Hello Readers! Today I wanted to share some of my favorite songs from around the world. I love being able to share a wide variety of music with my students, both to help build their musical ears and expand their horizons. Plus, kids love the novelty of hearing about other cultures and far away places. Often, you will even get students who raise their hand and share that their own knowledge. Maybe they have family in that part of the world, or speak the same language, or their parent traveled there and brought them back something from that country. It leads to some really neat discussions!
Anyhow, without further ado, here are some of my favorite songs from around the world for elementary music.
Jamaica: Three Little Birds by Bob Marley
This iconic reggae song is great for elementary music, with its school appropriate lyrics and repetitive form. I even created a recorder part to accompany it, which you can check out here: Jamaican Some Music, Mon
I have a great CD (full of music from around the world) called World Playground and it has a copy of this song on it, although it is not sung by Bob Marley himself.
Zimbabwe: If You Can Talk You Can Sing
This is a great song for a performance, either with a choral group or as a grade level performance. It has two partner songs – one in English and one in Zimbabwean. Each one features by itself, and then they are sung together.
Japan: Ten Oni Drummers
I love this book by Matthew Gollub (you may know him as the author of The Jazz Fly). This book takes place in Japan and features a mythical beast called an oni (like an ogre). There are so many cultural points to draw from here. It teaches you how to count to ten in Japanese, you get to learn about Japanese folk lore, and you can teach about taiko drumming, just to name a few.
I use this book to teach about forte and piano and to introduce tubanos to my students, but you could also incorporate rhythmic elements (having students read a rhythm and play it on a drum, or playing a rhythm and having them put the correct syllables to it, etc). It also lends itself to dramatic play. The repetitive nature of the book would lend itself well to an Orff arrangement as well.
Norway – In the Hall of the Mountain King
This piece by Edvard Grieg is pretty iconic. This song from Norway is another one that is great for teaching about dynamics – and tempo as well! I teach it along with the book Going on a Lion Hunt and we act out the different parts of the hunt to the music. Usually the first time we actually follow along with the book, and then they kind of know the pattern so we act it out with just the music.
Also, as I’m sitting here, I’m thinking this song would be super fun for a passing game! I may have to cook that up and get back to you …
Mexico – Chocolate
This hand clapping game from Mexico is super fun to teach during Hispanic heritage month. I also sometimes bring it back as one of our “greatest hits” during the end of the year.
Here is a link to a video with the chant and hand motions. I usually present this on my smart board with the words displayed and boxed in different colors depending on the hand motion that goes with it. I think it helps the kids keep track of the motions a little better. I also add in a B section to make this game into a mixer, where students end up with a new partner every time:
Mix up your chocolate
Mix around the room
Find a new partner
Find them very soon.
4 – – 3 – – 2 – – 1 and here we go.
This is just a very, very small sampling of some of the songs I love from around the world.
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