Post-Session Notes for

Northwest Kodaly Educators

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Meridian Park Elementary School

Shoreline, WA

We had such a wonderful time with all of you yesterday;

thank you for your enthusiastic participation and for all the

work so many people put into setting this up. Particular

thanks to Lucinda Dalrymple, who was wonderful to deal

with throughout the planning, picked us up at the airport and

took us out to dinner, and helped keep things moving at

the workshop. I am sorry that I forget the Meridian Park

music teacher’s name, but as our headset systems which

we’s brought were flaming out (what was that all about?)

she saved us by setting up her own wireless headset system

for us.

I apologize for the discrepancy between the dances and songs

in the handout and what we actually did. After I had sent the

handout off I went back and looked at what we did in our

2006 Seattle workshop and realized there were a lot of

repetitions. We re-did our workshop plan to have more

new materials for folks (and there were quite a few of you)

who were at our 2006 workshop. All of the materials we

did in the workshop that were not in the handout are linked

to on this website.

As I mentioned at the workshop; your homework is to go dancing.

Thanks to area family dance organizer caller Amy Carroll for

letting us know about the area dances. Here are some links

to help you find the dances:

DANCING IN SEATTLE:

http://seattledance.org/

SEATTLE FAMILY DANCES (organized by Amy Carroll):

http://seattledance.org/familydances

SEATTLE CONTRA DANCES

http://seattledance.org/contra

SEATTLE ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCES (similar in style to “Kinds & Queens”)

http://seattledance.org/english

* * *

To get on the Amidon mailing list (notices 2-3 times

a month on upcoming music teacher workshops,

choral singing workshops, new publications, and

new choral arrangements (both treble voice and

SATB), please send an email to

amidonpeter@gmail.com

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* * *

MEET OUR BOYS:

Stefan (with his band “The Sweetback Sisters”)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btpUPk6ldwE&list=PL106068EE434419C7&index=3

Sam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R19BBsMvwQk

* * *

AMIDONS SUMMER WEEK-LONG 3-CREDIT COURSE

RICH TRADITIONS AND NEW CREATIONS: DANCE, SONG, STORYTELLING AND LITERATURE IN THE MUSIC CLASSROOM

(or “Everything we know”)

We do this every summer. Our next course is

Monday - Friday, July 2 - 6, 2012.

Hartt Summerterm, West Hartford, CT

general info: http://harttweb2.hartford.edu/summer.php

The foundation of this class is the wealth of songs, dances, singing games, and folktales that spring from the Anglo American/African American oral traditions. Each participant will write a song and tell a folktale.

Contact: Dee Hansen * 860-768-4128 * dehansen@hartford.edu

* * *

AMIDONS’ SESSION NOTES FOR Northwest Kodaly Educators

Blaydon Races (p. 11 in handout)

in NEDM’s Chimes of Dunkirk collection

We used ‘Blaydon Races’ from NEDM’s

2010 Revision of the ‘Chimes of Dunkirk’

CD for this. You can also use any jig or

reel medley for this dance.

We did this is a mixer, but you can also do it with

younger children without changing partners.

We often call this at weddings. We always start

teaching this, as we do with any circle mixer, by

having the dancers promenade and defining the

gents/moons/peanut butter/inside partners and the

ladies/stars/jelly/outside partners.

My Heart is Ready (p. 12 in handout)

This is our favorite new instant singalong for

group harmony singing. Mary Alice and I are

longtime fans of Cindy Kallet’s singing. You can

hear her singing this on her CD “Heart Walk”

http://www.cindykallet.com/music/1568

You can hear a recording of the Amidon

arrangement by going to

http://amidonmusic.com/store/downloads.html

Double click on “SATB Secular” and scroll down

to find “My Heart is Ready”.

Tree Song (p. 3 in handout)

in NEDM’s Down in the Valley collection

I introduced this with a story that I made up. Elements

of the story came from this singing game, the singing

game ‘Roger is Dead’ (NEDM’s Down in the Valley)

and the traditional song ‘Chiney Doll’ (on our

‘Song in My Heart’ CD).

Lorraine Hammond, who composed this wonderful singing

game, is a songwriter and musician, and one of the best known

Appalachian dulcimer players in the country. She is in the

greater Boston area. The piano arrangement on the CD

is Peter’s and is available as a children’s choir piece for

young singers. We find this to be a calming, centering

dance, both for the children and for ourselves.

