BRIDGES TO THE COMMUNITY SERIES: ALL SCHOOL SING
Lillie H. Feierabend, FAME Teacher Trainer
Often a single experience will open the young soul to music for a whole lifetime.
This experience cannot be left to chance. It is the duty of the school to provide it.
Zoltan Kodaly, Children’s Choruses, 1929
I take this charge to heart. Teachable moments do not always happen in the music classroom. Regardless of the excellence of our materials, sequencing and passion, we have no guarantee that students will be moved by music in the short amount of time they are with us. But, if we look just beyond the limits of the music classroom, we can create other experiences capable of engaging and influencing not only our students, but our greater school community, as well. Most significantly, looking beyond our classroom walls helps us impact the families in our community.
I would like to share one idea with you. It takes no money, no additional materials and no time, but helps create an environment where all members of the school community come together and are given the tools to play an important part in a child’s musical development.
ALL SCHOOL SING
WHO?
Students, parents, staff, faculty, and administrators. Imagine everyone joyously sharing songs, rhymes, rounds, smiles and laughter. This also provides an opportunity for even your youngest students to be surrounded by the richness and depth of harmony not usually experienced in their music class.
WHAT?
All the wonderful singing games that are already in your curriculum; Echo Songs, Call and Response Songs, Partner Songs, Rounds, Canons, and Cumulative Songs. And, because I like everyone to move around a bit, I also throw in Stationary Clapping Games, such as A Sailor Went to Sea Sea Sea and selections from Move It! to allow them to move expressively and musically will remaining in one place. It is a joyous sound when over four hundred individuals sing together and a wondrous sight when they musically move in sync.
These musical activities are meant to be shared over and over. Use the same procedure for teaching new material that you use in your classroom. For instance, teach a song, then the following week, teach the partner song, and the week after that, put them together. Get ready for wide eyes and smiles when they first become aware of the harmony. They know they are contributing to the richness of the sound, but they also realize that they need each other to make it happen. Don’t be afraid of returning to favorites over and over again. There is such joy in singing what is familiar, especially with friends and family. Don’t be surprised if you hear some of these out on the playground.
WHERE?
Perhaps the gym, the cafeteria, the auditorium, the library, or even a large hallway. Any place that can accommodate your school population plus a few parents is perfect. Remember, not all parents will be able to come all the time, but if you offer this on a consistent basis, they know they will be welcomed whenever they do come. If your population is really too large for the space, consider dividing; half the school on one day or time, and the other half on another day or time. In lovely weather, take everyone outside. Nothing beats singing together outdoors in the fresh air.
WHEN?
Anytime that works for your school community is perfect! 15 minutes? 20 Minutes? 30 Minutes? Once a month? Twice a month? At the beginning of the school day? At the end? The point is to begin, then build. When we first started, my principal could only carve out 15 minutes on the first Friday of each month, but it was such a resounding success that it was built into the schedule the following year. We decided that the last thirty minutes of every Friday would be the perfect time for us to meet as a community and close our week together.
WHY?
To create community and foster connections between home and school, between faculty and staff, between administrators and families. Bringing everyone together in such a welcoming way is the essence of a Positive School Climate. This is also a great way to share common knowledge. Imagine if all members of your school community knew Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain and were able to sing it at home together, with everyone joining in. Or, true story, two students meet in the grocery store and start performingMother Gooney Birdin one of the aisles, and their parents join in!
This also offers a wonderful way to show correlation among subjects. If one grade is studying a particular country and you have been integrating representative songs, games, dances, rhymes, and instruments, why not teach a few during the Sing and share that knowledge with all.
By providing this opportunity outside the music classroom, we are meeting Kodaly’s challenge. Chances are, singing with parents and other family members, or playing a clapping game with their classroom teacher, or hearing gorgeous harmony surrounding them, or singing a song with their parents on the ride home, or laughing with their parents about what they shared at the All School Sing, or singing along with a friend in the grocery aisle, just might ignite the spark and capture the soul of that child for a lifetime.
