Native American Music, and What to do when the kids make oatmeal container drums

Last week Teacher Terri asked me to find some way to use the oatmeal box drums the kids were making in class as part of their Native American Indian unit.

Gladly!

Here's what we did today.

We warmed up with a fun dance game idea (Uhe Basho Sho) I found in Wee Sing  Around the World, but used the
 Holding Hands Song from
"Dancing Spirit: Native American Songs & Dances"
also available on Itunes.

It's a perfect recording for this game, and sounds a lot like the song on the Wee Sing CD, only it's several minutes longer.
Basically, have the kids line up & hold hands. Place some "trees" around the room. I used five chairs. 

As the music plays, step rhythmically & slowly, leading the line around the obstacles in a crazy path. After a few turns, release the hand of the child next in line and tell them they are the leader. Go join the child at the end of the line. Encourage them to take unexpected turns & keep it fun. They will get the hang of it, but it really helps to have a couple adult helpers to coach them. In my class, each child lead for about 20-30 seconds.

Drum Time

First, anytime I give the kids instruments, I warm them up with a simple piggyback song. I can't remember where I found this, but it's wonderful.

tune: "The More We Get Together"

It's time to play our instruments, instruments, instruments, 
It's time to play our instruments in music class.

Play them HIGH (pause & play them up in the air)
Play them LOW (pause, play low)
Play them FAST (etc)
Play them SLOW

It's time to play our instruments in music class, and STOP!!!

At the STOP everyone MUST put their instrument on the floor and put their hands on their lap. It is a fun game which we practice the first time they get instruments, and keeps instrument time manageable.

Because the drums were too big to lift up high, I substituted the "high & low" with "like this" and swished my palm over the top, and then "with your fingers" and we made rain sounds.

Then we had a blast using this song:

 My Favourite Drum from Kids Music Company

Link goes to their website where you can preview this song. You can also purchase this on Itunes from their "Swing With Me" CD.

At first the kids play however they like, then it directs them to play softly or loudly, and at the end of each verse they:

drum and drum and STOP!! (Pause)
drum and drum and STOP!! (Pause)
drum and drum and drum and then I STOP!! (Pause)

This was great fun, like the Freeze Game for drums.

Finally we used:

Social Dance James Peshlakai From the Album Songs of the Navajo

This is an amazing album. (MP3 downloads from Amazon or Itunes)

For this song, I had the kids scoot back from the circle to leave room for dancers, and told them I would be taking each one by turn for a little dance around the room. They could drum to the music while others were dancing.

I watched some youtubes of social dances, and chose to use a simple variation of this idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIHOZDk3M-0

While the kids drummed the basic beat, I took one child at at time around the circle, both hands joined (criss cross if possible) facing forward. I used a kind of bounce step to the rhythm, but did not expect the kids to do exactly as I did. When we returned to their spot in the circle, I turned us in a 360, still with our hands locked together, and then released them to sit & drum, and extended my hands to the next child. They understood this very easily.

When everyone had a turn, I asked them to put their drums up on the table and choose a dance partner. We all danced as a group a couple more times around the circle to the music. If they could not figure out the two hands idea, it was fine for them to simply hold hands as usual.