The Sun is In My Heart - traditional

This will be included in NEDM’s forthcoming “I’m Growing Up:

Singing Games and Finger Plays for Young Children”

The sun is in my heart

Hands crossed over chest

It warms me with its power.

Move hands on chest as if warming oneself.

It wakens light and life

On the words “light” and “life” hands start

low and together and raise up quickly, separating.

In bird and beast and flower.

Mime “bird” with hands, thumbs connected, other fingers flap like wings.

Mime “beast” by having hands turn into sharp claws.

Mime “flower” by having one hand grow like a flower

through the earth of the other hand.

We do this a couple of times, then add variations

which can include, doing it small and quiet, doing

it big and bold, and doing it silently with just the motions.

Put Your Right Hand In - traditional, from Bessie Jones

This will be included in NEDM’s forthcoming “I’m Growing Up:

Singing Games and Finger Plays for Young Children”.

http://www.amidonmusic.com/PutYourRightHandIn.pdf

Strolling in the Park

This will be included in NEDM’s forthcoming “I’m Growing Up:

Singing Games and Finger Plays for Young Children”.

http://www.amidonmusic.com/StrollingInThePark.pdf

Shake Them Simmons Down

This will be included in NEDM’s forthcoming “I’m Growing Up:

Singing Games and Finger Plays for Young Children”.

http://www.amidonmusic.com/ShakeThemSimmonsDown.pdf

Dance Teaching Tips:

Mittens; front of your mitten on the front of your neighbor’s

mitten, thumb lightly on back; take hands drop hands take

hands drop hands; posture; teach the forward separately

from the back in the forward and back; shake partner’s

hand, hang on, take partner’s left hand for teaching promenade;

while promenading: inside person is the moon/peanut butter/gent,

outside is the star/jelly/lady; four steps of making a circle from a

promenade: “Hang on to partner stop walking, hang on

to partner face the center, drop hands, take hands.”;

9 ways of keeping the circle big and round on circle

left and right; dosido (gents start on inside, ladies start

going outside) flowing into two hand turn flowing into

promenade; when music starts clapping the first of

each 8 beats; doing the dance with your hands; “thick”

calling, then “thin” calling then no calling; saying the

call right before the ‘clap’ or before the first beat of

the phrase and figure.

La Bastringue in NEDM’s Chimes of Dunkirk collection

http://www.amidonmusic.com/LaBastringue.pdf

From the Seed in the Ground p. 6 in the handout

One of our all-time favorite songs for children. We did

a dance I made up to this later on in the workshop.

Sylvie by Huddie Ledbetter

I introduced this with a story that was largely true

(my father’s father’s father, Winfield Amidon, was

born in East Middlebury. He had five brothers whose

names all began with “W”.) I have a choral arrangment

(SA-piano) available for purchase: go to

http://www.amidonmusic.com and click on

the “Listen” tab. You can see a performance of

it at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9SgTl6ZPJ0

Over the Rainbow p. 14 in handout

This is the picture book Mary Alice showed you to

Judy Collins’ beautiful rendition of the song.

We All Went on a Safari p. 15 in handout.

Mary Alice played a drum and read the book,

with all of us echoing the English numbers and

then the Swahili number.

Sing a Song of Sixpence traditional

This will be included in NEDM’s forthcoming “I’m Growing Up:

Singing Games and Finger Plays for Young Children”.

http://www.amidonmusic.com/SingASongOfSixpence.pdf

Going Round the Mountain traditional, from Bessie Jones

This will be included in NEDM’s forthcoming “I’m Growing Up:

Singing Games and Finger Plays for Young Children”.

http://www.amidonmusic.com/GoinRoundTheMountain.pdf

Oats Peas Beans

This will be included in NEDM’s forthcoming “I’m Growing Up:

Singing Games and Finger Plays for Young Children”.

http://www.amidonmusic.com/OatsPeasBeans.pdf

Sleeping Bunnies

This will be included in NEDM’s forthcoming “I’m Growing Up:

Singing Games and Finger Plays for Young Children”.

This is wildly popular with young children. Why? We don’t know.

“See the little sleeping bunnies…” children lay scattered on

the floor and pretend to be asleep.

“Are they ill” Children answer, in their bunny voices: “No.”

“Hop little bunnies…” Children jump up and hop like bunnies.

