*

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W8ACA3h8

Volume 1A:

For beginners aged 7 -1 0

Judith Clingan

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Musicianship Magic
Volume lA
Lower Primary Right From the Start
Judith Clingan 2008
cIinganj@bigpond.net.au
for further copies

Available soon:
CD for this volume
Volume IB:Upper Primary / Middle School/Beginner Adults
CD for IB

Also by Judith Clingan:

Songs of the Tree ofLife
Vol. 1: The Early Years 1998, harmony edition 2002
Book and double CD
Songs ofthe Tree ofLife
Vo1.2; The Middle Years 1996
Book and double CD
Music is for Everyone: handbook for parents and teachers 1983
The Compleat Chorister: mostly SSA, some SATB - pieces from mediaeval to 20th c. 1972
So Good A Thing: 1980
5 volumes:
1. Songs ofMiddle Earth - SSA, instruments
2. Folk and Fancy - SSA folk song arrangements, mostly unaccompanied
3. Things Mediaeval mostly SSA, some with instruments
4. Ave, Alleluia mostly SSA unaccompanied sacred pieces
5. A Christmas Collection - short Christmas plays for young people, with carols in parts
A Pocketful of Rye - songs for children by children 1985 + recording
Four And Twenty Songbirds - more songs for children by children 1992 + recording
Modal Magic

Seven Songs in the Seven Modes (SSA unaccompanied) 1986 Matilda Press UWA

The Dancing Wombat

recorders of varying levels with school orchestra

Compositions for SSA choir, SATB choir, unaccompanied and with instrumental groups;

operas; cantatas; plays for all age groups with appropriate songs/ instrumentals music:

Scores and CD's available from the Australian Music Centre, Sydney,

or from Judith Clingan: c1inganj@bigpond.net.au

Contents

Foreword for Students

page 1

Foreword for Teachers

page 2

Chapter 1: Just imagine ...... .

page 3

Chapter 2: Doe, a Deer

page 10

Chapter 3: Beat and Rhythm

page 17

Chapter 4: Three Notes

page 23

Chapter 5: Real Tunes, and More Notes ...

page 36

Chapter 6: Five Notes

page 65

Foreword for Students

The Five Secrets
No-one ever bothers to tell music students the five secrets:
Secret no. 1:
Learning to read and write music is MUCH easier than learning to read and
write English.
Did you know that ancient Egyptian writing started out as pictures of the
words people wanted to write?
But our alphabet isn't like that at all. (Does the appearance of the three letters
CAT make you think of teeth, tail, whiskers etc? If so, it's only because
you've learnt to READ it as meaning that. The shapes of the letters
themselves tell you nothing about cats.)
However: the notes in music are PICTURES OF THE SOUNDS. Just by looking
at a line of notes, we can tell immediately if the tune goes up or down.
Secret no. 2:

There are only 7 letters of the alphabet to worry about. instead of 24:

ABCDEFG. They repeat over and over:

. ABCDEFGABCDEFGABCDEFGABCDEFGABCDEFG ...... .
Secret no. 3:

Learning to read rhythm (the pattern of long and short sounds) can be easy if

you take it one step at a time, as in this book, and sound every exercise or

tune out loud to claps and time names.

Secret no. 4:

The only reason why most people think that reading and writing music is

difficult is because they have never really tried. and no-one has helped them.

Just imagine how hard it would be to learn to read and write English if no

teachers spent time every day helping us!

Secret no. S:

Reading music is FUN! But the fun only comes when you do your best. Let's

see if, by the time you have worked your way right through this book to the

end, you agree with me about the 5th secret!

