Hand Me Down My Walkin’ Cane

The chorus to an old spiritual of unknown origin introducing many tied notes and the interval Do/Fa.

Description

Grade: Third
Origin: USA – Traditional – attributed to James Bland
Key: G Major
Time: 2/4
Form: through composed
Rhythm: intermediate: (tied notes)
| ta/a_|_ti ti ti ti | | ta/a_|_ta ti ti | ta/a_|_ta/ ti |
| ti ti ti ti | ti ti ti ti ri | ti ta ti | syncopation
Pitches: beginners: So Do Re Mi Fa
Intervals: beginners: So/Do/Mi ascending tonic arpeggio in 1st position, Do/Fa
Musical Elements: notes: half, dotted quarter, quarter, eighth, sixteenth; pickup beat, tied notes
Key Words: sacred, hand, down, cane, midnight, train; abbreviation: walkin’ (walking), goin’ (going), ’cause (because); contraction; I’m ( I am)

**“Hand Me Down My Walkin’ Cane”**
Hand me down my walkin’ cane, Hand me down my walkin’ cane, Oh hand me down my walkin’ cane, I’m goin’ to leave on the midnight train, ‘Cause all my sins are taken away.

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The Green Leafy Tree

“Songs of a Little Child’s Day”
With the Birds

Each verse builds on the previous verse to build musical memory.

Description

Grade: First
Origin: Emilie Poulsson, Eleanor Smith
Key: E Flat Major
Time: 3/8
Form: Aa Aa ABa ABAa ABBAa
Rhythm: beginners: | ti ti ti | ta ti | ta (ti) | (ta) ti |
Pitches: intermediate: Ti Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do
Intervals: advanced: Fa\Re, Re/La, So\Mi, Mi/So, Do/Mi, Re\Ti, So/Do, Re/Do
Musical Elements: notes: quarter, eighth; rests: eighth; tempo: allegretto grazioso/moderately quick, gracefully (98-109 BPM); dynamics: mezzo forte/medium loud, piano/soft, forte/loud, decrescendo; pickup beat, horizontal accent mark (play the note louder)
Key Words: earth science, meadow, leafy, nest, speckled, birds, flying, sweet, heard, eggs, song, music

**“The Green Leafy Tree”**

		1.	We went to the meadow and what did we see? A green leafy tree.

		2.	We went to the meadow and what did we see? A nest in the tree, the green leafy tree

		3.	We went to the meadow and what did we see? Oh! speckled blue eggs in the nest in the tree, The green leafy tree.

		4.	We went to the meadow and what did we see? Oh, three baby birds from the specked blue eggs, The eggs in the nest and nest in the tree, The green leafy tree.

		5.	We went to the meadow and what did we see? We saw the birds flying, sweet music we heard, For out came a song from each little bird, The birds from the eggs in the nest in the tree, The green leafy tree.

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Green Grow The Lilacs

Beginners syncopation, extended range,
and a five note ascending tonic arpeggio.

Description

Grade: Fifth
Origin: United Kingdom, Scotland – USA, Folk Song
Key: G Major
Time: 3/4
Form: ABCD
Rhythm: beginners: | ta ta/ ti | syncopation,
| ta ta ta | ta/a ta | ta ta ti ti | ta/a (ta) |
Pitches: intermediate: Mi So La Ti Do Re Mi Fa So La – extended range
Intervals: intermediate: So/Mi8 (M6), Do\Mi (m6), Mi/So/Do/Mi8/So8 ascending tonic arpeggio (I, G), So8\Mi8 (m3), Do\La (m3), La/Fa (m6), Re\La (P4)
Musical Elements: notes: half, dotted quarter, quarter, eighth; rest: quarter; syncopation, tonic arpeggio
Key Words: world geography: United Kingdom, Scotland (tune); USA history, cowboy song, cowboy courting song, lilacs, sparkling, dew, darling, parting, prove true, red, white, and blue, reminding, brought, love, gate, country, favorite, sweetly, perfuming, sad parting, message, change; contraction: I’m (I am), I’ll (I will); abbreviation: flow’r (flower)

**“Green Grow The Lilacs”**

	1.	Green grow the lilacs, all sparkling with dew, I’m lonely, my darling, since parting with you, But by our next meeting I’ll hope to prove true, And change the green lilacs to the Red, White and Blue.

	2.	Green grow the lilacs reminding me of The ones that I brought you with all of my love, The gates of my country will open for you And change the green lilacs to the Red, White and Blue.

	3.	Green grow the lilacs, Your favorite flow’r, So sweetly perfuming – a sad parting hour. Oh send me a message that you love me too, Let’s change the green lilacs to the Red, White and Blue.

