CONNECT - song and dance for children

*STONES HILL SONGS* is a growing resource of original songs for young children, self-published by experienced music teacher/ occupational therapist/ songwriter LIZ CAMPBELL. The goal is to stimulate real-time body-and-voice musical experience in classrooms. Demo-style presentation is simple and easy for teachers to look-listen-copy. They are not suitable as fancy backing tracks! SUBSCRIBE, "LIKE" and SHARE with other interested teachers. Let the SONG and DANCE continue!

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Farewell blessing

*from STONES HILL SONGS*

This song is suitable when the need arises (as it frequently does) to bid farewell to leavers from a school community. The words are borrowed and patched together from two well known blessings, one Irish and the other Swahili. Sung with feeling, it provides for both the tenderness, nostalgia and reflection associated with such an occasion.

I wrote it when dear friends of mine - both accomplished musicians - left town and country to move far away. It suited the swan-song sadness of our parting ways and will always be dedicated as my 'farewell to Mariel Ilusorio'.

It is best suited to young soprano voices which split in the last few bars, alternating their parts - go in peace - life is a journey (or life is a blessing). The piano part is written in its simplest form and is entirely open to further embellishment at the player's discretion and pleasure! Chords are included for those who read chord sheets.

As a communal song, this one should sit comfortably with people from different cultures, creeds and backgrounds with its inclusive text.

The demo-video is intended for teachers who want to learn the song; it helps to hear it, so here it is, plain and clear and in my home-recorded voice that does not belong in public arenas! Use it to get the gist of how it goes; I assure you, it will sound a whole lot better sung by young voices. The photos of tracks and roads are taken from around the wilds of the Eastern Cape where I live, and Zimbabwe.

G C
May the road rise up before you
G C G
May the wind be always at your back
Am7 F#m7 F#m7/B
May the sun shine warm upon your face until we meet again
Em A7/C# Dmaj7 Gmaj7
May the rain fall soft upon your fields until we meet again
C#m7 C#m7/F# Eb Eb7
And may God hold you in the palm of the hand
Abm Db7
Go in peace life is a journey/ blessing x3
Bdim/Bb Eb
and may God give you peace/ grace

substitute JOURNEY for BLESSING

The voice in the cupboard

*from STONES HILL STORIES*

This one is especially for my piano pupils who have as part of their standard repertoire this most famous minuet in G by JS Bach. It has been played down the ages by learners and is one of those perennial favourites that never grows tired.

This story has no visuals; it is a lie-back-close-the-eyes and invent the movie in your own mind! This is good old-fashioned auditory stimulation, generally lacking in today's screen-bombarded power-point presented world.

The music ends on an imperfect cadence (like a question mark?), leaving you to make up your own end of this tale ... enjoy!

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Old MacDonald

*from STONES HILL SONGS*
This song springboards off an old familiar classic, well-known and -loved by a wide audience. It's always reassuring to feel one knows A BIT of the new song. Between the short refrain, there is scope to play endlessly with the engaging activity of 'reading' farm animals.

This is the start of reading for young children, developing essential pre-literate skills required for this complex task which underpins all subsequent education.
Here are some of the said skills:
continuous eye tracking from left to right, same as on a page
naming in sequence
rhythmic patterning and flow
recognition of shape + name
adjusting to sequential shifts and gaps
crossing the midline

All this is reinforced in a fun, mesmerising way because of the repetitive nature of the game. Learning happens best with repetition, which here is underpinned by the steady 4-beat meter. Those who are a bit slower will be carried by the group. You choose whether to repeat each sequence two or four times, depending on your group. The switches you make will keep attention alert, and removing the animals gives it an extra edge, sounding the words silently in the head. Always start with 4 animals, representing the 4 counting beats holding it together.

I've found it interesting to note that generally domestic and farm animals have fewer syllables than wild animals. Compare: pig, cow, horse, goat with hippopotamus, elephant, rhinoceros, wildebees, impala..... . Of course we aim for a mix of syllables to make the most interesting and musical rhythms, so choose the animals you line up accordingly.

eg sheep rabbit chicken pig

has a good ring to it, mixed up as it is with long and short sounds syllables.

Old MacDonald had a farm e i e i o
Let's go and see what's in his barn e i e i o

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Old king glory

*from STONES HILL SONGS*
This is a favourite action song of mine: it is fun, it is irreverent, it leads to laughter as it makes light nonsense of the status quo. Its delightfully counterintuitive wisdom notices leaders of the day, municipalities, principalities, ministries and governmenties puffing themselves up buffoonishly, only to fall to pieces and tumble down. Like Ozymandias...

It's helpful for children to see, as systems crumble and take a tumble (as they seriously are doing right now in countless ways), what can we do? one approach is to laugh and dance it round and round to find a new way of living. At heart it's quite a revolutionary song: down with the old - bring in the new!

This song has been borrowed and stolen (musicians are said to be thieves, but openly so) from several sources. Old king glory is originally a traditional African-American song/dance from a treasured book of mine, Down in the Valley - singing games for children, and can be traced back to Meg Lippert who learnt it at the Rudolph Steiner school in NYC, where in turn it had been collected from some children in the streets.... What a tale about a tale! Now it's been further patchworked with the 'thumbs out - tootie ta' bit from a song we sang gloriously, with much hilarity, over and over as children, to another refrain. And further bits are added by me to stitch it all together.

As with my much of my other material, this recording is plainly presented for teachers to get a clear idea of tune, moves and sequence. Learn it from the video so that you are comfortable enough to teach it to your classes.

It's a good idea to start the song all solemn and serious: the king in glory and splendour. Keep the sequence of body parts as you add them. Exaggerate the moves. Children love the humour of 'bums out', so have a laugh! You have to be prepared to be a clown yourself, let your hair down and not take yourself seriously to lead this song.