Foreword for Teachers

Musicianship Magic fA is a book for children aged 7 to 9 or 10. It is a workbook

there are lots of empty staves after I've explained something, where everyone can see
how much has sunk in. I've tried to make the steps really consecutive, with lots of
examples and exercises, so that if you are not musically experienced yourself, you will
be easily able to remain one step ahead of the children.
With descant recorders:
1. Make sure that everyone uses their LEFT hand at the top (even if they are right
handed). It is important to insist on this because all wind instruments are played this
way, and some of the children may wish to learn the flute or the clarinet later - their
hands need to be well trained! While everyone is learning the first 5 notes (BAGDC),
their right hand should be supporting the lower part of the recorder, being careful not
to cover the lower holes.
2. As you blow every note, your tongue should say"t".
3. Don't let children blow too hard, or their sounds will distort and be sharp (higher
than the real note). And don't let them blow too gently - their sounds will be flat (lower
than the real note). Try to tune the whole class: people who blow too hard, and/or have
plastic recorders, may need to pull the recorder a little apart at the top joint to flatten
(sound lower), and people who blow too gently and/or have old wooden recorders,
should make sure that their recorders are totally closed together at the top joint, and
should be encouraged to blow harder (to sharpen or sound higher).
It is important that every time you or the class sing a song or an exercise from written
music, you give yourselves the right starting note from a recorder or keyboard. Don't
guess!
If you have a low voice, and find singing high D a challenge, persevere! Practise singing
higher than usual in the shower! Children aged 7 - 9 usually have naturally high
voices, and will be able to sing high D well if you approach it with no fuss, and expect
them to be able to do it. Musicianship Magic 18 (available soon) will be useful for
older children and beginner adults, most of whom feel more comfortable singing lower
notes than the ones in this book - 1B covers the same ground, but uses the treble
recorder instead of the descant recorder, and pitches the exercises lower in the voice.
If you do music once a week, this book should keep your class busy for a year.

Chapter 1
Just Imagine ....
Imagine that you are alive in England about 1000 years ago. No
computers, no televisions, no cars, no electricity - and books are so
rare and precious that they are only in special places. Most people
can't read English (in fact, the language people are speaking in
England isn't much like our sort of English - we wouldn't understand
them, and they wouldn't understand us!)
Most of the precious books which exist can be found in the
monasteries. These are places attached to a church, where boys and
men who are monks (or training to be monks) live, and sing church
songs and pray several times every day. (Girls and women who want
to sing church songs and pray every day live in convents). Printing
hasn't been invented yet, so every book has to be written and'
illustrated by hand.
The words of the songs are written, but the music isn't written
down: no-one has thought of how to do that yet.
You're 1 5 years old, learning to be a monk. You're one of the best
singers in your monastery, and you've been given the job of
teaching the young boys to sing all the hundreds of church songs.
At the moment, the boys have the Latin words in front of them: they
are all crowded around one huge book (photocopiers haven't been
invented yet!)
You have a good idea: you take a pencil and draw little dots above
the words, showing where the tune goes up and down. You sing the
tune, pointing at the dots as you go along. This helps them. They do
better this time.

DC

51

-~

Spiritus sanctus

But you want to make it even easier for them. So you draw a line

right across the page for all the main notes to sit on.

_. J~

Spi~itus

sanctus

That's a great help. Maybe this main line should be red. Now let's
draw another line above the main line: this can be for the next most
important note,S steps higher. (as in Twinkle Twinkle).
! L YL- c... .,:.."~('1 .
S2
(
~

Spiritus sanctus

This is exciting. Perhaps more lines will make it even better. And if
we try to show how low the men can sing and how high the boys can
sing, we will need lots and lots of lines - and we can use letters of
the alphabet to name the notes, so that we know where we are!

Butll lines are much too hard on the eyes. We need to separate all
the lines into two sets: high (or treble) and low (or bass). We can
leave out the middle line (but use it whenever we need that note)
now it's much easier to read.
" :

---~--------------------------------------------------.--..
t:-:...
\ ..1

... @

.
j-~

-:'>',

. . .

,_~_

t"

Now you can see why middle C is called middle C - it's that line
smack in the middle of the 11 lines! The one we are going to leave
out, unless we really need that note.
see
We can help everyone"how the names fit into the lines and spaces by

writing the names of two of the line notes: F near the bottom (for
the low notes, the bass), and G nearer the top (for the higher notes,
the treble).
The shapes of the F and the G have changed a lot over those
hundreds of years. (Ask your mum or your dad how much their
signature has changed since they were a teenager!)
When I was in primary school in the 1950's, letter shapes were still
quite curly: we had to draw capital F like this:

and capital G like this:

You can see how similar these shapes are to the F and G used in
music nowadays:

F=

--

and

They still show us where the F in the bass and the G in the treble

live. We call them the bass clef and the treble clef (clef means key in

French - the sign unlocks the meaning of the lines and spaces for

us. It's like the key to a secret code.)