	This ballad is based on a similar song, “Green Grows the Laurel“, that was popular in 17th century Scotland. The song appears in the 1931 play of the same name by Lynn Riggs. “Green Grow the Lilacs” became the basis of the libretto for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Oklahoma!.”

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Green, Green, Green

Singing alone and with others while learning colors.

Description

Grade: Kindergarten
Origin: German – Children’s Song
Key: G Major
Time: 2/4
Form: AaBb (B has a repeating pattern)
Rhythm: beginners: | ta ti ti | ti ti ta | ti ti ti ti |
Pitches: intermediate: La Ti Do Re Mi Fa So
Intervals: intermediate: Re\Ti, Do\So, Mi/So, Fa\Re, Re/Fa
Musical Elements: notes: quarter, eighth; rest: quarter; singing alone and with others, developing the independent voice
Key Words: world geography: Germany; colors, green, student introductions, meeting new friends

**“Green, Green, Green”**
Green, green, green, now who is wearing green today? Green, green, green, oh, I am wearing green. I’m wearing green today. Look at me and you will say, Green, green, green you’re wearing green today.

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Great Granddad

Introducing sixteenth notes. Adding Fa to the pentatonic scale.

Description

Grade: Second
Origin: USA – Cowboy Song
Key: D Major
Time: 2/4
Form: ABCD
Rhythm: intermediate: | ti ti ti ti ri | ti ti ta |
| ti ti ti ti | ti ri ti ta |
Pitches: intermediate: Do Re Mi Fa So La
Intervals: intermediate: So\Mi, Mi/La, Mi/So, So\Do, Mi/La, Re/So
Musical Elements: notes: quarter, eighth, sixteenth
Key Words: cowboy, Western USA, Granddad, barred, wagon tongue, rough, dangers, wilderness, slept, hunted, coonskin, grub, frying pan, knife, suite, wore; possessive: man’s, hyphenated word: twenty-one

**“Great Granddad”**

		1.	Great Granddad, when the land was young, Barred the door with a wagon tongue, For the times was rough and the dangers great, And he said his prayers both early and late.

		2.	Twenty-one children came to bless The old man’s home in the wilderness, They slept on the floor with the dogs and the cats, And they hunted in the woods in their coonskin caps.

		3.	Great Granddad was a busy man, Cooked his grub in a frying pan, He picked his teeth with his hunting knife, And he wore the same suite all his life.

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Great Big House

Changing rhythms to match verse syllables, moving to a steady beat, and movements for each line of the second verse.

Description

Grade: Fourth
Origin: USA – Louisiana Play Song
Key: F Major
Time: 2/4
Form: ABAC
Rhythm: beginners: | ti ti ti ti | ti ti ta | ta ta |
| ti ti ti ti ri | ta (ta) |
Pitches: beginners: Do Mi So La – pentatonic scale
Intervals: beginners: Mi/So, La\Mi, So\Mi
Musical Elements: notes: quarter, eighth, sixteenth; rest: quarter
Key Words: USA geography, New Orleans, Louisiana, forty stories, chicken pie, mill stream, fetch, pail, wife, daughter, darling, golden slippers; abbreviation: ev’ry (every)

**“Great Big House”**

		1.	Great big house in New Orleans, Forty stories high; Ev’ry room that I been in, Filled with chicken pie.
		2.	Went down to the old mill stream, To fetch a pail of water; Put one arm around my wife, The other ’round my daughter.
		3.	Fare thee well, my darling girl, Fare thee well, my daughter; Fare thee well, my darling girl, With the golden slippers on her.

		Movements:
		1.	First verse: students form a circle, holding hands, walk keeping a steady beat, then stop.
		2.	Went down to the old mill stream, (every other student moves to the center, holding hands with arms below waist) To fetch a pail of water; (outside circle moves behind inner circle, placing arms over the shoulders of the inner circle and holds hands) Put one arm around my wife, (keeping hands held, outside circle raises arms to ceiling, bringing them down behind the back of the inner circle) The other ’round my daughter. (keeping hands held, inner circle rises arms to ceiling, bringing them down behind the backs of the outer circle)
		3.	Third verse: keeping arms around the outer circle, the whole circle walks to a steady beat.

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The Grand Old Duke of York

Intermediate syncopation and a tonic arpeggio.

