really got involved and began improvising body movements along with the steps. They had so much fun. I really recommend this collection of South African children's folk songs. The recordings are fabulous and the songs come with games and movement, poetry written by the children Cheryl met in South Africa, pictures and history. An excellent addition for Black History month! DRUMMING LESSONS: It's online lessons for African drumming. http://www.alternativeculture.com/music/rhythm5.htm
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01/02 "OFF TO THE SWEET SHORE OF AFRICA" by a Nigerian woman: It's nursery rhymes retold with African themes and beautiful illustrations. There's so much you can do with these rhymes...add instruments, body percussion, accompaniments, chant, etc.
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01/02 JAHA AND JAMIL WENT DOWN THE HILL: An African Mother Goose" by Virginia Kroll and illustrated by Katherine Roundtree is a great book. The kids have fun listening to the rhyme and then trying to figure out which one it is.
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01/02 "IN THE TIME OF THE DRUMS" by Kim Siegelson, illustrated by Brian Pinkney Hyperion Books for Children, NY 1999.
This picture book is appropriate for up to fifth grade. It's based on an oral account that has been passed down through generations of African-American communities near the Sea Islands of Georgia & South Carolina. It is a sort of ghost story that the Gullah people told. The Gullah were often credited with supernatural powers...
I would pair this book with songs & games of Bessie Jones from the Georgia Sea Islands. You can find these in the book "Step It Down" by Bessie Smith. You can also find one of these games in MK8 Vol. 10 #3 by Judith Cook Tucker. Its called "Uncle Jessie" and is a game song from the islands. There is a lot of good history in the article Judith wrote and an interesting explanation for the lyrics and actions of the game. Other good games include "Draw Me A Bucket of Water" (gr 3 STM & Step It Down, Jump Jim Joe) and "Little Johnny Brown" (Step It Down and Jump Jim Joe) The Bessie Jones versions of the songs get the original credits.
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01/02 HOW TO PLAY DJAMBE a book and CD. The CD has drumming by a Malian drummer. I simplified the instructions alot and had the kids playing several rhythms along with the CD. We had only a few drums so used "water drums," empties from the Culligan Man. The book is at school. Let me know if you want more information on it. There's also a good 3 CD set, The Big Bang, for listening to percussion from all over the world. I also used an old cassette tape of the Ko Thi Dancers from Milwaukee...don't know if it's still available but they did an in service at our school a few years ago and were excellent.
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01/02 VILLAGE DAY There is a wonderful book by Jim Solomon (actually it is a program) that introduces African studies "Village Day"....it was out of print for a while, but I saw it last year at TMEA, either West Music or Music in Motion.
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01/01 THE SINGING MAN, a West Africa folktale by Angela Shelf Medearis - Holiday House Publication. When three brothers "were initiated into manhood, the first decided to become a farmer and the second a blacksmith. But the third, Banzar, wanted to become a musician. The elders objected, saying that music wouldn't put yams in his stomach or tools in his hands to make things to sell in the market place. They suggested he work for the good of the village or leave forever. So Banzar decided to set off for the town of Otolo. Along the way he met a praise singer, a traveling musician, who sang about the history of the African people. How this man helped Banzar fulfill his dream ends this rewarding folktale."
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01/02 You might try to track down one of the old "OUR MUSICAL HERITAGE" videos - the Music of Africa one, which gives a good, accurate overview (although stodgy)of Ghanaian music and instruments. Also, our titles All Hands On! An Introduction to West African Percussion Ensembles (booklet/CD) and Let Your Voice Be Heard! Songs from Ghana and Zimbabwe (book/CD) both available from the Music K8 Marketplace, would give you a good place to start, appropriate for 5 graders.
Jim Solomon has done some wonderful things with kids and drumming, and has published several resources that would help their understanding of interlocking layers of rhythms.
There are a couple of the BEATS OF THE HEART video series (produced by Shanachie - but not sure where to buy them)that feature African music and artists, also Paul Simon's Graceland Concert video.
Finally, Elmer Hawkes, a musician and filmmaker, has produced a film for kids introducing them to life and music in West Africa, and another for East Africa. Go to his website at www.worldstogether.com to see more.
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Here are some answers to my question about the source and language of Funga Alafia: Controversy! interesting how even texts say different things;
Be a friend: A History of African-American Music by Leotha Stanley. It comes with a tape. It costs 24.95. You can order it or save money and check Barnes and Noble (the store, not the web site). The book runs the gamut from spirituals to jazz to blues to R&B to rap.
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Try to get hold of some Anansi folk tales; great for sound, sequencing and dramatization. You could even add your own orff instrument arrangements. There are some wonderful Ghana children's folk songs and games. I went to a workshop a few years ago and we learned that African music, art and life are all intertwined. The patterns in the kenti (spelling?) cloth reflect patterns in music. The background pattern is like the steady beat. The accent colors/designs are like accent rhythms. Since the African rhythms are additive, they are like the cloth patterns because the patterns are added on in layers.
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LET'S GET THE RHYTHM OF THE BAND by Cheryl Warren Mattox is a song book (comes with cassette of music --very good) that features African American composers and musicians.
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There is a beautiful book that uses the words to LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING in fact i think there are two different books. The song has an interesting history, including the fact that the composer, also a fine poet, did not think much of the song. You might want to have the kids read some of his poems.
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THE LEOPARD'S DRUM, an Asante Tale fromWest Africa" by Jessica Souhami...a folk tale about how the tortoise got his hard shell....beautiful illustrations with lots of musical possibilities. Publ. Little Brown. "Off to the Sweet Shores of Africa and other Talking Drum Rhythms" by Nigerian author Uzo Unobagha, Chronicle Books, 2000....Mother Goose-type poems on African themes with beautiful illustrations of Africa...this book just cries for musical enhancement.
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I also got a book with CD from Music in Motion last year. Morgan Freeman reads the book on the CD and Taj Mahal sings the song. I'm doing it this week with my 2nd graders. Here's a link to Amazon where you can purchase it...http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0689802420/o/qid=950569215/sr=8-2/102-2739400-9443228
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MORGAN FREEMAN dramatically reads the story of a slave family's escape to freedom by way of the Underground Railroad. With just the right amount of change in vocal pitch and pacing, he effectively transports listeners as the family travels northward and makes them feel the dangers of the journey. Taj Mahal provides vocal and instrumental accompaniment using guitar, harmonica, banjo and mandolin which add authenticity. The bluesy tunes will echo in listener's memories and are repeated without narration on the second side. The telling of classic family stories in audio format just doesn't get any better than this." Our media specialist ordered a video of this. Morgan Freeman and Taj Mahal. It isn't live action but the water color drawings are beautiful. Excellent!!
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There's a book entitled JAMBO means hello which lists many different swahili words that I have found very helpful in composing and performing.
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WEE SING AROUND TGHE WORLD: It's simple, accessible and authentic. Also Ladysmith Black Mambazzo has lots of stuff on recordings. I don't know if there are notated resources. If so, I'd like to know! I'd like to see your past program ideas.
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HOW SWEET THE SOUND the story of African-American History through song. GET IT!!! I got mine for under $5 from a scholastic book order form from January. Someone else posted that Amazon has it. This is GREAT stuff. The book has beautiful illustrations, and the lyrics to many songs. Not all of the songs in the book are included on the tape, but those on the tape include Kum Bah Yah, Over My Head, Take This Hammer (Huh)--a favorite of my students, Lift Ev'ry Voice, This Little Light, Take the A Train, Get on Board, Little Children. A brief historical synopsis of the song precedes each selection. My students ate this up today......begged for more. This is a great resource, and I can also see the format (progression of Af. Am. music in the US) as program material.
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Maya Diangelo (sp) has some wonderful poems that might be a very dramatic addition to your program. I think you can get some info on her from the A&E site.
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ZENU DIN DIN DIN It's the story of a little birds eating - you'd need drummers, because while the kids sing the words of the story, they act out the rest while the drummers are playing. I fyou don't know it, let me know, and I'll send what I can.
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PLAY: We had a sort of silly play-the adventures of Dr. Deadpebble and Mrs.Stanley (a variation of Stanley and Livingstone) The Orff Schulwerk's African Supplement by Amoaku is super (there is a tape that now accompanies the book which is very seful). Planet Drum by Mickey Hart is a wonderful set of percussion pieces (the African piece "Jawe" is one of my favorites on this tape)
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I use WORLDS OF MUSIC by Titon in my World Music course (Schirmers) and there are some nice activities , songs and projects (instrument building) that might be useful too. This comes with CD's as well as the text. Go to the local book store ... there are now hundreds of stories and books related to Africa. There is a great African Web page also that may be of help. Of course, look in the AOSA web page for appropriate links to literature and music.
