I Love My Ukulele!

My ukulele

I do, I really do.  It’s a fab little instrument and so easy to play.  The ukulele had fallen out of fashion when I was young and so I had a 3/4 sized guitar as a child – I think I could only ever play How Much is That Doggy in the Window? and songs in G major that used 3 chords.  I bought myself a guitar about 5 years ago with the idea of rediscovering the joys of strumming but for some reason I bought a steel stringed guitar which made my finger-tips bleed which is ‘Not a Good Look’ when you’re playing in front of toddlers. 

I had a rethink and bought a ukulele instead.  No harsh steel strings, so easy to play (you can play a C chord with one finger) and it’s small and easily transportable too which is always a bonus when transporting a carload of props and other paraphernalia about.

I re-affirmed my love affair with the uke today when I found out I’d settled into holiday mode a little too early, setting off to do my final nursery session of the term but leaving my iPod at home.

So what to do…  without the iPod I had to discard my jungle themed ideas for the session. Our listening activity was to be comparing animal sounds – now I’m no match for a real chimpanzee so wasn’t going to attempt that – and I also had to think of something else for the movement activities I’d had planned as I couldn’t use the wonderful pieces of music from the Carnival of the Animals I’d selected.  Time to panic with a nursery group of lively children to keep occupied!

Fortunately this term I’m doing several songs using my ukulele so it is always with me.  I did this term’s topic song Clap and Clap and Clap and Stop! and then asked the children for other song suggestions, especially if it had anything to do with animals.  They came up with When Cows Get Up in the Morning which is one of my favourites and they chose a wide range of animals from lions to donkeys!  It’s a good song for developing vocal awareness between singing and using the voice for other sounds such as roaring.

Elephant and bird

I’d also put my selection of recorders (bass, tenor, treble and descant) in the car because we’ve been looking at pitch and I wanted to show the children how size affects pitch and tone.  I played the various sizes and then asked the children to choose two instruments to use to play a tune for an elephant and a bird.  I was pleased they chose the bass recorder for the elephant and the descant for the bird as it demonstrated the differences in pitch and timbre very well.

I usually have a box of randomly selected percussion instruments in the car and decided that the children could help me sort them into groups, depending on their sound and method of playing.  We then went back to our song Clap and Clap and Clap and Stop! and changed the words to Play and Play and Play and Stop!  It’s a little more challenging to get the children to stop playing an instrument as opposed to stop clapping, but by the time we’d played it quietly and loudly too, the children were listening very well.

And then, of course, there’s the unaccompanied voice – we did The Stretchy Man using the lycra sheet which the children just adore, so we sang it slowly, quickly, quietly and loudly and had  a great time.

There you have it, a completely acoustic session by mistake, but one which worked really well. I may well ‘forget’ my iPod again in future but will make sure I always have my uke!

How many ways can you use one simple song?

I’ve been confined to quarters as I’ve ‘done’ my back again.  I’ve had to cancel classes which is something I really hate to do and so have spent lots of time thinking as I can’t do much else, especially if it means moving!

One of the things I’ve been thinking about (apart from how much of a pain is back pain!) is how to keep old, familiar songs vibrant and interesting.  Children enjoy and need repetition but it’s also important to keep things fresh and varied, for the sake of the children and adults attending and also for the practitioner – nothing worse than a bored and lacklustre class leader.

Let’s take one song, say, Row, Row, Row Your Boat.  It’s a great song, simple, repetitive, everyone knows it and can sing it with gusto.  You can use it to emphasise pulse and pitch, it fits nicely into different themes (transport, seaside, holidays, animals) but if used in the same way it can become stale.  I’ve been thinking of ways to keep it interesting.

These are the traditional lyrics:

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

For newborn babies I use this as a gentle rocking song, holding the baby in your arms and rocking them side to side.  For older babies who have head and back control, you can sit them on your knee facing you, holding their hands and moving forwards and backwards in a rowing motion.  This particular way of using the song can be continued right up through toddlerhood and into pre-school years.  It’s a good way of emphasising pulse through movement.

With toddler and pre-schoolers you can start to introduce some other activities and props and change the lyrics.  All my groups love the alternative lyrics below:

If you see a crocodile...

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream
If you see a crocodile, don’t forget to scream!

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the river
If you see a polar bear, don’t forget to shiver

Row, row, row you boat, gently back to shore
If you see a lion, don’t forget to roar!

A pair of earplugs comes in useful when you have large pre-school groups doing this but it does introduce changes in vocalisation so children can start to distinguish between different types of sounds produced by their voices.