So here's how it looks today:

\ r

Lt

;'j

i..

('- I

b -if"
7

Treble clef
I

()
~

.'"
.'-' y

....

'" ,
.L

"

Bass clef
The sets of lines are called staves: the word staff or stave means
something to lean on - like a strong stick for a person with a sore
leg, or the teachers at a school, who are there to support children in
their learning.
Look carefully at a 5-lined stave. See how many places there are for
notes to live, counting all the lines and spaces.
Firstly, let's count the lines, from the bottom up:
bottom line
2 nd bottom line

middle line

2nd top line

L..

top line

And then there are the spaces:

bottom space
2 nd bottom space
2nd top space
top space
And if you need extra, you could put a note sitting
right on the top of the top line

or right underneath the bottom line

and if you're really desperate, you can draw one or more short little
extra lines above or below the stave.

On the staves on the next page, practice drawing treble clefs, which

we'll be needing when we sing or when we play descant recorder, or

flute, or violin, or oboe, or guitar, or clarinet, or sax, or trumpet, or

the right hand (high notes) of the piano.

Later we might need the bass clef: boys, you'll need it for singing

when your voice deepens, and some of you will need it when you

learn the piano (for the left hand on the low notes), or the cello, or

bass recorder, or trombone, or bassoon, or tuba.

Go over the dotted treble clef, starting from inside the curly bit.

Then draw just the beginnings. Then draw lots and lots of treble

clefs.

After that, draw empty circle notes all over the place, using every

line and space you can think of, including the special places for

extra high and extra low notes!

...
...

fl

"

'-' 11
~

t1

I'

"~

,"' V

rl.

-"III

I'

L,..... ~
V

II'

.......
.--.:

'.-

L
II

,,

C""\.
1

I C::'\.

"

10

Chapter 2
Doe, a deer
Actually, all of these good ideas took hundreds of years to get
sorted out.
And then, about 800 years ago, a monk called Guido d'Arezzo had
another good idea. He thought that the boys would remember tunes
better if, instead of singing them always to the Latin words, they
learnt them by singing each sound to a different syllable.
The syllables climb up a scale (a musical ladder, going up or down,
step by step) of 8 sounds. They are always in the same order, but
you can choose to sing your scale higher or lower in your voice
wherever it is comfortable:

..

S3

r--r -

!"~

do'
ti
la
so (sol)
fa

mi
re

do

(Guido called do "ut': but that's a bit difficult to sing! And ti got
added later).

II

We call this the sol-fa scale. There are hand signs for each sound
in the scale: make these signs with your writing hand as you sing up
and down the scale.

We could understand the idea behind the sol-fa scale just as well if
we sang it to numbers:

3
2
1

The only reason why we use Guido's sol-fa syllables instead of

numbers is because some of the numbers are hard to sing quickly
(eg seven, which has two syllables, and those numbers which end in
a consonant, like five, six, eight.)
We could write and sing Twinkle Twinkle in numbers or in Guido's
solfa:
S4

I
."
(ttr I ," I '

12

do do so so la la so

1155665
4433221
5 544 332
5 544 3 3 2
1155665
4433221

fa fa mi rni re re do
v

so so fa fa mi mi re

'--; L I

so so fa fa m i mire
do do so so la la so
fa fa mi mi re re do
y~

w~)

'( i-

I :

',,,\

w ,~{ , '

To help his boys remember the order of the syllables, Guido taught
them this Latin hymn or sacred song:

5ancte Johannes. 5i
S5

Labii reatum
Famuli tuorum
Mira gestorum
Resonare fibris

(English speakers drop the 'I')

Fa

Mi
Re

Ut

Ut queant laxis

La

50

Solve polluti

(changed to ti later)

(changed to do later, as ut is hard to sing nicely)

If you listen hard, you will hear that every line except the last one
climbs further up the scale.
As we don't speak Latin, we'll sing the English song which was
written especially to make sol fa easy for us to sing now:

do

That will bring us back to do.

ti Tea, a drin,k with jam and bread

S6
fa

so
fa
mi

re
do

La, a note to follow so

Sew. a needle pulling thread

Far, a long, long way to run

Me, a name I call myself

Ray, a drop of golden sun

Doe, a deer, a female deer

13

Help the singing by playing the first note for each line on a piano

or keyboard or xylophone as you sing: climb up from middle C to

the C above.