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I hope you're all aware of Walt Hampton's HOT MARIMBA: Music from Zimbabwe sources arranged for ORff instruments (and/or marimbas!) Available through World Music PRess, with a cassette or CD of the music as well. This collection is arranged sequentially and makes it quite feasible to teach some of the complex African rhythms - firstly by leading up to them, secondly by listening to playable pieces on a recording to help with familiarity. Also Walt has a CD of his Grade 4 and Grade 5 marimba groups made earlier this year called "Smiling through the Storm". I've found it wonderful to be able to ply some African-style music to MY Grade 4 and 5 children and tell them that this music is being played by Grade 4 children in the USA. Walt can be contacted at [email protected] - I've enjoyed a very fruitful email connection with him through this year, and look forward to hearing his group live when I come over to Seattle for the AOSA conference in November! I've been using his book (Hot Marimba) since it came out with my jr high boys. They love it and I've taught them how to add bridges and imporvistional parts to the form. It really works!!!!!:)
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LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD by Judith Cook Tucker has an excellent collection called There are many songs that can be adapted for k-3. Great action pieces, also story songs which would allow for drama and sound effects on Orff instruments. Phyllis Weikhart has a movement series, 15 cds strong. #3 has an African piece called Bele Kawe. I use every year with 3rd grade. The love it. Also Olanji (artist) has a cd entitled Drums of Passion. Title track is a great piece for steady beat with an African flair.
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HOLIDAYS: There is a very nice piece in the book from Memphis Music (believe it the book was a compilation from Memphis Music Orff Teachers several years ago.). Nice beginning is almost a vocal ostinato. "Dream, Dream, gotta have a dream". The lyrics then proceed to tell the life of MLK. Nice Orff accompaniment. There was a recording available of the entire book. I think the book is still available from West Music. Since you are indicating early grades, I will tell you I have used (almost yearly) just the beginning ostinato with little ones and then I read or sing the more wordy verses to them. They add the ostinato between verses. Then we take the beginning ostinato "Dream, dream, gotta have a dream..." and each child has the opportunity to sing about their dream. EX: "I dream I'll be a teacher" I dream I'll be a scientist" "I dream of peace on earth". My teachers and I also use this opportunity to allow children to learn that it's a good thing to have dreams and goals for the future. Sometimes with young ones we branch off into discussions of dreams while we sleep, nightmares etc. This can also lead to children's literature...EX: "Nightmare in my closet" "Nightmare under my bed" "Where are the Wild Things" etc etc. You might also consider creating a setting or carpet of sound to some poems. There are two nice ones from Langston Hughes (black American poet) "Dreams" (I believe you can find "Dreams" in one of the American editions of Music for Children). It's late at night and I do not have easy access to my library. If you cannot find this email and I'll look it up for you. You might also try using "Dreams Deferred" The later is quoted on a web site: http://members.aol.com/olatou/hugheshtml
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I just read a book to my 3-5th graders this week titled, LET ME FLY, THE STORY OF A SLAVE FAMILY by Dolores Johnson. Inthe story, the woman's child who escapes on the underground railroad writes back to her mother, " . . . we forded streams and walked hundreds of miles at night, always following the North Star". That may be explanation enough for your song. We, of course, then sang the song "Let Me Fly". Earlier, I read a story called the "Runnin' Aways" from the book, "The People Could Fly, American Black Folktales told by Virginia Hamilton." In this story a slave rows people across the Ohio River to freedom, I no longer had to explain the song, "Who Built The Arc" after that. I found both of these books in my school's library, check for them, I think you will like it
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References:THE MUSIC OF AFRICA by Dr. Fred Warren & Lee Warren, Prentice Hall, 1970, Royal Oak Libr., MI
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DRUMMING & INSTRUMENTS
05/04 TECHNIQUESBase: (B) whole hand (including base below thumb) hits center of drum parallel with drum but bounces off right away
Base Mute: (BM) as above but remains touching the drum head
Tone: (T) Fingers together, hit side of drum with only the fingers hitting edge of drum
Tone Mute: (TM) as above but remains touching drum head
Slap: (most difficult) (S) fingers open, palm hits side edge of drum (hard) and fingers follow thru onto drum head
Slap Mute (SM) as above but remains touching drum head
The idea behind these different techniques is to get a variety of pitches, Base being the lowest and Slap Mute being the highest.
It is fairly easy to teach the base and mute tones. You can do alot of rote echo drumming with these tones. - Contributed by Sandy Toms
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01/02 There are other ways as well to provide a tablature for layered drumming exercises, including a grid of boxes, with a dot in each one indicating when you hit, and a time signature at the beginning. Remember that however you show it, there is no need to indicate duration, just attack.
When I was studying for my masters degree with Abraham Kobenah Adzenyah, learning the music of Ghana, we were given an assignment to notate one of the drumming ensembles in any way OTHER THAN Western notation. Some people came up with a spinning cylinder on a stick, with 8-unit designs, indicating that the various parts are cyclical. Another assigned a colored string to each instrument, and strung the threads into a mobile of sorts.
Once your students understand layering and repeated drum phrases, you might ask them to notate in some creative way. It is a fun exercise, and shows there are more ways to write down music than typical Western notation. (another example: guitar tablature) [email protected]
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There is a great video that was done in a public school setting by Margo...(Blake, I think) called African Drumming and Dance. It goes over drums and drumming techniques, clothing, dance steps, songs, some vocabulary....etc.
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Check out LMI. They have some interesting cultural instruments that are not outrageously priced. I have been pleased with the stuff that I have bought from them. Their phone is 1-800-456-2334 and address LMI, 1776 Armitage Crt, Addison, IL, 60101.
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Putumayo puts out more contemporary
African music rather than just African drumming, but it is great to listen to!
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FOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURD
06/06 06/06 On page 2 of Music K-8 Vol. 14, No.3 there is a play by Mary Crum Scholtens called "If You Followed the Drinking Gourd". It is really nice to have one already to go that is very appropriate for Martin Luther King activities. Iris in WA-------------------------------
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/99/railroad/j1.html
10/04 FOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURD: The one I use is a Reading Rainbow video of the book Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeannette Winter. It's narrated by Keith David and has performances by Sweet Honey in the Rock at the end. Contributed by Tina Morgan
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I just ordered a beautiful picture book and cassette tape from Scholastic book club There are approximately 50 songs with words and music for only $5.95. What a steal. "Follow the Drinking Gourd" is also included in the book. I also ordered the Martin Luther King picture book for $1.95. There was also another packet of 5 books for $5.00 that were songs.
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I'll share an idea with you that worked well with my students and set them in the mood for the song. I took poster-size cardboard, backed it with dark blue paper, poked seven holes for the stars of the big dipper, pushed a Christmas light through each hole, turned off the lights in the room, so when they , the room had a eery kind of look/feeling to it. Then explained the story of the song, listened to me or a recording sing, etc. When we had the melody learned we sat in a circle with the lights off yet and I strung the lights around the circle and we imagined a starry sky. One class, on their own, did a simple movement where they lifted the "stars" above their heads slowly on the chorus - can't explain it - you had to be there. It was way cool.
Monday- read the book and then teach the song to the kids. Talk over the secret meanings from the song lyrics. Have kids brainstorm a list in their team of sounds they would hear as a slave on this journey. Then on the opposite side of the paper have them list the instrument that could reproduce this sound. Then we perform the song again playing our instruments as sounds on the journey whenever we sing the chorus. The verses are sung without instruments.
Tuesday- review secret meanings and song melody. Talk about the meaning of a map song. Have the students work in their teams to create a map song telling someone how to get from the music room to somewhere else in the school. They write the words and set them to the Follow the DG melody.
Wednesday-finish up map songs and watch the Reading Rainbow video of FTDG.
This ends my FTDG lessons and then I do a few more days on African music. In 6th grade we do spirituals, so I bring back FTDG for a day and we do this activity that could easily work with any grade level:
We make a sound composition. I put up a big white piece of bulletin board paper. I draw a line down the middle. This will be our time line. The song will be 3 minutes long. We then brainstorm what would be the first thing the slaves would do/hear on their escape plan. I get answers like sneak out, leave the gate, get chased by owners, talk about leaving. I then ask the class how long this should last. We usually agree on something like 15 seconds. So I draw a vertical line at the front of our timeline and mark it as 15 seconds. I then have a student come up and draw what's going on in the space on the timeline. I ask the remaining students what instruments we could use to reproduce this. They must use their imaginations-you don't have to hit the cymbals together, you can scrape them, etc. We continue to do this until we get 3 minutes full. A typical song looks like this: 15 seconds talking it over, 45 seconds escaping the plantation, 1 min walking in the woods, 30 seconds finding a safe house, 30 seconds escape to freedom. I then have a conductor who points to the class when it's time to switch actions, a timer who runs the stopwatch, and the rest of the class receives an instrument and figures out how to make it part of the song. This is a bit chaotic, but can be controlled and is fun! This activity usually takes 1 1/2 class periods (each 25 minutes)-sometimes 2 class periods.
On the winter solstice the Sun rises in the southeast. In the months after the December solstice the Sun rises more northerly and ascends higher in the sky each day. Migratory quail winter in the south. Peg Leg Joe. Tombigbee River, leading northward from the Gulf of Mexico toward Tennessee. Dead trees were used as markers with charcoal and mud drawings of a peg leg and a foot. Tennessee River, which flows northward across Tennessee and Kentucky. That is, at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River (over 800 miles north of Mobile), where Underground Railroad guides would meet fugitive slaves on the northern bank and transport them to safer regions. A slave who left a farm or plantation in southern Alabama or Mississippi in the winter (see note 1) would arrive at the Ohio river about a year later--the best time to cross, when one could simply walk across the ice.
