This week, I want to share with you a new song that I am doing with my fourth graders this year for Black History Month. It’s a spiritual called Won’t You Sit Down. I love it because you can do song much with it and it is very accessible for recorders.
Won’t You Sit Down
Learn Call and Response
First thing we do is learn the song and have students sing the response. It’s a really simple one, so it doesn’t take long. I usually have everyone (teacher and students) sing the last sentence – “just got to heaven gonna look around.”
Teach Response on Recorder
Next, have students learn the response on recorder. It used just B, A and G, so it works great on the recorder!
Teach the Call on Recorder
The call part goes into low D and E, so this can be a great way to differentiate instruction. Give your advanced kids the call and the other students can do the response.
Add Improvisation
The verses are just on B and G. This is a super safe take off point for students to do some improvisation. Then have the rest of the class do the response during the verses.
3 Responses