Here are the notes on the piano:

,;r :
,

,t

rt.f

t.
I

Have a look at this early church song in sol fa:

NB If you don't have the accompanying CD, look at the notation on

page 14. If you can't play it on an instrument yourself, ask someone

to play it for you.

57

drmfmrd
AI - Ie lu - ia

mfslsfm
AI Ie lu - ia

d d'
AI -

d' d' t d'

Ie lu - ia

The song has three Qhrases, or sections, or musical ideas.

The third phrase of this Alleluia has a big jump between the first
note and the second note: from a low do at the bottom of the scale
to a high do at the top of the scale. That size of jump is called an
octave (because the scale has 8 sounds - and the Latin word for 8
begins with "oct' - think of the octopus and the octagon!). An
octave is the size of the gap you'll hear when high voices and low
voices are singing the same song together - just as when mums and
dads and kids sing together at a birthday party.
58

We can write or sing the Alleluia in other ways:

In numbers:

1234321

3456543

I 8- 8 8 78

14

. (

or in alphabetical letters:

CDEFEDC

C C' C' C' B C'

EFGAGFE

And here it is written in notes on a treble stave, with the three

sections or phrases underneath each other:

59
~f'J

,
1 ,y
"'

1
d
C

2
r

3
m

I'

...-

-.J.~
Al
-

.,

f'}

..

'"

,.,;

Ie

E
I
I

.....

-~

Iu

f)

la

s
G

m
E

1'.
':..I'

1
d
C

Al

r
D

y
...""'

3
m

3
....

II'

d
C

--

...

8
d'

C;.

Al

----

Ie

Ie

Iu
8
d'
C'

:.......
Iu

....I

8
d'
C'
I

f'~

.~

fa

7
t

d'

C'
I

J
.....

r~

I
I

la

Just so that we don't muddle them up, we will always draw ABC
NAMES IN UPPER CASE OR CAPITAL lETTERS,
etc) in lower case or small/etters.

and so/fa (do re mi

15

Sing the Alleluia in as many ways as possible (sol fa, numbers,

letter names, words ... ) and then try it as a three-part round.
Practise writing the musical alphabet in CAPITAL LETTERS,
FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS, and the sol-fa names in small letters,

forwards and backwards. Now that you know the sol-fa syllables, we
can use just the first letter: eg, we can write do as just d.
ABC

DE

GAB

CD

FED

FED

BAG

d'

d'

d'

tIs

..........

~.~

........ "" ..................

~_""

............ " ..... i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "'" ............................ .

Here is a good musical alphabet walking game.

First of all, practise saying the 7 letters backwards, starting from
any letter.
Then you all get up and make a Circle round the room. As you all
sing the letters forwards, you step forwards; as you sing the letters
backwards, 'you step backwards. Make sure that you start singing
each time on a real A or a real G etc (use an instrument to be sure).

16

810 A (take one step forwards; step back in silence.)

ABA (take 2 steps forward and one step back as you sing
ABCBA

(3 steps forwards, 2 back)

ABCDCBA

(4,3)

ABCDEDCBA (5,4)
ABCDEFEDCBA

,do- ~

(6,5)

ABCDEFGFEDCBA

(7,6)

ABCDEFGAGFEDCBA

(8, 7)

. //

~v\ t'--(.,

:.-.... Ct'n:--~
/"

HA~'"""t(?
"''J. r

(. -

/;'1

Once you've got the hang of it, try starting on a different letter.
So now we have met the two separate PITCH ideas (high-ness and
low-ness of sounds) which we will be learning to use in our music
reading and writing:
1. the ABC names on staves
2. the solfa names for singing.
Below are more empty staves for you to practise drawing more treble
clefs. And draw the notes from middle C up to the top G on top of
the stave. Make your notes empty white circles or eggs.