At top of the right hand margin next to the lyrics I drew (with the mouse)a five pointed star and labeled it, "The Northern Star: Polaris."At the bottom of the page I drew seven smaller five-pointed stars in the constellation's shape, with the handle facing left and bowl facing up and labeled it "The Big Dipper constellation."I connected these seven stars with lines of equal length and labeled the last segment "1." Along the page's right margin I drew another five broken segments (2,3,4,5 & 6) and capped the segment labeled "6" with an arrowhead pointing to Polaris, which I darkened in a little. The idea here is that by sighting on the last star in The Dipper's bowl(facing upwards in my drawing - I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know which way it's facing at the moment in the actual sky) you can form a distance with your thumb or whatever is handy to measure out in an extended line straight to Polaris. The distance from the Big Dipper bowl's last star to Polaris is supposed to be roughly five times the distance between it's last two stars. Both Polaris (the Northern Star) and the Big Dipper are pretty easily seen in even the most light-polluted environments, so by learning this little trick anyone should be able to find bearings to the north on a clear night anywhere on Earth. All the other heavenly bodies appear to spin around Polaris throughout the hours of the evening and days and months of the year.
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Several days ago someone suggested using Christmas lights to form the star formations for "The Drinking Gourd". I have also seen this idea used for "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star to show rhythm and melody line. Kindergarten students love it. In fact I am sure it could be used for any song, especially at Christmas
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Part of the underground railroad runs through the Pittsburgh PA area -- in fact, a couple local places still have the basement hiding rooms -- so I spend a little extra time on the Drinking Gourd. I made transparencies of the eastern US and used colored dry markers to show how the song's code follows the Tombigbee north to the Tennessee then across the mountain pass to the Ohio where the old man (Peg-leg Joe) ferried them across to the 'north' where they dispersed or continued into Canada. The kids are fascinated to see how it all fits together.
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I like to have my 5th graders write their own code map. after we learn the song, and are pretty familiar with it, I give the students a "homework" assignment to write down landmarks between home and school. (If you have kids who get off at the same bus stop, they can work as a team). They then turn those landmarks into clues (for example: one student passed a fountain. His clue: where it's always raining). We then work these clues into the melody of the drinking gourd. The team sings the song for the class, and the class tries to guess the landmarks. Takes a while, but it sure is fun!!!
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MK8 Marketplace has an excellent video entitled "The Long Journey Home: Journey Through African-American Music from Slavery to Rap"........or something like that. It's very good. It covers the origins and history of these music forms quite well. I used it this past week with 5th/6th grade, and typed out question sheets for the students to answer while viewing the video.
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LESSON: Set-up: Class sitting in a circle Materials: 25 rocks/blocks.... Teacher sings (A) section, pats the floor on the beat with right hand. (This song is so easy to learn, I didn't bother doing echo phrases. I would just sing, and have the kids do the motions. Pretty soon, they were singing with me.)
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INSTRUMENTS
06/07 RHYTHM AND BEATS: Bringing African Traditions to the Classroom by Calla Isaak (Orff instructor) - Drum instruction age and up; 4 pieces of varying complexity, includes drum, bell, shaker & xylophoneSong selections: Obwahsimisah, Kébé Mama, Sansa Kroma, Tue, Tue, Jingoloba, Funga Alafia
Kuku, Yo Mamana Yo, Koombaraza, Ise Oluwa, Highlife, Samanfo Begye Nsa Nom, Cabaret, Dalah
Bala Kulandyan, Kpanlogo, Toumba, Klinwa Myedo Doh, Yankadi, Makru, Djaa, Sara Kuluya, Soli
Kehneh Foli, Kondo, The Three Brothers (folk tale), Djansa, African Christmas
https://johnsmusic.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=CALLAISAAK&pid=8640
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06/07 THUMB PIANO: Listen and make your own music:
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/shadowpuppets/artsedge.html
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06/06 UNIT: I did a month of Africa with my students. I was in a portable temporarily and only brought out big drums, CD player, large cut-outs of lions, monkeys, apes, etc.and a few rhythm instruments.
There are so many pieces available in the Silver Burdette series we bought a couple years ago.
"KYE KYE KULE" WONDERFUL call-response with actions that the children love. (Also in STM) It's from Ghana, I believe. SB has a 10 minute portion on a video that is super.
"Tue Tue" Very fun! There are actions to this, clap with partner, then turn around and clap with partner behind you...it speeds up, very impossible and ends in lots of laughter! "NAMPAYA OMAMA” (Making Music) A piece about how mama went to the market and brought back treats for the children...We formed a circle and the "mama" or "papa" walked around the inside of the circle. She/he had a basket with beanbags on her/his head and handed a beanbag to each child in time to the music. The children stood in a circle with hands out, one foot in front, sort of swaying forward and back to the music.
"ZOMO THE RABBIT" and "Tale of the Kudu" are great folktales that the children can act out and add instrumentation. There are about 3-4 other tales in SB. Really rich resource. We also did a stone passing (used beanbags) to "FUNWE ALAFIA". That song is very great to use with drumming, too. We talked about how African villages really cooperated. We had recently gone through 3 hurricanes here in Florida and had experienced a few days to a week without power. I tried to relate that to how our society might change if we had months of no power. Would we have markets in the Winn Dixie parking lots? Where would we go to get water? Would we interact with our neighbors more? Did they help out neighbors more after the hurricanes? How did they entertain themselves without TV, video games, etc. Discussed Drum leader from villages and their important position.
"MONKEY MONKEY MOO" from D.R.U.M. by Jim Solomon was a great drumming piece. Not authentic African but we related how African people used names of tribes and villages to remember drumming patterns. We used silly sentences. - Linda Zaudtke
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02/05 Musicmakers in Stillwater, Minnesota has a nice one. Check their website. I've also had kids make them out of cigar boxes (if you can find any) which works well. One time a shop donated a good supply to us. In West Africa I saw all kinds of boxes, gourds and even a large oil can used for the body of the instruments. I once watched a man in Nigeria make one and he used the spokes from a broken unbrella, flattened out, for the keys. I saw another maker use the spokes of an old bicycle, again flattened out with a hammer, for the keys.
Encourage your kids to be inventive, as the children in Africa are. They would not use a "kit." I was told by a student from South Africa not to use the term "finger piano" as they consider it insulting, because that was what the Dutch (or was it Belgians) called the African instrument was as a form of ridicule. There are many African words for the instrument...sansa, komgoma, kondi, bondoma, mbira, etc. I preferred to use one of those terms with my students. -- Judy in Wi.
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For rainsticks, drums (making & using) see Making & Playing Instruments
WEBSITES:
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/K-12/African_Dance_19546.html
http://www.cbmr.org/lib/index.htm http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/K-12/k12leson.html
http://www.geocities.com/cassyschil/music/africa.html
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LESSON IDEAS
11/13 I see classes once a week. Each lesson had a singing section while we stood in a circle, then a sit and analyze elements section, and ended with drum circle activity.CIRCLE AND SING: "Kye, Kye Kule" (each day we sang and moved to this as we came into the room and made a circle. Week 2: students made up their own actions like the children I had viewed from South African youtube video.)
"Tue, Tue" week 2 children made up hand clap motions with partner
"Funwe Alafia" week 1 introduced at element time (for call-response) and then continued at week2 and 3 circle time as well as at week 3 drum circle time.
"Head and Shoulders", "Head and Shoulders, Baby, 1,2,3) - week 3 this was to demonstrate how African Americans changed American music
"Swing Low" (call and response), "Follow the Drinking Gourd" - week 3 spirituals
ELEMENTS- Rhythm (off-beat, syncopation)
Form (call and response, imitation)
TONE COLOR (African percussion instruments - shekere, djembes, talking drums, caxixi, gangkogui bell, mbira into shaker, wood, skin, metal families) I put the vocabulary words with magnets on the chalkboard and we figured out their category. Then I made cards from pictures of the African instruments and children did card sort. WEEK 2 I used cps program for clicker quiz. I put in "answers" which were either pictures of African instruments or symbols of off-beat and other characteristics. Children mde up the questions. Week 3 children took clicker quiz (3-4 questions). DRUM CIRCLE - WEEK 1 - we discussed "sharing" the beat, leaving holes, rests for others to join in. Also talked about steady beat, feeling the groove. Many classes did get to the groove!
WEEK 2- Kalani has "rumble Ball" on Youtube. We reviewed shaker, wood, skin, metal with this game.
WEEK 3- we played "Ashay, ashay" (from Funwe Alafia) as response and each child took a turn making up a call. ---- Linda Z in FL
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Look at Langston Hughes' poetry.
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From National Children's Folksong Repository collected examples of old timey folksongs Listen to John Cephas (award winning Blues folk artist) sing the ballad John Henry. http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Culdesac/Repository/collectExamples.html recorded 1990 at Carnege Hall -- Karen Ellis
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04/05 I like using African proverbs for rhythm teaching so thought others might like to add to my list. They are great for English language development too:
An egg cannot fight with a stone.
If you stub your toe, go on.
When near danger, cry out early.
Helping me, may help you.
If a crocodile deserts the water, he will find himself on a spear.
Giving something to someone does not insure everlasting friendship.
A wanderer cannot know the full meaning of a home.
I wanted to bathe but did not expect to fall into a pond.
A turtle knows where to bite another turtle.
The man who has bread to eat does not appreciate the severity of a famine. ….
Yoruba If nothing touches the palm leaves they do not rustle…..
Ashanti His opinions are like water in the bottom of a canoe, going from side to side. …
Efik It takes a village to raise a child……..
The things in a pond are different from the things outside of the pond.
Speak in silver, answer in gold.
