YELLOW BRICK ROAD MUSIC

Ha’kyo Jung for the Elementary Music Classroom

Ha’kyo Jung is a children’s song from Korea that would be great for practicing half note, as well as pentatonic melodies. I used to teach Ha’kyo Jung in my class from a recording by the Making Music series (a lifetime ago). You can also find this song in the book Roots and Branches: A Legacy of Multicultural Music for Children.

Recording

My friend Jane, from SillyOMusic, was kind enough to record herself singing this song. She also shares fantastic teaching tips (especially for pre-K) on her Instagram page, which you can find HERE. You can find amazing resources in her shop as well, which you can find HERE.

Ha’kyo Jung performed by Jane from SillyOMusic

Ha’kyo Jung Movement Ideas

Often times, when teaching a song, I would collaborate with my students to come up with movements. I would then use those movements with other classes or have each class create their own. For songs that weren’t in their native language, we would discuss the translation and try to come up with moves that matched the words. This way, when they were singing the foreign language, the movements helped to remind them what they were singing about. Their actions didn’t always fit the translation, and that’s okay too. Here’s one of the movement ideas they created:

Students form a large circle. Each student has jingle bells (or you can use body percussion).

  • Ha’kyo jungee daeng daeng daeng,
    • Students shake their bells (or clap) on “daeng daeng daeng”
  • Uhza moeejha
    • Students move toward the center of the circle or step clockwise to the beat
  • Sunsaeng nimee ooreerul
    • Students tap their wrist as though tapping their watch (to indicate the teacher waiting)
  • kida ree shin da
    • Student shake their bells on the final half note

If you’re working specifically on rhythm, you can have a different instrument represent each rhythm. For example:

  • Barred eighth notes = woodblock
  • Quarter notes = hand drum
  • Half notes = jingle bells or triangle