17

Chapter 3
/

Beat and Rhyth m

'({ G: J:(.... if IA L S E

There are two very important things we need to understand before

we can make sense of music.
First is PITCH (the high-ness and low-ness of sounds). We've
talked about alphabetical names of notes, living on the stave, and
sol-fa, which helps us sing in the correct part of the scale.
The second really important thing to understand is RHYTHM. The
RHYTHM is the pattern of long and short sounds and silences which
makes each tune interesting, and different from another tune.
Let's stop for a minute and think about PITCH and RHYTHM.
Could we ha.ve a. piece ofmusic with RHYTHMIC DIFFERENCES ONi Y?
(ie no pitch differences?)

SII
Yes: a piece for drums or other untuned percussion alone doesn't
have much pitch distinction (but maybe you can hear little
differences).
Could we have a piece of music with PITCH DIFFERENCES ONL Y?
(ie no rhythmic differences?

512
Yes: but the tune would be very hard to remember if it never
stopped or had longer or shorter notes. Actually, early European
church chant (like the songs you were teaching the boys when you

18

were a 1 5-year-old monk!) didn't have much rhythmic difference.

This makes the music very dreamy.

But most of the pieces of music you hear around you, and sing or

play at school, have BOTH pitch and rhythmic differences. So we

need to learn about rhythm.

BEAT

Most tunes have a regular BEAT or PULSE underlying the rhythmic

pattern. This beat usually stays steady all the way through the song.

Tunes with a regular beat are easy to walk or clap or dance to.

513 Listen to these tunes, and keep the beat on your knee.

_l'....tc"'""

t:. /

.:..' L-t

{,

toLJ LJCl.,.:
C ,,,If:_

If we say this the way it's meant to be said, we can feel 4 beats
every line.
(In this verse, in lines 1, 2 and 4, there is a beat on a rest or a

,
WOW

1SoLJ
,~

S-+t Le1
W~IO

,"-

---

(//I

......

1..1 r''f(
I

BOW

Wow

MY

c_ \I-/{ '\

"-

",

"'l

-;

j\.

-ZA'

'"
.XIAo
10
e:
,

Go~
'\)06:

Of

(Y

WO\V

,1\

bE

b'E:
.
,
('of'

WOi(}

("-{

"

J lko~
,k
,
k riel l' .

Got.( 'Zt\l

)0(,

'N "

'"
ry
)

'\ ,.,

19

Here are the lady's

Here is the
Here is the
here is the

lady's
lady's

knives and forks

ble

ta -

looking
baby's cra -

glass And
die.

Ten green bottles (rest)

hanging on the

wall (rest)

Ten green bottles (rest)

hanging on the

wall And if

one green bottle (rest) should acci dentally fall There'd be

nine green bottles (rest)

hanging on the wall. (rest)

Go
Go

tell Aunt Nan tell Aunt Nan -

QJ.

QJ.

QJ. The

tell Aunt Nan

Go
old grey goose is dead. (rest)

Walk around the room as you say these verses and clap the rhythm
of their words. Keep your feet very steady

you should step exactly

on the beat ie each time a syllable is underlined.

S16
Just for fun, try the much harder other way. Jump the rhythm of each

verse as you clap the beat. If you can do this well first go, you're

pretty special!

For each verse, count how many beats are in each line.

You'll discover that most simple songs and verses like this have 4

(or twice 4 = 8) number of beats in a line.

Now we'll clap the RHYTHM as we say Peas Pudding Hot. It's easy to

clap the rhythm of a tune if it has words. Just clap the way the

words sound (short sounds, longer sounds and rest on the sa's or

silences), and you'll be clapping the RHYTHM. And then try clapping

the rhythm of the other poems.

20

517

I'm sure that by now you can feel that rhythms are sound patterns.
They can use long sounds, very long sounds, short sounds, very
short sounds - as well as short and long silences.

J r

To start with, we'll talk about just 3 different rhythmic ideas:

ta - a walking pace note which looks like this:

Here's a sentence which needs 3 ta's:

(l)

or

<

wet.

