Singing, Cannon, Audiation and Movement in Second Grade

"Sally Go Round the Sun"

Singing, Cannon, Audiation and Movement

Second Grade

"Sally go 'round the sun

Sally go 'round the moon

Sally go 'round the chimney top

Ev'ry afternoon, woo!."

Second graders delighted in learning the song and game for the popular English children's song called "Sally Go 'Round the Sun".

First, students learned the song. We then got into a big circle and walked in one direction for 16 beats (the length of the song) and then switched directions to do the same thing again going in the opposite direction on the 16th beat when we exclaimed, "Woo!" Students were then directed to perform the same movements again while audiating the song and only speaking the "woo!" part. Audiating occurs whenever you are able to hear a song in your head. Students stepped more purposefully to the beat, which made this process easier. 

Next, students moved into pre-assigned groupings to create two concentric circles. They performed the entire song in cannon also known as a round, where one group begins the song and the other group joins in a few beats later, creating harmony. Harmony is when two or more notes are played or sung simultaneously. You will notice that the groups do not start moving until their part begins, creating canon in movement as well as in singing. 

Each level of this activity called on a variety of aspect of the students' musical skills as well as those skills they are developing in their classroom including, rhythm and pulse/math, audiation/memorization, singing, ensemble and performing contrasting parts of a song creating harmony, not to mention working collectively and collaboratively in a g. All of these skills rely on higher order thinking for each level of difficulty, generating focus and a sense of accomplishment and joy when all the parts are performed. 

See if you can hear the harmony in the videos below. The students did a superb job!