A person used to a donkey doesn't ride a horse. -- Sue Michiels
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02/05 JUNIOR HIGH
Check out the beautiful John Williams song "Dry Your Tears Afrika" from the movie "Amistad" (the film would be a wonderful social studies lesson). The words to the song are from a beautiful poem by Bernard Dadie from Ivory Coast (English lit. connection). It was first written in French, then translated into English, then in to Mende for the song.....gorgeous music and one of my favorites! -- Judy in Wi.
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I would begin with an African market place. In the past I have had kids wearing twin bed sheets or real African material and they have entered the auditorium from every doorway singing and dancing as they came in. I have done it singing and moving to Funga Alafia. One group was on the stage playing djembes and shekeres to keep the beat. Some kids carried baskets on their heads and others wrapped dolls around on their backs. One group stepped onto the stage using the risers to go up. Two students usually carry baskets of shekeres or wood blocks which are then distributed for the next song/dance. Two other groups went and staged themselves on risers on the stage. There was African material suspended from above and I had some African masks and statues in strategic places. Not everyone got as far as the stage so there were kids dancing and singing in the aisles.
The audience was encouraged to join in. Gradually some children left after a welcoming to the market and an explanation of what we were going to do ie a brief history of African music. Some children stayed as part of the scenery during the whole performance. Individual classes came and performed songs and dances, one group did a drum circle using authentic African rhythms......
We did Sansa Kroma (talk to Judith Cook Tucker about that.)Judith 's Book and CD (Let Your Voice be Heard) are a year's worth of teaching material alone on music from Ghana and Zimbabwe with fantastic photos. One class did African rhythms with just everyday objects....cheese graters, frying pans, cafeteria food cans (empty and clean), shakers made out of yogurt drink pots(with 6 beans in them), kindergarten wood blocks, and body percussion. I look forward to doing this each year. There are many CDs that I use but probably one of my favorites is by the African Children's Choir called It Takes a Whole Village. (www.fitw.com) as the proceeds go to a non-profit organization to help African children. It has songs in English and other languages. I usually find great Nonesuch Explorer CDs at Borders each year which have great photos to show the kids eg. Ancient Ceremonies Dance Music and songs where there are women carrying plates of food on their head while dancing. I think you will find some of my ideas in the archives
http://www.musick8.com/listarchive/ViewMail.tpl
Here are a few song ideas: Share the Music grade 2 p282Martin Luther King Nigerian Boat Song p106/7, Git on board p157, Allroun' the Brickyard play party game p318 Kye kye kule call resonse from Ghana The Music Connection gr 4: The Little Shekere by Sweet Honey in the Rock p10 The Music Connection grK p36 dinner Music from Zaire THe Music connection gr 1 Everybody ought to know p240 One of my favorties to end with is Teresa's I Have a Dream (MK8)
I have two books which I use a lot for black history but they actually could be the framework for a program ....just never done it yet: Ashanti to Zulu - African Traditions by Margaret Musgrove iSBN0-8037-0308-2 This could be like a narrated fashion show. a piedpiper book/ Dial books for Young Readers A is for Africa by Ifeoma Onyefulu ISBN 0-14-05622-2 Puffin Books www.penguinputnam.com/readers $5.99 fantastic color photos of Nigeria.
In the past I have had kids paint the equivalent of kente cloth on paper which they have worn as sashes if you don't want to do the material drapery idea.
I also have made the equivalent of mud cloth with old sheets cut into strips and dyed with very strong coffee and tea solutions....then I've sewn the strips together again. It would really be more authentic looking to use brown Rit dye. -- Sue Michiels
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For Black History Program Ideas Try the American Folklife Center's A Teachers Guide to Folklife Resources
http://www.loc.gov/folklife/teachers/all.php
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04/02 http://tinyurl.com/2ttyr - Contributed by JoHanna Beebe
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04/02 Kim and Reggie Harris, who have created an entire kit about the Underground Railroad featuring one of their albums (Music of the Underground Railroad) also have some wonderful historical information on their website.
For links to varied info and other related URR sites:
http://www.kimandreggie.com/ugrr.htm
For background they've prepared: (scroll to the bottom of this webpage)
http://www.kimandreggie.com/steal_cd.htm - Contributed by Judith Cook Tucker www.worldmusicpress.com
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04/02 Arrange a carnival. We did this recently at our school sport's day. Each group chose a different theme for their presentation e.g. one group was Mexican. They color coordinated their costumes, hats etc. and learnt and performed the 'macarena'.
Another group chose street minstrels as their theme. We painted their faces and they too, color coordinated their costumes. They chose a Cape Carnival song to perform, as the so-called "Cape Coon Carnival" is a very popular event here in South Africa. We also had Zulu dancers, with traditional drumming etc.
However, this idea has endless possibilities and can be extended to all sorts of ethnic and traditional music. It also enables the learners to learn more about the cultural aspects of other groups.
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01/02 If you're intersted, I have a lesson on this at www.usamusic.org Scroll through the lessons until you see my name (Andrea Cope). It might be useful, but then again, it might not! It's more about decoding the language.
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01/01 I have a lesson where I put several line of numbers 1-12. This allows me to use different meters in the beat, which African Drumming uses. I circle the numbers of the beats that I want the student to play and put the instrument name at the beginning of the number line. I go through each line practicing with clapping. Then I begin to layer the clapping and eventually use the instruments. It is real cool to here the kids doing this ensemble!
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01/02 Lesson in Mixed Meters
Your paper should look something like this:
Big Drum 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Medium Drum 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Small Drum 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Wood Block 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Claves 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Small Cowbell 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Large Cowbell 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Guiro 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Maracas 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Now, for the Big drum, circle these numbers 1, 5, 9
Medium Drum, circle 1, 4, 7, 10
Small Drum, circle 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11
Wood Block, circle 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
Claves, circle 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12
Small Cowbell, circle 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12
Large Cowbell, circle 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12
Guiro, underline 1,2 4,5 7,8 10,11 (these are the scrape beats)
Maracas, circle all numbers 1-12
The circled numbers are the beats the instruments play. I usually start with just the drums then layer the other instruments as sectioned on the paper. By the time we get done, we have a whole lot of meters piled on top of each other and the students love to listen to themselves and how cool it all sounds together!
02/04 I found this reference to the Underground RR that has a lesson on this famous song which is included in a unit of the RR. It explains in detail the meaning of the song and gives a very detailed lesson plan.
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MOVEMENT, DANCE
AFRICAN PLANTING DANCE directions: This dance was taught to us by some visiting performers at an assembly. I can't tell you its origin but here it is:
Dancers in circle mime raking, throwing seed, rain, sun, and harvesting.
Accompaniment:
Agogo or cowbell: ta ta ti ti ta (put these words to it "Lets go to the fields)
drum & shaker 1: ti ti ta, ti ti ta, ti ti ti ta ti ta(last part syncopated) words: gotta go, gotta go, gotta gath-er the grain
drum & shaker 2: ta ta ta q.rest: (rake, rake, rake rest) (we used to say hoe, but stopped for obvious reasons!)
Begin with steady beat and add in other instruments. Dancers should start moving about circle swinging arms with bent legs ("African style") and then begin to mime each action. Start with raking, go once fully around the circle then begin to throw seed, and so on. Last action is harvesting the food into a "basket arm".
This is quite effective but loses a lot in translation.
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PROGRAM IDEAS
I did an MLK concert last year (Actually, it was my 3rd Grade class' idea, they insisted!) We sang "I Have a Dream" and "Free at Last" from MK8, "We Shall Overcome" from Macmillan's 4th Grade Music & You, "Martin Luther King" from Macmillan's 2nd Grade Music & You, "Let There be Peace on Earth", and "Abraham, Martin, and John" from I don't remember where! It is a great song from the 60's, Simon & Garfunkel, perhaps? I used excerpts from a lovely little book called Martin Luther King Day by Linda Lowery (ISBN 0-590-42379-7) that I found in a Scholastic Book Order, to tell the story of MLK's life and worked the songs in at appropriate times. One of my students (who happens to be part African-American in a very white school district), had written (of his own volition, not as an assignment) his interpretation of MLK's I Have a Dream speech, and shared it with me. I asked him to read his essay during the concert, and he did, beautifully, dressed in a suit and looking very much like a young MLK. Needless to say, it was a good thing that I was conducting instead of singing, because I was choked with tears. This student had been having some severe behavior problems in my class and the regular classroom up to the point that we started learning Teresa's "Free at Last". When we decided to do an MLK concert, this young man suddenly found whatever he needed in the music to effect a huge change in attitude and behavior that lasted for the rest of the year in music class (and at least for a while in his other classes). His parents (divorced) and grandparents all attended the evening performance and shared with me that the songs their son had been practicing at home had given them a great deal of strength while their 6th grade daughter recuperated from back surgery. It is amazing how the little things in our teaching reach out and touch other's lives. I can't help but believe that MLK was looking down upon us and smiling that day.--------------------------
I would also do "Free At Last" from last year's MK8...we did it last year and the kids loved it...also a good place to start a study of MLK's famous speech that ended with those words.
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The composer, James Weldon Johnson, is also a prominent African-American poet so maybe you could have the kids read some of his poetry as part of the program.