Rain is

J J
"

?;.A
'

..

k("
0
"

('

"
c..r

,--;'"

'I

'

, ,.
(\tA,O

111'1

(\

"

'(5rH
;..:,,'n I

Here's a sentence that needs 4

or

ta's:

You are quite tall.

rrrr
'.

e:.r

or

I ieI I I

U~r-

.~

I....

f~ ~ j~ :1 t.<~ l", ~
F4f.........,...,..... ~ ~(

When we're drawing just the rhythm of a song, not thinking about
PITCH, we can draw just the stems, like little sticks - it's quicker.
We'll leave the black blobs off if we're not on a stave.
When we're saying or singing the rhythm of a song, we'll clap every
ti me we say tao

sa - a walking pace rest or silence: exactly as long as tao In

printed music, sa looks like this: ~ You can choose to copy

(2)

this wiggly shape,

or to draw a capital

'

21

Practise drawing sa's.

When we're saying or singing the rhythm of a song, we'll throw our
hands out to each side every time we whisper sa.
(3) ti ti - jogging notes usually met in pairs, looking like this:

or like this:

A pair of ti trs fits exactly into the length of one ta.

When we're drawing ti ti just in a rhythm, with no pitched notes on
a stave, we can leave out the black blobs to be quick. And don't
forget - it doesn't matter which way up our ti ti shape goes ~ it can

look like a doorway

or a bucket.

If we cut the doorway or the bucket in half, we get one single ti note

looking like this:

It usually looks like thiS:;

or

But you won't meet one of these for a while.

And occasionally you might see ti ti notes joined in groups of
or 4:

But we don't need those yet.

3m

When we're saying the rhythm of a song, we'll tap our shoulders

for ti ti notes.

And if you look back at page 14, you'll see that the Alleluia round

uses white notes with stems. You'll remember that we hold these for

twice as long as the black ta ~s.

But don't worry about them for a bit.

RHYTHM CARDS

Everyone will need their own set of rhythm cards. Cut white
cardboard into rectangles roughly the same shape and size as
playing cards. Each person needs 20 cards. Draw the simple version
( black blobs omitted) of ta on both the front and the back of 8
cards. Then draw the simple version (black blobs omitted) of ti ti on
both the front and the back of 8 cards. Lastly, draw either capital Z
or try the fancy wiggle for sa on both the back and the front of 4
cards.

Look back at the poems on pages 16 and 17. Say Pease Pudding
Hot, Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater and Go tell Aunt Nancy to ta ~s, ti ti5
and sa's. Two of those verses (Here are the Lady's and Ten Green
Bottles) need different cards which we'll talk about later, so don't
try them at the moment.
S18

Chapter 4
Three notes
Now we're ready to actually start READING and WRITING MUSIC.
Everyone will need:
(l) coloured pencils

(2) a descant recorder

(3) Your rhythm cards
(4) a piano or a keyboard or a xylophone or pitched chime bars or
bells
(5) a felt board: about the size of a large drawing block, with one or
two 5-line staves drawn on pale felt in black texta, and felt notes.
You will also need felt notes. It will be good if your felt notes are
coloured. Here are the colours which relate to the solfa sounds:
do=red
re=orange
mi=yellow
fa=green
so=blue
la=purple
ti=pink
For this first chapter, we will need only yellow, orange and red
(about 8 of each is good). Make your notes look like little eggs,
fitting exactly between the lines on your felt board stave. If you can't
get hold of these colours, cut about 20 notes out of felt of any dark
colour. If you can't make a felt board at all, draw one or two staves
on a biggish piece of cardboard, and cut notes out of stiff dark
paper. The good thing about felt is that it sticks to itself, so you can
all hold up your boards and read each other's work.

14

THE NOTE B (mi - yellow in sol-fa at the moment)

fJ

,,,,
~

"...v
tV

We're starting with this note because it's easy to play on the descant
recorder, and because it's easy to remember where it lives. Hold up
the hand you don't write with, keeping it horizontal, and keeping
your fingers a little apart. We can call this a ha.nd sta.ve. Now, close
your fingers, and notice how your n1iddle finger sticks out further
than the others. As you can see, the note B lives on the middle line
of the 5-line treble stave, and we can remember that the letter B
stands for our Biggest finger. Touch your B finger as you sing your
B-note exercises.