Old king glory on the mountain
the mountain was so high
that it nearly touched the sky
(stretch up tall)
till it tumbled to the ground so they danced it round and round
  (tumbling down motion and dance your way, round and round!)
and they danced it to the left and they danced it to the right
  (it's wonderful to get left and right muddled up - that's the point -
we notice that for most of us it takes a few moments to work out which side is which)
and they danced it through the day and they danced it through the night
and it's one two three follow me... (slow it down here)

Add one by one: thumbs out....elbows out..... knees together.....
toes together...... bums out...
chests out...... chins out...... tongues out
a tootie ta ......   (taking you back to the beginning again)

The ant house

*from STONES HILL STORIES*
This story has its song set to the famous 'Can-can' tune by Offenbach. Lie back, put your feet up, close your eyes and listen: story-telling with no pictures attached has countless benefits for children, developing acute listening skills; ability to sustain focus and attention; and imagination.

This tale tells how seeming disaster and undoing can be the very whirlwind needed to make us alive!
I recorded it back in 2004; today it seems truer than ever.

Monday, October 14, 2019

We need the bees

*from STONES HILL SONGS*

Children love songs about insects, creepy crawlies and small intriguing creatures. As we sing about them, we can also teach the next generation to protect and value these essential organisms on this planet. Much has been written in the scientific world about the devastating impact humans have had on our environment, to our own detriment, with our thoughtless use of toxic insecticides, pesticides and other poisonous-cides. Most households have an array of chemical sprays and powders which are often used with gay abandon, a large pinch of ignorance and sometimes small and curious hands that should not be able to reach that shelf, but do.

The current plight of honey bees the world over lends urgency to this topic. I recommend (for interested adults) a brilliantly researched though deeply sobering book written back in the 1950s by Rachel Carson, addressing this very issue. More than ever, her message needs to be heard and heeded. 'Silent Spring' refers to the silence which descended in areas struck by death-en- masse of entire colonies of birds following indiscriminate campaigns by authorities on 'pests' and 'weeds'.

Dr.Seuss's fantastical story of the Lorax will invite re-reading countless times by young and old alike as it follows the crazy, doomed downward spiral that is the inevitable consequence of an economy of consumption. With each reading we hope for an alternative ending... there is always the last 'truffula seed' in this tale...

Em C D
What about the insects and what about the bees?
Em C D

Just a moment please while I fall down on my knees
Em C D

And have a little sneeze (aatishoo!) and hold my nose and wheeze (do just this)
Em D Em

And PUT AWAY THE BUG SPRAY PLEEEAAAZE! buzz buzz

Em C D

We need those insects and bees to farm
Em C D

We need to hold back from doing them harm
Em C D

The world is our web with place enough for all
Em C D

Protect and respect both the great and the small
Em D Em

And PUT AWAY THE BUG SPRAY PLEEEAAAZE! buzz buzz

{ optional extra line: Forget about the 5-G speed!!}
this referring to the controversial introduction of super-fast wifi
to the detriment of bee, bird and insect activity - a further subject..

This song has a refrain that you can play with endlessly between verses. It is something I learnt on an Orff Schulwerk music course from Sophia Lopez-Ibor who introduced this technique in another song. The principle is the same: it's about reading, reading animals left to right as we would words. We learn to read 4 in a row rhythmically, keeping the beat while fitting in words with different numbers of syllables.

Generally I repeat each set 4 times as this makes some musical sense (phrasing). You can then quickly switch and re-arrange the order for further fun. Then begin by removing one which becomes a silent space (called a rest in music). Then remove another... the play of syllables, sequences and rests are infinite, each one with its own rhythmic pattern. Sometimes it's useful to use a pointer, like a cursor, indicating each animal in turn, in time, as it's named.

Here are a few examples to get you going:

BUTTERFLY BEE CATERPILLAR SPIDER
X4

SPIDER CATERPILLAR BUTTERFLY BEE
X4

SPIDER BUTTERFLY BEE
X4

ETC. Play with it yourself by saying the words and sensing their natural rhythms before taking it to your classes. You can also have two different 'sentences' running together for two different groups. The overlay of rhythmic patterns from two groups is particularly mesmerizing.

A serious song about a sobering subject, but lots of fun to be had with the name patterns as well.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Tree in the wood

*from STONES HILL SONGS*

This is an old folk song passed down by oral tradition over many generations. Its charm and simplicity have stood the test of time and to this day it evokes a magical unfolding of nature that captures any child's imagination. What makes it so special is the fact that all the elements are good and 'fine'.

The tune is well shaped and gently repetitive, lending itself to some improvised embellishment if the teacher so wishes. It's worth modulating up if possible to stretch both the voice and the ear. It can be sung gently, without hurry, using pause and 'rubato' as if telling a tale - which is exactly what it is doing. It is a song with a story.

The song gathers momentum, accumulating along the way. This practice using sequencing and memory is a well-loved as a classic children's game. The accompanying movements helps to reinforce the patterning and can be performed in dance-like fashion.

Several versions have been demonstrated to accompany 'the green grass growing all around' - the choice is up to the teacher depending on the age and ability of the group. I have used it with very young ages all the way up to 8/ 9 year olds.

All in the wood there was a tree

the finest tree you ever did see

the tree was in the ground

and the green grass grew all around, all around

the green grass grew all around

Now on this tree there was a branch

the finest branch you ever did see

the branch was on the tree....

Now on this branch there was a twig.....

Now on this twig there were some leaves....

Now in the leaves there was a nest....

Now in the nest there was an egg....

Now in the egg there was a bird....

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Friday, October 18, 2019

Monday, October 14, 2019

Sunday, October 13, 2019