Also, for older students, show some of the stylistic elements of American music that can be traced back to their African American roots. My students are always amazed to find out that the banjo is an African American invention! Also, they have been surprised when we listen to Country, Bluegrass, Gospel, Rock and Roll, etc., to analyze all the black influence the book and tape which the last person was referring to is entitled: Shake It To The One That You Love The Best. it comes complete with the cassette tape and the book with the melody, words, wonderful pictures/illustrations of art, and game ideas to be used along with the songs. the kids love this YEAR 'ROUND and not just for one month. these songs are old songs in a traditional black/Afro-American style. it's fantastic! hope you and everyone else can get ahold to it. Some of the book stores (B.Daltons, Barnes & Nobles, etc. carry this item). ENJOY ! It doesn't have an address because it's not a mailing list. Click on Windows, and under that click on Netscape News.Then click on File and under that click on Add Newsgroup. In the space provided, type "alt.music.african"
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Your students might enjoy studying some biographical info on some of the African American music greats, like Scott Joplin, Dizzy Gillespie, Stevie Wonder (very inspirational story), the Fiske Jubilee Singers, etc
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Most famous for creating hundreds of products from ordinary peanuts and sweet potatoes, such as paint, glue, cheese, soap, rubber, milk, and coffee. Who was it? Thurgood Marshall George Washington Carver Frederick Douglass
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The art teachers at my school and I are collaborating on the art and music of African American heritage that will result in an evening of the arts, called "i see the rhythm" (based on the book by the same name by Toyomi Igus). Each grade has music/movement and an art activity. The artwork will be displayed in the auditorium and the cafeteria as well as presented in a Powerpoint show. Each school in our division received $500. from our local Arts Commission to use for showcasing the arts.
Kindergarteners are sponge painting 12" x 45" kente cloths that they will wear while performing "Jambo" by Ella Jenkins.
1st graders are making African masks that they will use while singing "Ifetayo" (Love brings happiness) arranged by Margaret DuGard. I've got 5th grade girls that will lead them down the aisles while singing, then do a B section up on stage, and exit to the A section again.
2nd graders are going to do "Scat Cat" (Mk-8) complete with berets and sunglasses. Their art project was to create a picture in the style of Faith Ringold where she is flying over somewhere she wants to go; it is "framed" by a border of 3" quilting fabric squares.
3rd graders are doing a stone-passing game (thanks to those who answered my request for how best to present this - I've decided to have them in the semi-circle that someone suggested) - and possibly another class will do "Ezekiel Saw De Wheel" with Orff instruments. Their art project is a spider's web with a 3-D "Anansi".
4th graders are working on "BAGgie Boogie Woogie" (from Mk-8), and a group of go-getters are going to do "Oh When the Saints". In art, they are doing jazz posters for the event.
5th graders will perform "Follow the Drinking Gourd", "blues" songs that they have written themselves (making up our snow days on Saturday was a popular topic!), a cool ragtime piece for recorders and xylophones by Chris Landriau, and a jazz round from the Share the Music series. In art, they studied the artist Romare Beardon, who did collages of many jazz artists. They are making their own collages of their choice of jazz artist, learning how to draw the instrument (in music, we talked about what instruments were used in the different forms of jazz). For the evening performance, we will have students take digital pictures of selected pieces of artwork and put them into a powerpoint presentation to be shown during the musical performances where appropriate, and by themselves with the appropriate musical accomp. (i.e., music from the era or artist in the 5th grade collages). So the computer teacher is involved too.
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SONGS
Amani Utupe (about peace & courage)is very simple to learn & very beautiful. It's not a holiday song, but certainly fits the spirit. - Mary Grebe, Shenendehowa Central School Music Department, Clifton Park, NY----------------------------------
01/07 CHILDREN GO WHERE I SEND THEE
1. Sing it a couple times. It is so repetitive. That is all it takes.
2. Try out a few really cute , small kids with good pitch to be the "little bitty baby."
3. Place that kid front and center
4. Select two strong singers for row two [Paul and silos]
5. Three for row three
6 and so on until you have 10 rows in the form of a large triangle.
7 have everybody kneel.. Most of the time but pop up for their solo/duet/trio/quartet/ensemble part. This takes some practice until everyone remembers to stand up and sing every verse.
8. This takes a minimum of 55 kids.. If you have more than that just put all the rest on verse 10. If you have fewer I think it best to have just one person on each solo. Its a lot of fun. It is Oolong but the parents love it too. They get to see their little darlings.
9. I recommend self accompaniment of possible so you can adjust for human error. It makes those slip-ups more humorous too. -- Anne Brazil
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CHRISTMAS around the world (Click on country at top): http://northpole.net/world.htm#IRELAND
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CHRISTMAS: 12/05 http://snipurl.com/i33r -- Heri Za Krismas (Merry Christmas!Swahili) - Sab (6-PACK) List price $9.90 Your price $8.42 About Heri Za Krismas (Merry Christmas!Swahili) - Sab (6-PACK) For choir. Choral/Vocal (Choral Performance Music). Published by Alfred Publishing. (23559) 6-PACK includes six original copies of this piece. It's a multicultural "Merry Christmas" sung on a combination of Swahili and English texts. A strong African pulse drives this original music, which includes a chorus from the traditional "Joy to the World." Try something different for the holidays and incorporate authentic rhythm instruments or the optional SoundTrax CD. Staging is featured on "Follow Me to the Top!" DVD #23853, VHS #23855 - Patricia Albritton
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01/02 Beautiful song "DRY YOUR TEARS AFRICA" from Amistad. The song is not African but is by John Williams.He does use the Mende language spoken by the slaves on the Amistad....a very moving song! I did it with my 3-4-5 choir....difficult but they did it beautifully. Lots of social studies connections of course.
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FAVORITES: Do, Lord, Wade in the Water, Follow the Drinking Gourd
Other favorite Black History Songs: O, Happy Day!, Harriet Tubman, Under the Bamboo Tree - Ragtime, We Shall Overcome, Siyahamba, Kwaheri, Funga Alafia -- Rhonda Schilling, Madison WI
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02/05 Freedom, Freedom (Tune: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)
Freedom, freedom, let it ring,
"Let it ring," said Dr. King.
Let us live in harmony
Peace and love for you and me.
Freedom, freedom, let it ring.
"Let it ring," said Dr. King -- Sue Michiels
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We did a stone passing (used beanbags) to "FUNWE ALAFIA". That song is very great to use with drumming, too. We talked about how African villages really cooperated. We had recently gone through 3 hurricanes here in Florida and had experienced a few days to a week without power. I tried to relate that to how our society might change if we had months of no power. Would we have markets in the Winn Dixie parking lots? Where would we go to get water? Would we interact with our neighbors more? Did they help out neighbors more after the hurricanes? How did they entertain themselves without TV, video games, etc. Discussed Drum leader from villages and their important position.
06/09 FUNGA ALAFIA Partnered with This treatment of the African chant, "Funga Alafia" will probably be known to some of the older folks here. It's very easy (too easy for 5th grade?)and do-able.
1. Teach the chant, Funga Alafia
2. Teach the "Tom, Tom Gready Gut" poem for the purpose of learning the ostinato percussion parts, then start your layering. You could try your hand drums on the 1st part (ta, ta, titi ta), your seed rattles & shakers on the 2nd part (titi ta titi ta), and have the cowbells / agogo bells do the 3rd, "Eat all the meat up" part (synco-pah ta ta).
3. Teach the arm/hand movement poem to be used as an interlude
In performance you could have the students start with the percussion parts, adding one at a time, two bars per entrance times three could equal six bar introduction. Then have the students continue with the regular Funga Alafia chant together with the instruments for another eight bars. The instruments can stop while everyone recites the English language poem, "With my thoughts I welcome you ..." along with the motion for another five bars, then finish up with with ostinato intrument parts and chant one more time together.
I just spotted at least one, very basic dance step version on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxrkwEgAq00&feature=related
It's described there as a Liberian song of welcome. I think I may also try the dance steps shown on that YouTube video with my younger students.
FUNGA ALAFIA|_ | |_ | | |_ | |_ | Z d' d' s l s m s mi sFunga A - laf-ia, ashay ashay
|_ | |_ | | |_ | |_ | Z d' d' s l s m m r d Funga A- laf-ia, ashay ashay
|_ | |_ d |_ | |_ d m s m s l s m rAshay, Ashay Ashay, Ashay
|_ | |_ | | |_ | |_ | Z d' d' s l s m m r dFunga A-laf -ia, ashay ashay
Percussion Poem (Divide into three group ostinato): | | |_| | ||: Tom, Tom Greedy Gut :||
|_| | |_| | ||: Greedy Gut, Greedy Gut :||
|_ | |_ | | ||: Eat all the meat up :||
Motions poem: With my thoughts I welcome you
[Both hands to top of head, both hands outstretched at hip level]
With my words I welcome you (Hands to either side ob mouth, then hands outstretched at hip level]
With my heart I welcome you [Hands to heart, then hands outstretched at hip level]
See, I have nothing up my sleeves [Point to eyes, then show upen palms with nothing in them, then run hands along opposite wrists where sleeves would be]
Explain what expression "Nothing up my sleeves" means. I often clumsily show a magic trick and let them spot how I'm hiding something in my sleeves and talk about how it could be a weapon, etc.
