Singing Games

This is a fun song that lies well within children's natural vocal range. The Blues style and the syncopated rhythm allows the teacher and the children to have a lot of fun during the initial learning stages. Play around with the Blues notes during these early stages and experiment by singing the song with differing dynamics. Encourage all children to participate by taking the solo line at some point, although you don't have to include every child each time the song is sung. Extend the children's ability for rhythmic improvisation by encouraging some to repeat rhythmic phrases, from the song, on untuned percussion, such as shakers and drums.

This is a very easy introductory game. The children stand in a big circle with one child on the "King's Land" in the middle. The child who is on the King's Land gets to point at or choose the next child to change places and go in the middle. The game can continue for a long time! The idea is to establish good pitch through repetition.

This game uses the same tune as the King's Land and is another introductory game for KS1. One child sits in the centre of the circle with a percussion instrument behind him or her. The "mousie" creeps in from behind and tries to take the instrument. The child in the centre has to guess who took it. This game can stop and start for each guess.

This song uses the notes me, ray, doh, so is a step onwards from the first two that use the same notes as the nee naw ambulance/playground chant. It also introduces the idea of a rest (silent beat) which comes after each "rain is falling down". The children can walk around the hall and splash in an imaginary puddle to feel the rest "rain is falling down SPLASH" (with foot on floor or sugar paper "puddle").

This is a very good song for introducing the low note doh. It uses three notes - the nee naw ambulance notes and the new, low one, doh. Make sure that the children are listening really carefully and get right down to the low note. It also teaches the children to feel the pulse by clapping - and to continue feeling this after the singing has stopped. After it's been sung a few times, encourage the children to clap in time. Then stop singing but carry on clapping for the number of months until the month of birth (children born in January clap once, those born in December have twelve claps!) See if the children can spot who shares a birth month and join up with them.

This song uses the full range of a sixth and focuses on the downwards scale soh fah, me re do. Singing this downward scale accurately is the key to later success and children's range is best extended upwards by singing a downward scale like this at gradually higher and higher pitches. The children sit on chairs in a big circle. The postman walks round the inside of the circle. When the line "Up jumps ****" is reached whoever the postman is in front of jumps up and that person's name is sung. That person then performs an opening door action and holds her/his hands out. The postman counts and places four imaginary letters, one after the other into the outstretched hands. The recipient of the letters then becomes the next postman and so on.

We will Rock You (that well known Queen number) is sung here by the Yorkies. The Yorkies are a primary school boys' choir that was set up with the specific intention of attracting boys who might otherwise be in danger of disengaging from the wider aspects of schooling. They weren't invited to "join a choir" they were invited to come to a new group, "for boys, who enjoy making noise and having fun." The result? Lots of them! Boys do sing!

Their performance is gutsy and in the unchanged modal voice. They've really made it a boy thing. Do you have some KS2 boys who might be inspired to copy it?

A traditional Merseyside folksong. If you're beyond a certain age, you'll remember Z Cars. If you're an Everton supporter, you're for this one, not for You'll Never Walk Alone! It's sung here by the Yorkies, who learned it with the help of the Liverpool Met choristers. Now your children can learn it with the help of the Yorkies. Any Everton supporters? The significance was lost on the boys who recorded it, so they must all be "reds"!

This was an experiment. Boys from Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral Choir (aged 11 - 13) came to sing with the Yorkies (aged 7 - 11). We wanted to combine the accuracy of trained chorister singing with the enthusiasm of the Yorkies. What we were looking for was a sound that could be a good role model of boys' singing in unchanged voices. There are four different mixes, from all Yorkies to all choristers. Which do you like best? Which do your children like best? Which inspires the best singing? Huge thanks, of course to the Yorkies, but especially to the boys of Liverpool Met Cathedral Choir, and their director, Tim Noon.

Is there a child anywhere that hasn't played this duet on an old piano in the room with the table tennis table!? The words by Martin Ashley are new, but the tune is a classic from the folklore of childhood! The performance is by the Yorkies and Met Choristers and it's one of our flagship songs for this year. Join in!

This is another Kodaly style singing game, sung here for us by the children of Balshaw Lane Primary School. To play the game, the children need to form an inner and outer circle facing each other. The actions are "How d'you do?" (a little bow/curtsey to partner) "How are you?" (shake hands). "I am fine and dandy" (hold partner hands and twirl). "Move along" (turn backs to partners) "sing this song" (either or both circles step to right) "fine as cotton candy" (turn to face new partner.)

This is a really good song to play with children, either as a warm-up song, or just for the fun of singing. The song is in two parts: part one has a feel of a three beats pattern, part two has a feel of a two beat pattern. Sing the song to the children in its entirety, then use call and response to learn part two, then part two. This might build over a series of days, and aim for quality in terms of pitch accuracy and rhythm.

Play with the song, getting the children to sing louder and more quietly, and to explore a variety of tempi. Encourage them to play with the consonants, having fun with the dip dip dip dip moments. At all times aim for quality in both performance and learning process.

As the learning progresses introduce movement to emphasise feeling the pulse. Use patsching (hand clap and thigh slap), use marching, and partner hand-clapping. You may want the children to listen to the mp3 track here, that would certainly help if you are feeling a bit unconfident at first, but you should never feel afraid of singing with your children. They will really enjoy having you sing along while they are in the early stages of learning.

Another clapping game. Learn the song thoroughly first by singing it in ever greater chunks. You may find it helpful to ask the children to count how many times the phrase 'up tomorrow is a rainy day' and 'shadow play' occur. This will help them to understand the structure of the song. As you are progressing introduce handclaps to mark the pulse. Each child stands in front of a partner and claps the following hand pattern:

• clap (own hands)
• right (each others right hands clap)
• clap (own hands)
• left (each others left hands)
• clap
• together (clap each others left and right hands together)

Practice this clapping pattern by saying - clap, right, clap, left, clap, together

Here two pentatonic songs come together as partner songs to create harmony. It is always best to learn both songs carefully first. The children may think they know 'When the saints' but it is important to know that you are all singing the same version so teach it to the as any other new song, working on the more tricky bits. It may be some weeks before the two song ('When the saints' and 'I'm gonna sing') could be put together and the children will need to live with both for a while until they become established.

In the Sing for Pleasure Junior Songbooks, this song is introduced with a third partner, 'Swing low, sweet chariot', which is also a pentatonic song. Older children may enjoy putting the three songs together, but your ambition should always be for quality over quantity. Rounds and partner songs are fun but often the trick is more impressive than the music they create.