Description

Grade: First
Origin: England – Nursery Rhyme
Key: A Major
Time: 4/4
Form: ABCD
Rhythm: intermediate: | ta ta ta ta | ta/a/a ta |
| ta ta ta ti ti | ti ti ta ta ti ti | syncopation,
| ta/a ta/ ti | syncopation
Pitches: beginning: Mi So Do Re Mi Fa
Intervals: beginning: Do\So\Mi/So/Do tonic arpeggio
Musical Elements: notes: half, dotted quarter, quarter, eighth; pickup beats, syncopation, tonic arpeggio
Key Words: world geography: England; grand, noble, Duke of York, ten thousand, marched, up, down, neither, nor; contraction: we’re (we are)

“The Grand Old Duke of York”
also known as
“The Noble Duke of York”

	1.	Oh, the grand old Duke of York, He had ten thousand men; He marched them up to the top of the hill, And he marched them down again.

	2.	And when we’re up, we’re up, And when we’re down we’re down, And when we’re only half way up, We’re neither up nor down.

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Grand Ladies

“Songs of a Little Child’s Day”
Playtime

Although quite short, advanced intervals, including a descending tonic octave skip, will challenge your best voices!

Description

Grade: First
Origin: Emilie Poulsson, Eleanor Smith
Key: E Flat Major
Time: 3/8
Form: rhythm: ABAB – pitches: ABCD
Rhythm: intermediate: | ta ti | ti/ ri ti | ta/ |
Pitches: intermediate: Do Re Mi Fa So La Do
Intervals: advanced: Do/Mi, Mi/So, Do\Do (descending tonic octave skip), So/Do, Do\La, La\Fa, So/Mi, Mi\Do, Re/Fa, Fa/La
Musical Elements: notes: dotted quarter, quarter, eighth, sixteenth; tempo: andantino/slightly faster (78-83 BPM); dynamics: piano/soft, mezzo forte/medium loud, forte/loud, crescendo, decrescendo, tonic octave skip
Key Words: gardening, gardener, earth science, plant growth, flower growth, stately, sedately, quite, ladies, ago, greet, moving, forward, row

**“Grand Ladies”**
Slow and stately, Quite sedately, Like grand ladies long ago, We will greet you As we meet you Moving forward in a row.

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Go Tell It on the Mountain – NEW

Adding the fourth (Fa) to the pentatonic scale with an interval of a minor seventh (m7).

Description

• Grade: Fifth (5)

• Origin: United States – African American Spiritual

• Key: F Major

• Time: 4/4

• Form: AB – Verse/Refrain

• Pitches: intermediate: So La Do Re Mi Fa So La

• Intervals: intermediate: Mi/So8 (m3), So\Mi\Do descending tonic triad, So/Fa (m7), Do\La (m3), So/Do P4)

• Musical Elements: notes: dotted half, half, quarter, dotted eighth, eighth, sixteenth; rests: quarter; descending tonic triad, interval of a minor seventh So/Fa, syncopation, vocal slurs

• Key Words: United Sates history, African American history, spiritual, Bible story, Christmas, sacred, mountain, King David, Lord, Jesus Christ, seeker, night and day, watchman, Him (God)

**“Go Tell It on the Mountain”**

	1.	In the time of David, Some said he was a king, And if a child is true born, The Lord will hear him sing;

		Refrain:
		Go tell it on the mountain, Over the hills and everywhere, Go tell it on the mountain, That Jesus Christ is born.

		Refrain

	2.	When I was a seeker, I sought both night and day, I asked the Lord to help me, And he showed me the way:

		Refrain

	4.	He made me a watchman Upon a city wall, And if I serve Him truly, I am the least of all:

		Refrain

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Go Tell Aunt Rhody

Introducing the grace note.

Description

Grade: First
Origin: Traditional American, US Folk Song
Key: G Major
Time: 2/4
Form: ABCD
Rhythm: beginners: | ta ti ti | ta ta | ti ti ta | ta/ ti |
Pitches: beginners: Do Re Mi Fa So
Intervals: beginners: Re/Fa, Do/So, Mi\Do
Musical Elements: notes: dotted quarter, quarter, eighth, grace note (a musical note printed in small type and not counted in rhythm)
Key Words: goose, aunt, feather, bed, died, mill pond, head, goslings, goslin’s (goslings), scratch, bread, crying, gander, weeping
Keyboard: beginners: wonderful five finger exercise for left, right, and two hands together

**“Go Tell Aunt Rhody”**

		1.	Go tell Aunt Rhody, Go tell Aunt Rhody, Go tell Aunt Rhody, The old gray goose is dead.

		2.	The one she’s been saving, The one she’s been saving, The one she’s been saving, To make a feather bed.

		3.	She died in the mill pond, She died in the mill pond, She died in the mill pond, Standing on her head.

		4.	She left nine little goslin’s, She left nine little goslin’s, She left nine little goslin’s, To scratch for their own bread.

		5.	The goslings are crying, The goslings are crying, The goslings are crying, Because their mother’s dead.

		6.	The gander is weeping, The gander is weeping, The gander is weeping, Because his wife is dead.

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