SYMBOLS KEY: |_ one eighth note, |_| two eighth notes, | quarter note, |. dotted quarter note, d half note, d. dotted half note, o whole note, 7 eighth rest, Z quarter rest, *:|| * repeat sign
d = do, r = re, m = mi, f = fa, s = so, l = la, t = ti, d' = high dot, etc. – on behalf of David Saphra
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06/07 A few years ago I created an Acrostic worksheet on which students had to write a fact about spirituals for each letter of the word Spiritual. From their ideas, I created a bulletin board. The final product was:
Started with the slaves, Passed from singer to singer, Includes call and response, Religious meaning, Included syncopated rhythms, Talked about the Bible, Underground Railroad, A way to communicate, Led slaves to freedom, Secret code -- Judy Jackson
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01/07 FUNGA ALAFIA (Liberia) It is sung in fractured Yoruba. I did it this year with K-6 and accompanied on Djembe, and all of the kids loved it. They still sing it around school. -- Karissa
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08/02 FUNGA ALAFIAK
I did a fun activity with Funga Alafia with my 5th graders. I made a rondo out of the song. I had three statons in the room with three different things to do to the music Station one is the singers. Station two is the djembe drums. (I have three) Station three is some xylophones, soprano and Bass.
Intro: xylophones playing do so pattern 8 counts)
A Section: Singing the Song, accompanied by xylophones
B spoken part "with my words, I welcome you...")
A SInging again with xylophones
C Playng the djembes (16 counts)
A singing one last time. w/xylos of course I divided the class into three groups and rotated them so everyone got to sing and play. It was pretty successful.
I spoke with a Nigerian musician named Francis Awe of the Nigerian Talking Drum Ensemble (http://www.nitade.com/) about Funga Alafia. He says it is Nigerian and that the words are in Yoruba and are pronounced fun-wa la-lafia (not funGa). He said that there is no such word as funga (with a hard g). His translation was "Give us Peace" for fun-wa and "amen" for "ashay". He said the choreography and words (We welcome you with our thoughts, etc) were western add-ons and not Nigerian. So Share the Music is mostly correct (at least about the language and origin of the song.) Fun-wa-la-lafia (the way he pronounced it) is "give us peace". -- Contributed by Dianne in San Diego
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04/05 KINDERGARTEN: Che Che Koolay and Tue, Tue... They might try Funga Alafia, too....
My kids still love the Ella Jenkins Pole Pole. It's a Swahili echo song.
There's a song in World of Music K called "My Head and My Shoulders" which my K's did one year when we needed a song from Africa. It's not one of the versions we usually hear for these words. One more word is left out with each of the eight suggested repetitions. It is marked as a Zulu Children's Game Song.
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04/05 KAORI DREAMTIME (Shenanigans) that's not traditional, but very good. It mentions a lot of the animals to which the kids improvise movements. -- Denise Phillips
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UNIT - KYE KYE KULE: I did a month of Africa with my students. I was in a portable temporarily and only brought out big drums, CD player, large cut-outs of lions, monkeys, apes, etc.and a few rhythm instruments.
There are so many pieces available in the Silver Burdette series we bought a couple years ago.
"KYE KYE KULE" WONDERFUL call-response with actions that the children love. (Also in STM) It's from Ghana, I believe. SB has a 10 minute portion on a video that is super.
"Tue Tue" Very fun! There are actions to this, clap with partner, then turn around and clap with partner behind you...it speeds up, very impossible and ends in lots of laughter!
06/05 Kindergarten Songs: Kye Kye Kule, Oboo Asi Me Nsa, Sansa Kroma, Tu wey'i tu wey'i, Ta Ta Te ye ye ye, from Let Your Voice Be Heard and also from Komla Amoaku's book African Songs and Rhythms for Children, www.worldmusicpress.com
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04/02 LOWER ELEMENTARY
This Little Light of Mine
"Sing About Martin." It's found in the 1st grade Share the Music series. On the 3rd repetition, we had the audience do the echo part. I cannot tell you how much this energized the children. All present really REALLY loved the song. It's easy and very effective.
"Follow the Drinking Gourd" vol 13 No.3
"Kum ba ya", "Miss Mary Mack" or "Hambone"
"NAMPAYA OMAMA” (Making Music) A piece about how mama went to the market and brought back treats for the children...We formed a circle and the "mama" or "papa" walked around the inside of the circle. She/he had a basket with beanbags on her/his head and handed a beanbag to each child in time to the music. The children stood in a circle with hands out, one foot in front, sort of swaying forward and back to the music.
"MONKEY MONKEY MOO" from D.R.U.M. by Jim Solomon was a great drumming piece. Not authentic African but related to how African people used names of tribes and villages to remember drumming patterns. We used silly sentences.- Linda Zaudtke
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O6/15 OBISWANA-Game
GAME A: (each student has an bean bag placed in front of them)
1) Pick up 2) Tap it on R. knee 3) Tap on L. knee 4) pass to Left.
GAME B (hard floor) (rock hidden beneath one cup - each student has one cup face down in front of them)
1) R. hand taps & grabs cup
2)Slide cup to right without lifting it off the floor
GAME C (students have one rhythm in hand)
Beats 1) & 2) Hit stick on floor 3)Pass stick to right, placing in front of next student 4) Pick up stick
(Can do this with a partner or small group)
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06/06 OBOO ASI ME NSA - OBWISANA
(It is in Let Your Voice Be Heard - www.worldmusicpress.com)
"Grab, pass, thumbs, thumbs". Grab the stone (I used shells), pass to the right, point thumbs up twice. I also made an elimination game out of it by stopping at random times and selecting a shell (the shells had names based on their physical characteristics) to be "out". That person then called the next out shell (couldn't look, tho). When enough of them were "out", they started a circle of their own. -- PattyO in AR
I say "grab, pass, thumbs up". 4 beats: pick up on 1, pass to the R and put down on 2, thumbs up on 3 and 4. I use small plastic cups instead of stones. They are placed upside-down and can be picked up easily by small hands. I put a small pin-hole in the bottom of one cup. I stop the music at different times - whoever has the cup with the hole in the bottom is out. Process of elimination makes it more fun. Also, if they have more than 1 cup, or no cup, they are out because they messed up the beat. I play with 3rd grade at the beginning of the year - they LOVE it! -- Pat Price
I have kids who get "out" in games be the "rhythm section"- chose a non-pitched instrument to keep the beat, & they sort of form a larger circle around those who are still "in". Our circles are teeny-tiny in some rooms (I do 4 schools a la carte), but the kids adapt so quickly to space & noise limitations. They're pretty amazing! Mary Grebe, Shenendehowa Central School Music Department, Clifton Park, NY
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09/03 ‘OBWISANA’: There is no such thing as "obwisana"!!! That is a corruption of OBOO ASI ME NSA (the rock crushed my hand) from Ghana. It is a rock passing game from Ghana, in Akan. While singing, the players pass a rock in various rhythms and rhythm patterns that they create. Tempo increases gradually. The object of the game can be twofold: one is to maintain a steady beat and position the rocks precisely, the other can be as a game of elimination: to not make a mistake or cause your neighbor to make a mistake so that you stay in the game. More info in Let Your Voice Be Heard! Songs from Ghana and Zimbabwe (book/audio cd set by me, A Kobena Adzenyah, Dumi Maraire, available from Music K8 Marketplace and other music ed dealers).
02/05 SING ABOUT MARTIN (echo) Sing about caring (echo)
Sing about peace (echo) All around the world (echo)
C D F A A C D F G G
C D F G A G F D F
Second verse the same except second line is "sing about freedom" -- Stacey DeVaney
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Sorida is a hand game from Zimbabwe, and was probably originally taken from our book, Let Your Voice Be Heard! Songs from Ghana and Zimbabwe because it had never been written down before that. THe word is a multipurpose greeting like jambo in Swahili, Saalam in Arabic and Shalom in Hebrew. While you sing the song, you play a sort of pattycake game, starting with sweeping hands apart in a large circle on sori- and clapping on -da. We featured it with all hand gestures and background in Music K8 Magazine, volume 2 number 5 pg 51.
Funga Alafia had a long thread a few weeks ago- perhaps you'll find it all in the MK8 archives or someone who did that research will fill in here. The typical gestures done to it are not indicated in the words, which are also a sort of blessing and welcome. If I remember, it turned out to be from Nigeria.
Other resources, besides Let Your Voice Be Heard! include Komla Amoaku's book/cd African Songs and Rhythms for Children (Schott). - Contributed by Judith Cook Tucker
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TRAIN SONG: In the folk song "Chicka Hanka," the group chants or speaks "chicka hanka, chicka hanka" while the leader holds onto the last note of every phrase. This song can be found in "Echoes of Africa in Folk Songs of the Americas" by Beatrice Landeck or "This is Rhythm" by Ella Jenkins.
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What I would (ahem) really like to recommend is, A MIGHTY MAN, a song that has a midi file over at the site that Deborah Jeter set up for me at: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/8075/ My own students in the Bronx love singing this song, and the adults enjoy hearing them sing it. If it's too hard, just leave out the bridge ("And Martin's work...") and they should be able to handle it. (If you have Music Time, you can download score free)
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Another very appropriate song from MUSIC K-8 is "I Have A Dream" from Vol.1, No. 2. Both "Free At Last" and "I Have A Dream" are also available as Singles Reproducible kits. You will see more details on our web site.