Do it over and over again.

http://www.amidonmusic.com/SleepingBunnies.pdf

Swing Party by Peter Amidon

Music: any jig or reel.

We used the gender-free muscle grabbing

swing grip I learned from the late Marianne Taylor:

http://www.facone.org/about/marianne.htm

A1: Everyone walk around

A2: Grab someone’s muscles and swing

B1: Everyone walk around

B2: Grab someone else’s muscles and swing.

Here is a Youtube clip of some nice swinging

at a contra dance. Note that the music starts

at about a minute and thirty seconds in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_a2vJfUdMQ

Friday in Dallas by Peter Amidon

This dance was created at the Friday night dance at

2011 Pourparler in Dallas.

This is based on "Comment ça va" (in NEDM's

"Sashay the Donut") which in turn

is based on the traditional "La Bastringue" (in

NEDM's "Chimes of Dunkirk").

I had only led this once before, at Pourparler, when I made

it up and I did not teach it to you very well, but you

did a great job anyway!

Formation: Circle Mixer

Music: "Toast"from NEDM's "Other Side of the Tracks" CD

or Any jig or reel

A1: Forward and back (8)

Circle left (8)

A2: Circle right (8)

(bow to partner) Allemand left corner,

dosido partner (8)

B1 Allemend left corner again, pass right

shoulders with partner and

swing the next one you meet

(your new partner), (16)

B2 Promenade new partner

Eye of the Needle traditional Inuit folktale

told by Mary Alice

http://www.amidonmusic.com/EyeOfTheNeedle.pdf

But the big question is: what chords does Mary Alice

do to accompany her amazing one-note melody:

FIRST CHORD:

1st string open

1st finger on 1st fret of 2nd string

2nd finger on 2nd fret of 3rd string

4th string open

SECOND CHORD:

Mary Alice thinks this is:

1st string open

2nd string open

3rd string 2nd finger 2nd fret

4th string open.

Sayback

Have children close their eyes if they want

and say back words and images from the story

like a shower of language.

Choosing Partners

We think it is a real gift to children to teach them

how to choose their own partners. I like to frame

this in ‘Kings’ and ‘Queens’ language to help the

children get over their self consciousness over

choosing partners.

I start with a story about how Kings and Queens

realized that it might be more fun to dance with

more than just their own spouses, and so they

needed to devise a polite and efficient way to

choose other partners. “And the method they

came up with was so good we still do it today.”

I have them all practice the words: ‘May I please

have this dance?’ ‘Yes thank you.’ and then

practice answering me, and then practice

asking me. Then I demonstrate what it

looks like to ask a partner to dance, by

asking one of the ‘Queens’. Then, I

have that Queen sit down, and I ask

her again, showing the 10 steps:

The approach. Eye contact. The question.

The answer. King puts out his hand.

Queen stands and takes King’s hand.

They hang on to each other’s hand and

walk to the top of the hall. If there are

two Queens then there is a Queen on one

side and a Queen on the other side. If

there are two Kings (you know the rest).

If it is a King and a Queen, the King

stands on the King’s side, the Queen on

the Queen’s side and they face each other,

nose, toes and bellybutton, taking two hands.

Then they drop their hands, and, voila, there

they are.

Kings and Queens p. 10 in the handout.

In NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection

We used ‘On the Danforth’ from NEDM’s ‘Other Side of the

Tracks’ CD for this dance. You might also use our other

version of ‘On the Danforth’ which is on our ‘Sashay

the Donut’ CD.

Before we teach this dance we will dub each child a King or a

Queen, and talk to them (sometimes while the music is playing

to help sustain the mood) about what it means to be a King and

Queen: They have royal posture, they never rush, they make

good decisions, they are very attractive; basically describing

the ideal King/Queen or, which, in my mind is being the

very best person they can be. Then I “dub” each child a

king or a queen, making sure they have their royal posture before

I dub them. This is in the style of an historic English country dance

(e.g. dances done in Jane Austen’s time).

LUNCH

I’m Growing Up p. 7 in the handout

This is on the Amidons’ “Song in My Heart” CD.

This lends itself well to making up motions

with the children.

Brotherhood and Sisterhood p. 8 in the handout

This is on the Amidons’ “Song in My Heart” CD.

Bye Bye Butterfly Mary Alice learned this from kindergarten student.