As well as varying the lyrics you can change your props.  When working with parent and child classes I introduce hoops for the toddler age group.  The parent faces the child as in the baby version both holding the hoop, pushing and pulling forwards and backwards in time to the pulse.  The child can sit inside or outside the hoop depending on the size of the child and the hoop.  A similar activity can be used in large groups using a giant elastic scrunchie with the children holding the scrunchie.

I also use the song for pitch awareness, using the lyrics below.

Row, row, row, your boat gently up the stream
Up, down, down, down, life is but a dream.

Using the hoop and scrunchie props as above or a play parachute, start by gently shaking up and down to the pulse and lifting upwards as the pitch rises and lowering as the pitch falls.  For an activity without props and especially suited to young babies, start with gentle bouncing then lift the child up and down to the changes in pitch.

And finally, you can use the song for introducing dynamic and tempo changes.  You can do this with movement and vocal dynamic changes, or by using a simple percussion instrument playing on the pulse:

Percussion Instruments

Row, row, row your boat, quietly up the stream

Row, row, row your boat loudly up the stream

Row, row, row your boat slowly up the stream

Row, row, row your boat quickly up the stream

So there are many ways to use just this one song, emphasising different areas of musical development.  Using a varied approach should help keep the song from becoming dull and uninspiring but still keep that much needed familiarity.

I Have Too Much Stuff!

Too much stuff in my bedroom

One of the pitfalls of being in the pre-school music business is that you collect all sorts of things to use in your classes.  A myriad of instruments, props, puppets, strange items made of papier mache and other such oddities that you just have to have.  You quickly find your job is taking over your house.  Currently I store items in the loft, in our bedroom, I’ve boxes permanently resident in my car (no room for children, even in a people carrier!) and I have recently begun to spread to a small corner of the living room (soon to get larger I fear).

Now I would say that yes, I am a bit of a hoarder, but not quite as squirrel-like as my husband who keeps defunct computers, old bits of wood, screws, ancient bicycles and random newspaper clippings in the loft, “because it might come in handy one day”.  Oh and don’t forget the 50,000 t-shirts he’s got from running races and never wears.  I’m more a magpie and that if I see something I think might be useful for my classes I’ll buy it and then work out a way of using it later on…. or not.

I must confess to a number of items I’ve purchased and never, ever, used but find it difficult to throw away.  Like, for instance, 30 A4 sized magnetic wipeboards that I bought as a bulk purchase and have never even taken out of their wrappings.  About 4 years later I can’t even remember why I thought they’d be a good idea in the first place.  But I’ve still got them. 

Rak-a-taks are VERY loud!

And then of course there are the mistakes which just didn’t work – gathering drum too big to transport about; these rak-a-taks pictured to your left looked fantastic fun but made such a racket that I’ve used them once and then never again; ditto cymbals – why did I ever think that was going to be a good idea!  Oh and what about the purple monster puppet – it made some children cry… I thought he was friendly looking but he’s sat in a box of other unused puppets in my bedroom ever since.

So I have too much stuff, and no where to store it.  But I can’t possibly get rid of it, can I?  I mean “it might come in handy one day”!

Things I Love About My Job

I thought I’d introduce a more personal note to this post – I’m fortunate I have a job I am passionate about and really enjoy and I thought I’d share a few thoughts on the positive side of my work.  So, in no particular order, I love:

• it when a reserved child gains enough confidence to leave their carer’s lap and join in activities by themselves; and conversely I love it when a lively child sits, concentrates and then taps out a steady pulse for the first time

• the first time a baby copies an action and joins in with clapping or tapping or moving – those chubby hands clapping are joy

• the natural inquisitiveness of children who will approach and watch, (or approach and poke!) when playing live on instruments such as my flute, autoharp or ukulele.  I’m always amazed at how they stop, look and listen so intently and react so positively to live music

• the anticipation on a child’s face when playing peekaboo – yes, we do come back, every time!

• the excitement of the bubbles, especially with babies when those arms and legs start pumping away or the toddlers with their pointy finger dance and cries of “ubble!”.

• the smiles and obvious enjoyment when the children hear the train arriving and we launch into our theme song – even the youngest ones get excited

• being able to ‘borrow’ a baby for some activities (there are currently a lot of twins in my classes) and have the privilege of snuggling up to a warm furry head or watch them smile as they swing through the air in a circle dance

• using the parachute, rainbow scrunchie and stretchy lycra where the whole group is working together and interacting

• being creative and able to write simple songs and then seeing how the children react.  One of my current favourites is a very simple song “clap and clap and clap and stop!” (which is sung to the first part of Polly Put the Kettle On) which I use with older toddler and pre-school groups.  It’s great for listening skills, lots of fun, yet so simple

• in the longer term being able to watch children grow, discover and develop their musicality.

I am privileged to do something I love.  So thank you to all the lovely children (and your parents) who’ve made my job such fun and such a pleasure over the years.