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Down By The Riverside
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Orff songs of David Saphra (free)http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/8075/ [Orff arrangement of Guidon Bulford (black astronaut)]
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We Shall Overcome and Lift Every Voice and Sing
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Spirituals: Angel Band Swing Low Sweet Chariot All Night All Day This Little Light
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For the song "Celebrate Kwanzaa" I added the following verse which includes the 7 tenets of Kwanzaa (combining the one on "community", ie, "Work Together"): Kwanzaa, Kwanzaa, Celebrate Kwanzaa. Work together with Unity and Purpose Self-Determination, Creative and Faithful. Kwanzaa, Kwanzaa, Celebrate Kwanzaa. Movements are as follows: Starting position: Feet together. Arms bent in front, clinched fists about chin level. 1. Kwan- zaa (bounce both elbows down) (Rt Elbow point to side, look Rt) 2. Kwan- zaa (bounce both elbows down) (Lt Elbow point to side, look Lt) 3. Celebrate (roll hands in front) 4. Kwan- zaa (bounce both elbows down) (both Elbows point to side, look Up) Work Together With (pound fists on top of the other in front, arms are straight forward) Unity and (Slap hands on knees) Purpose (Pivot, Turning and facing Rt) Self-Determination (Bounce both hands on knees, soar with rainbow hands overhead while turning to face front) Cre-a- tive (Step in place Rt) (Step in place Lt) Faith- ful (Clasp Hands in front) (thrust clasped hands up) Repeat 1. thru 4. Freeze I was so very pleased with how this song/movements turned out. My second graders performed it, but I have every grade wanting to learn it...in addition to some 4th graders wanting to perform it at our Talent Show in March.
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"Wade in the Water" (movement)comes to mind immediately. vignettes from the Addie books.... Adiie is an American Girl doll that has a series of six books that tell about her life. Use a djimbe for the down beat and claves for beats 2 and 4. I grow Hopi Indian rattle gourds
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My favorite is "Ise Oluwa" in the Music Connection grade 2. (This is one I love just because it always does something to me deep down, especially when the lower voices come in.) It is also repetitive and your children could enhance it with instruments such as the kola nut shaker and agogo bells. Do you have any parents or local dancers familar enough with African dance to teach a few simple steps to go along with this one? Another good one that invites participation is "Spider the Drummer" from ..... (The name of the book went totally out of my head just then) It is a book you can order from West or any other catalog music store. It has a tape to help the children along until you are ready for them to work on their own..
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I can't remember all the music we used-I'll have to find a program at school, but we used Banuwa, The Lion Sleeps tonite, O Sifuni Mungu, Siyahamba (we are walking in the light of God), and I'm sure there were more-oh, we did a little scene from "George of the Jungle" and that was before the movie!
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"Heart of the Forest" album of Baka Pigmy music called "Nursery Rhyme". We tap the beat to it. The words are (Bumalena eyaya ye eh, Bumalena eyaya ye
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African songs--a few years ago we did a whole year of Africa."Roots and Branches" was a great resource, as was Music K8---check their index. Our spring concert was all African music. We began with "Sorida" from MK8 and ended with "Go Well and Softly," a Zulu parting song. Because I lived and taught in Africa(Sierra Leone) for two years this was alot of fun for me.We made rhythm instruments out of "found objects" just like Sierra Leonean children do.
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I forgot - we just finished one in a workshop called "Allunde, Alluia". Beautiful number and we did it with all ages of children - I know third grade could handle it easily.
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The Vulani Ringi Ring is a great dancing song. And the kids *love* hearing the songs that are sung in Zulu. Several of them have repeated phrases so are pretty easy to pick up quickly. And most of the songs work out great with Orff accompaniments.
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Dance: - Bele Kawe from Phyllis Weikart's _Teaching Movement and Dance_, Rhythmically Moving album #3.
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- The Nigerian Boat Song (Eh Soom Boo Kawaye) - it's in Share the Music Grade 2 or Music and You grade 3. My kids love it. - Take Time in Life - I think it's in Share the Music grade 4; it has a singing game with it. - Tina Singu - Share the Music grade 4, Exploring Music 4 - Obwisana - I think it's in Share the Music grade 4; it's in Share the Music someplace, but I learned it at an in-service a few years ago, so I don't remember exactly where I ran across it again in a series text. Ladysmith Black Mambazo CD, "Gift from the Tortoise"? Try "Siyahamba," "Banuwa," "A Ram Sam Sam," and "Sorida," all from SBG Music Connections. Music K8 has "A Ram Sam Sam" as well Orff instruments with "Gift of the Tortoise," Ecologyand/or Martin Luther King . The other day I stumbled across some sample music in our school music closet. I found the following.The Dream Lives On! by Mary Donnelly, published through the Sing Out Series, Heritage Music Press
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Middle school children really enjoy the song Follow the Drinking Gourd. (Elementary too) There is also a video of the same name. I haven't seen the video but have heard good things about it. I'm sure it is available through the general music sources (West, Music in Motion, Friendship House, etc.)
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I like to have my 5th graders write their own code map. after we learn the song, and are pretty familiar with it, I give the students a "homework" assignment to write down landmarks between home and school. (If you have kids who get off at the same bus stop, they can work as a team). They then turn those landmarks into clues (for example: one student passed a fountain. His clue: where it's always raining). We then work these clues into the melody of the drinking gourd. The team sings the song for the class, and the class tries to guess the landmarks. Takes a while, but it sure is fun!!! -------------------- In the McGraw-Hill (1995 ed.) 5th grade text on p.55 it states that "Funga Alafia" is a greeting song from western Africa. In the teacher's edition it also says that.... " 'Alafia' means 'good health' or 'peace' in Yoruba, an African language" and that "...'Ah-shay' is similar to the word 'oh-shay' which means 'thank you'."
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Someone recently asked about music from Mozambique. Probably some of the most important music from that area is the beautiful xylophone music of the Chopi people. Search Chopi+music on the web for some information and sources. Also, Smithsonian Folkways lists three recordings from Mozambique. I have found them to be my best resource for authentic African music. Their phone # is 800-410-9815 and they also have a website.
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Our first graders made African masks from tag board which they drew and painted a face and designs, then cut and stapled the corners to make them 3D and tied raffia on the side. They sang a song called "Ifetayo", in Share the Music 1st grade, but we did a different version that I had by Margaret DuGard - great Orff parts that I had some 5th graders play to accompany them. They also wore black so that the attention would be on the masks.
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The 3rd graders did the stone passing game "Obwa si men sa" in Share the Music 3rd grade (and just about everywhere!). They painted stones in art and used them in our performance. As suggested on the list, I had them sit in a semi-circle. They wore black and I made Kofi hats from African fabric- I sewed a rectangle about 5" x 26" and put velcro on the ends - that went around their heads and velcroed in the back. One student had the box of rocks by her and the student on the other end had an empty box. They began by tapping their fists with thumbs up on their knees, and the student with the box of rocks began to pass them. As each person got a rock placed in front of them, they started the passing pattern. This created a wave of arms each direction as the rocks were passed - it really was fun, and impressive.
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"O Sifuni Mungu" is my favorite!!! First Call has recorded a version of it. JW Pepper has it in several different vocal arrangements.
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I"ZOMO THE RABBIT" and "Tale of the Kudu" are great folktales that the children can act out and add instrumentation. There are about 3-4 other tales in SB. Really rich resource.
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RECORDINGS
10/01 Call Response Music: There is a recording called "Rhythm of the Pridelands." It was some of the music by the Lion King guy (not Elton John, but the African music guy) that didn't make it to the movie. It's a GREAT CD! There is a song called "One By One" on that recording that would be perfect for call response.-----
10/01 Try this site, I saw them at a conference I went to and they have great stuff. Lots of multi-cultural instruments that I had not seen before at resonable prices. They also had a great selection of tapes/cd's from all over.
http://www.creativediversity.com/music.htm
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There is a relatively new tape of children's music that includes a book of scores, illustrated by African Amercan artists.($15?) It's called "Shake It To the One That You Love The Best" The tape is terrific, the songbook, lovely. One side has a collection of lively songs like "Little Sally Walker," "Miss Lucy," "Miss Mary Mack."The other side has mellow lullaby-like songs. I have seen it at our area children's bookstores.
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Rhythm of the Rocks has three songs from and about the continent of Africa: Obwisana/Rhythm of the Rocks(Ghana) - a rock game and chant A Rum Sum Sum - (Morocco) - weaving song with verses about children in Morocco
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Everybody Loves Saturday Night(South Africa) - Sung in four languages: Africaan, English, French, Spanish; Cassette $10, CD $15, Songbook $8
The recording won an ALA Notable and a songbook with activities, melodies and chords is also available through FRIENDS STREET MUSIC, 6505 SE 28th, Mercer Island, WA 98040 (206) 232-1078
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Abiyoyo!!!!!! (Pete Seeger classic South African Tale) "Why Mosquitoes buzz in People's ears" Look into "Roots and Branches" published by World Music Press (Danbury Ct.) A great resource of songs from round the world with children singing, plus background information.
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You can always start with Black Mamzambo. They have fabulous recordings in English & Azulu. Ella Jenkins (African American) also does some interesting things with rhythms that are African in origin. They can be done with simple percussion instruments that the kids can make themselves. You could always tie in African music origins and the African American spirituals. Local churches might be a good source of material. Many of the songs sung now have old origins, but continue to be wonderful, uplifting, and easy to learn chants or leader-chorus kinds of things that encourage audiences to participate (a very African practice)
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African American Music/History Wade in the Water was used by Harriet Tubman to warn runaway slaves to wade in the water to throw of the dog/people trackers. It is one of many "map songs," which used secret code messages to give directions for safe passage, link families, and give warnings in the Underground Railroad movement. Other songs like this are "Down by the Riverside" and "Im on My Way" --- In addition to Kathleen Williams remarks, 'Wade in the Water' also concerns the story in the Bible where diseased and infirm people waited for the "Spirit of God " to trouble (move) the waters at Bethesda. They believed that the first one who made it into the water when this was happening would be cured. (See John 5: 1-9). Many Black spirituals have this kind of double meaning.