She made up motions to it, and so can you.

http://www.amidonmusic.com/ByeByeButterfly.pdf

Day is Done p. 14 in the handout.

Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya

by Donna Jo Napoli , illustrated by Kadir Nelson, Simon & Schuster books for young readers

Music from Mickey Hart’s album “Planet Drum”: tracks: “Mysterious Island” and “Bones”.

Mary Alice had some of you act this out.

Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmental and political activist, founder of the Green Belt Movement, and Nobel Peace Prize winner, died two weeks ago.

Larry’s Mixer

in NEDM’s “Listen to the Mockingbird” collection

http://www.amidonmusic.com/LarrysMixer.pdf

In NEDM’s “Listen to the Mockingbird”.

We used the cut “The Coming Dawn” from

NEDM’s “Other Side of the Tracks”.

I find that this dance can have a sublime

“Historic English County Dance” feel (think

Jane Austen) when done to elegant music.

Rural Felicity p. 9 in the handout

This is in NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection.

I like using jig medley’s for this. It is a great

dance for a community dance.

Galopede p. 11 in the handout

In NEDM’s Chimes of Dunkirk collection

We always do this to the specific tune ‘Galopede’

which is on the Chimes of Dunkirk companion CD.

We often end a community dance with this dance.

The 2nd version of ‘Galopede’ on the 2010 revision

of the ‘Chimes of Dunkirk’ CD has an extra C music

at the end for the ‘eggbeater’ figure where, after the

top couple sashays to the bottom the last time through

the dance, each successive couple sashays down the

middle, while the outside couples continue moving up

towards the top of the set. Sometimes we practice

this final figure ahead of time, sometimes we don’t.

Making Up an Original Dance

I start with the question: “What is a dance?”

A dance starts with a formation (or a shape):

longways (line of partners facing each other),

circle (partners in circle) or

square (four couples facing in).

There is also the Sicilian Circle formation

(couple facing couple around a circle)

And also the concentric circle formation where couples are

in a circle with, say, the gents facing out and

the ladies facing in.

Then there are the figures, which is, simply

what the dancers do in the dance. Some obvious

figures include some you do with the whole group

(let’s say we’re doing a circle mixer)

Forward and back

Circle left, Circle right,

Grand Right and Left

etc.

and figures you do just with your partner (or neighbor)

Right hand turn

Dosido

and some that are a bit of both like

Promenade.

It is OK to have an original figure or

two in our original dance, but not too

many. Mostly you should have familiar,

common figures that dances can learn

quickly.

Once we (or I) decide on a formation, I simply say,

“What first.” and do whatever the first person

suggests, in our case, “Jump!”.

As the suggestions come in I might invite discussion

about which suggestion to choose (if there are more

than one). I try to use as many of the children’s

ideas as possible, and I almost always have the children

try out dancing a suggested figure before discussin g it.

Your job is also to facilitate the children creating a dance

that is fun to do. You might make a small suggestion

here and there, especially one that might help make

a student’s suggestion more successful and flowing.

The children can help figure out how to make the dance

fit the AABB of the music. It is also an option to ignore

the AABB and make up a dance that goes across the

AABB pattern of the music.

Once you and your students have made up a dance, it is

important to name the dance. This is the same process

as making up the dance. I take in suggestions and facilitate

the decision making. Sometimes we combine the words in

two or three different suggestion. Sometimes we vote on

two or three different name candidates. Sometimes, as

happened with us, someone comes up with a suggestion

so inspired that I declare it the official name by acclamation.

When students create their own dance, they really take

ownership of it.

Meridian (something? - Oh dear, I forget the rest

of the name of this dance. Sorry.)

Created by the participants of the Amidons’

October, 2011 workshop for the Northwest

Kodaly Educators.

formation: circle of partners (circle mixer)

music: any jig or reel

A1: Ladies go forward and back (8)

Gents go forward and back. (8)

A2: Circle right, circle left (16)

B1: Grand right and left four places (8)

Allemande left fourth person (8 if you do it quickly)
B2: Promenade this new partner.

Storytelling

Children need to hear stories, they need the classic folktales as

a way to help sort out their emotional lives. The archetypal

characters that inhabit folktales: the kings, queens, princes,

princesses, ogres, giants, witches, wise old women and men,

and everyman Jacks and Marys are, according to one of

my storytelling mentors, Donald Davis, all part of our own

inner selves. When a prince marries a princess at the end of

a folktale, Donald Davis goes on, that marriage represents our

male self marrying our female self; a healthy emotional integration.

