YELLOW BRICK ROAD MUSIC

Considering the weather right now, Rain, Rain seems like the perfect song for the season. It’s great for working on quarter and barred eighth notes, so/mi or high/low pitches, as well as recorder and other classroom instruments.

BARRED INSTRUMENTS

Due to the simple rhythms and pitches, this song is perfect to perform on classroom instruments.

Using G & E

Of course, this song would also work well with other pitched classroom instruments, such as Boomwhackers™ or handchimes. When working with repetitive pieces such as this, I think it’s important to have a plan in place so that it doesn’t start to feel monotonous. Monotony is the surest way to bore your students and tempt them into disengaging. One easy way to avoid monotony, is by splitting your class into groups and allowing them to rotate groups after a set time limit.

For example, You might have one group on Orff instruments, another singing, and yet another using rain sticks or ocean drums. Then, after going through the song once or twice, the students can rotate into another group. Eventually, they will have played or sang the song through six or more times without even realizing it.

The video below is from a resource in my shop, Rain Rain. You can use this to demonstrate how to play the piece on a barred instrument.

QUARTER & BARRED EIGHTH NOTES

Rain, Rain is a great song for introducing quarter and barred eighth notes. You can begin by singing the song with a simple, steady beat motion. Ask the students to follow the motion with you. Try using sign language for your steady beat motion. Here is a video of how to sign rain.

Here are some other motions you can try to reinforce high/low pitch.

For reinforcing high/low pitch
Beat 1: touch shoulders
Beat 2: touch knees

For reinforcing high/low pitch
Beat 1: touch head
Beat 2: touch shoulders

After practicing the beat, you can clap the rhythm (the way the words go) as you sing, continuing to dive into the sound and feeling of the concept.