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The music I ordered from Wingert -Jones in a "Trak Pak" The accompaniment tape/demo has good voices on it with only piano accompaniment. I got the single as a preview in the mail last year. If you don't have a number for them, I can get one for you. It was very affordable, and the trak pak had several styles of music on it. My students are loving this song, since it has sort of a jazzy feel to it. The high note is an e flat. I borrowed a book from a friend that comes with a CD / tape called "Let Your Voice Be Heard." It has authentic African songs and movements along with new and authentic recordings...I love it! It is easy and fun to teach!
There is a relatively new tape of children's music that includes a book of scores, illustrated by African American artists.($15?) One side has a collection of lively songs like "Little Sally Walker," "Miss Lucy," "Miss Mary Mack."The other side has mellow lullaby-like songs.
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VIDEOS
See also "Follow the Drinking Gourd" above.01/02 Another wonderful resource on this topic is the video "The Language you Cry In, the Story of Mende Song." It is a true story about my friend anthropologist Joe Opala and ethnomusicologist Cynthia Schmidt. They found a Gullah woman in Georgia, Mary Moran, who sang a song she didn't know the meaning of. The film tells how they traced to song to Senehun, a Mende village in Sierra Leone where the song is still remembered. It ends with a visit of the Gullah family to the village in Sierra Leone. It is a wonderful example of what an ethnomusicologist does. My kids were fascinated by it(I did have to fast-forward it in a few places). I did it as a follow-up to learning the song "Dry Your Tears, Afrika" which is in the Mende language.
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There is a good video called "Rhythms of the World." It is narrated by Bobby McFerrin and Peter Gabriel. The video shows performers and groups from a variety of places in Africa. It also shows alot of dances. I purchased mine at Amazon.com. ---------------
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WEB SITES
06/06 GULLAH MUSIC (South Carolina) (Song history/development, maps, kid oriented) http://www.knowitall.org/---------------------------
02/05 Reading Rainbow also has an excellent "Follow The Drinking Gourd" video, which is carried by MusicK8.com. To see the video:
http://www.musick8.com/store/alphadetail.tpl?productgroup=1055x
This video follows the book with Sweet Honey & the Rock singing; beautiful paintings;
08/02 www.africanmusic.org - very good glossary
lots of links & listening examples
www.dancedrummer.com - examples of instruments from Ghana
01/02 www.negrospirituals.com
(African and African American) "Curriculum Studio" to the address where you'll find the "African Music Diaspora". http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/cshtml If you problems with the address, try: www.siba.fi/Kulttuuripalvelut/music.html and click on "Music and Arts Education"
Educational resources
Black History Month: Exploring African American Issues on the Web; All levels, activities
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad - http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/tubman/tubman.html All levels, interactive;
The purpose of Africana.com is to promote understanding of black history and culture. The Africana Blackboard will be the center for many lesson plans as well as a lesson exchange. The exhibits allow students around the world to access images and sounds few could see or hear in their area. Radio Africana lists radio stations worldwide webcasting Black music.
For those of you who are working on an African unit, African animals, rivers (live feed video) www.africam.com would be a way to get regular classroom teachers involved.
For additional Martin Luther King, Jr. and Black History resources, see the African-American Experience section of the TeachersFirst U.S. History section.
http://www.mnh.si.edu/africanvoices/ From the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, this site explores Africa's past and the history of the land and people. Middle School, High School
1) African Odyssey Interactive - a site hosted by ARTSEDGE, created to promote the interactive exchange of ideas, information, and resources between artists, teachers, and students of African art and culture
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Other Student Research Pages (in categories "Cultures," "People," "Themes," and "Times & Seasons") can be found at http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/srphtml
BR>Black Americans and Music lessons on Black composers
Lecture with music in background (list of music and comments to accompany)
The Black Snowman (Lesson): http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=13696
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DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING
10/12 There's a great musical/play by Ruth Roberts, called "I Remember Martin Luther King, Jr." It is probably out of print but you might be able to find a copy through a used book seller. It might get you started to write your own. ---- RitaOglesby---------------------------
12/11 SONG: Nice Song at Music Notes ($5.25) http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtdFPE.asp?ppn=mn0036448 (w/piano accomp.)
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06/10 SONG: Martin Luther King was a good, good man.
He had a dream and he took a stand.
He said it doesn't matter 'bout the color of your skin.
What's important is what lies within!
He worked for justice; He worked for peace.
He worked to make a better world for you and me!
1)Say the whole poem as a whole group; let the boys take one line and the girls another;
2)Add an ostinato like "For you and me" or "Mar--tin--Luther King," or "He had a dream." My kids love it.
3)We also do "I Have A Dream" and "Free at Last."
If any of you decide to try the poem, will you let me know how it goes? (email Sandy Toms, address near top of Home Page. --- JoAnne Kucerak
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06/09 SONG: "Sing About Martin" was written by "Miss Jackie" Weisman.
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01/07 IN HONOR OF DR. M. L. KING (Tune: Twinkle, Little Star)
Freedom, freedom, let it ring. Let it ring, said Dr. King.
Let us live in harmony, Peace and love for you and me.
Freedom, freedom, let it ring. Let it ring, said Dr. King.
STICK ACTIVITY
Tapping on the floor the first two lines of only the words Freedom freedom let it ring let it ring....then held sticks on shoulders for "said Dr. King".
No sticks for next line
Sticks at the ready upright position for "peace" then crossed in front for "love" then sticks point for "you" and then to self for "me". then repeat the the Apart actions. - Sue Michiels
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OTHER, MISC.,
DECORATIONS: I had the kids bring in all sort of stuffed animals, and we had a blast decorating-we used lots of green "vines" out of paper, and they were very cretive with the animals-with the Lion King being fairly new, we had a lot of Simbas!One of the most meaningful programs that I have helped with was several years ago. It was not a "play", per se, but a mix of poetry readings, spirituals, and presentations about famous African-Americans. One of the poems recited was Maya Angelu's "Still I Rise".
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PRONUNCIATION
03/01 Pronunciation rules to Remember:~MOST IMPORTANT: vowels should be PURE PURE PURE! no diphthonging!
~ use your lip muscles to help create the pure vowel oo sound (u). stick those lips way out!
~ consonants: less asperate than in English. Try to say the k's, t's, p's, etc... without letting a puff of air out, only a little air.
~ Ah sound is pure (said with mouth in one position only) and is more vertical than horizontal mouth position (drop bottom jaw) as oposed to wider mid-western American Ahh sound.
~ "Tu Tu" say with lips frozen protudingly. do not move mouth for each word. as in "Zulu" example above.
~ "Y" pronounced ee with relaxed cheek muscles, makes a sort of throaty grunt at beginning. hard to describe: make ee inside mouth but cheek muscles are relaxed and bottom mouth only slightly opened, not wide/tight like English ee.
~ "key": if that's the real spelling than it's pronounced with short e sound and relaxed face muscles. If however, you wrote "key" because it's pronounced like our English word "key" than pronounce it with a very pure ee sound, DO NOT change position of mouth while saying it.
"Yenge" stress on first syllable, pronounced as in English "ng" said in back of throat, no front of tongue for the n. "g" as in English word "baggie" and e after it can be either pronounced short E or long A sound depending on duration of the note in the song.
Contributed by Sandra Elder
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USING RECORDERS
6/14 AFRICA/RECORDER: One of the great American art forms created by black people, is the blues. You can have them improvise using the notes E, G, A, B and D. This is the E minor pentatonic scale. You can play a blues backing track in the key of E. Or, you can combine lessons and teach them to play a blues progression. They can just play the root note of the blues progression on the recorder. That would be one bar of E, followed by a bar of A, followed by two bars of E, followed by two bars of A, followed by two bars of E, followed by a bar of B, then a bar of A and then two bars of E, or if you do a turnaround, a bar of E and then a bar of B at the end. That is a typical I IV V 12 bar blues.You could even have them play chords. All the chords are minor! One of the great American art forms created by black people, is the blues. You can have them improvise using the notes E, G, A, B and D. This is the E minor pentatonic scale. You can play a blues backing track in the key of E. Or, you can combine lessons and teach them to play a blues progression. They can just play the root note of the blues progression on the recorder. That would be one bar of E, followed by a bar of A, followed by two bars of E, followed by two bars of A, followed by two bars of E, followed by a bar of B, then a bar of A and then two bars of E, or if you do a turnaround, a bar of E and then a bar of B at the end. That is a typical I IV V 12 bar blues.
You could even have them play chords. When they are on the one chord, have half the class play E, and half the class play G. When they are on the four chord , have half the class play A and half the class play E. When they are on the 5 chord, have half the class play B and half the class play D. When they are on A chord, half the class plays A, and half the class plays C. Again, this will be a minor blues, but it will still work and be cool. A perfect opportunity to talk about how chords are constructed. This will be a minor blues, with a major five chord, but it will still work. You can basically have the kids just play the chords on the downbeat of every measure, while one of them keeps a beat on a drum, and they take turns improvising using the pentatonic scale.----- Gary Heimbauer