There are depths of meaning of these wonderful folktales that

we will never fully plumb, but whenever we tell folktales to

children, it is wonderful to see them uncover endless and

often surprising new meanings.

Gawaine traditional Arthurian tale

as told by Peter Amidon

http://www.amidonmusic.com/Gawain.pdf

Acting out stories

Children do this quite naturally; you just

set it up and, as much as possible, get out

of the way. After telling a folktale I give

them the homework to retell it aloud,

we might go through a speed through of

the story or do a quick group map of the

story or discuss the story (What was the

funniest/saddest/most scary/most memorable

moment?) Once they all know the story well,

you are the narrator, and maybe also the musician

(guitar, accordion). Pull the characters (and

human props) from the ‘audience’ of children

sitting in a bunch in front of the ‘stage’.

All the action takes place right in the middle

in front of the audience. The ‘actors’ speak

loudly so everyone can hear. If they forget

what happens next you can feed them a line

as the narrator: “And then Arthur asked Sir

Gromer what the riddle was.”

You can use this method to create a musical performance

with added instrumental music, songs and dancing, or

just do it once and leave it at that.

From the Seed in the Ground Dance - Song is p. 6 in the handout

choreographed by Peter Amidon

If you got the sun

*Walk sideways with hands miming sun rising.

and if you got the rain

*Walk sideways the other way with hands miming rain.

and you plant a little seed

*Crouch down.

in the old back lane

Then jump and turn halfway with

arms moving directly over head,

end pointing in opposite direction.

And you wish and you hope

hands clasped together in front,

take step to diagonal left, then diagonal right,

And you keep the weeds down

Crouch down, keeping head up.

You might find, oh

standing up, step and gesture with arm to left.

You might find

step and gesture with arm to right

a root growing down from the seed

mime with hands

in the ground

take one step forward (leaving other foot in place) ending with forward leg bent a little and back leg straight as arms and hands sweep from front to both sides (separating) as if miming the flat surface of the ground.

Grumpy March

in NEDM’s “Sashay the Donut” collection

http://www.amidonmusic.com/GrumpyMarch.pdf

in NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection. We put

the “Wizard’s Walk” medley on our “Sashay the

Donut” CD specifically for this dance.

This is a great dance for upper elementary, middle

school and high school.

I have changed one figure from the book: right after

the “grumping” across/clapping figures I have everyone

take hands in a long skinny circle to circle right. THEN

they drop hands and skip back the other way.

Give Me Birds at the Dawning p. 12 in handout

Altos can replace the opening F with a Bb.

Psalm of Life by Lotus Dickey, words by Longfellow

http://www.amidonmusic.com/PsalmOfLife.pdf

This also works fine as a three-part song if you

omit the bass part (sorry basses), and can be an

SSA piece if you move the soprano, alto, and tenor

parts up.

Circle Waltz Mixer p. 10 in handout

In NEDM’s ‘Sashay the Donut’ collection.

We used ‘In Continental’ Waltz from the ‘Sashay’ CD

for the music. This is a wonderful dance for a wedding

where you can do it the original way we learned it, doing

a short waltz instead of the two hand turn. In the original

dance gents are the “posts” and women are the “twirlers”,

but it works perfectly fine in a non-gender community

dance with a two hand turn. Here are some tips to

for teaching this at a community dance. Most of these

tips work also for teaching it in the classroom.

Limit the dance to Kindergarteners and older.

Tell K-3 students that they must dance with

an adult or a child who is 4th grade or older.

Start by having everyone promenade, and have

the older partner promenade on the inside.

Tell all the inside (left hand) partners they are

“posts” and all the outside (right hand) partners

they are “twirlers”.

All look at partner and say “goodbye”.

Posts stay in place and keep their feet planted

during the “twirl” figure.

Carefully teach the first “twirl” each “Post”

does with their left hand neighbor, from left to right.

Once the dancers get that twirl, the rest of the dance

can go pretty smoothly.

* * *

Again, we are grateful for your enthusiastic participation.

Good luck in your dancing, storytelling and singing with

your students.

Best,

Peter and Mary Alice Amidon

peter@amidonmusic.com

http://www.amidonmusic.com/