Here is a recorder fingering diagram, showing you how to play B.

And here's where B lives on the keyboard.

25

Note B exercises.

With each one, do these 7 things:

1. Sing it to the words

2. Sing it to its sol fa name (mi), showing mrs handsign. (Later on,
we'll discover that notes can change their sol-fa names).
3. Sing it to its letter name (B), using your hand as a stave and
touching the B for Biggest finger.
4. Copy it onto your felt (or cardboard) large stave, using yellow
notes. (NB: put ti tinotes close together. We can't show the rhythm
so easily on the felt board).
5. Sing it to counting names or time names (til, ti ti, sa) while you
clap or tap your shoulders or throw your hands out to each side.
6. Make the rhythm with your rhythm cards.
7. Play it on your descant recorder (and / or xylophone, keyboard
etc). Play it through four times without stopping (except for sa's, of
course!)

,
,

Bears

buy

baked

J
beans

Bees

buzz

by.

26

&
&

..

Ba - bies

J
Big

bur - ble

bon - fires

Bran

buys

but

bright - Iy

burn

*m--~=l

ter

Make these sentences with your rhythm cards. Then make them on
your felt board (putting yellow notes on the middle line for the note
B), remembering to put ti ti notes closer together.
Then sing and play them.
Baby beetles bury breadcrumbs.
Bees build bigger beehives.
Busy budgies babble (sa).
Blind bats bite bugs.

Blissful babies blow bubbles.

Boys bite bad biscuits.

Bears buy bananas (sa).

27

THE NOTE A

(re

orange - in sol-fa at the moment).

J
Here's a recorder fingering diagram for A, and a reminder where A
lives on the keyboard. And when you're using your hand stave to
sing the letter names, you need to touch the space between your
ring finger and your biggest finger.

,I
,
,

Apes

are

gile

J J

An - gels

are

awe

J
- some

J J J

An - gry

ar

gue

ants

28

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A - xo - 10 - tIs

are

a - rna-zmg

Make rhythms for the sentences below with your rhythm cards; make
them on your felt board, putting orange notes in the A space (with ti
ti's close together). Then sing and play them on the note A.
Ants are always active (sa)

Alligators are asleep

Abe adores ancient armour

Alan's ankle aches (sa)

lWO NOTES: B and A (mi and re at the moment):

Make each sentence with your rhythm cards; clap it, and say it to

rhythm names.

Then make each sentence on your felt board, using yellow mifor the

B words, and orange re for the A words. Sing each sentence to letter

names, using your hand stave, and to so/ fa, using your handsigns.

Then play them on recorder and xylophone or piano.

,
&

fJ

Big

bears

ar

gue

~
Bees

Are

al - ways buzz

J J

boys

nl

rnals?

2Y

&

But - ter - flies

are beau - ti

ful

Make up your own sentences using B and A words.

When you're making up sentences to fit on music notes, make a list
of NOUNS starting with that letter (eg creatures, food, peoples'
names, place names) then ADJECTIVES starting with that letter
(words that describe nouns eg big, awful. ..) then VERBS (doing
words) starting with that letter (eg bite, ask ). This should get you
going. You might even want to add ADVERBS starting with that letter
(describing how or when or where something is done eg boldly,
angrily, after. .. )
When you've got a sentence in your head, make its rhythm with your
rhythm cards. If your sentence doesn't work with your cards, you
might have to make it simpler. Try finding words with fewer syllables
(words with lots of syllables might need new rhythms which we
haven't learnt yet).
When you've settled on a rhythm, put yellow notes (mi = B = middle
line) and orange notes ( re = A = 2nd bottom space) on your felt
board to show the B and A words. Play and sing your sentences.
Finally, draw them onto these spare staves (colour your mi B notes
yellow and your re A notes orange).

'"v

THE NOTE G (do - red - in sol-fa at the moment).

fl
,.
.,""
.JIP'

,y

4V

Touch your RING finger for G.

Here is the recorder fingering for G. It's quite difficult at first to
make G sound good on the descant recorder - you need to make
sure that your RING finger is covering its hole very tightly.

And here's where G lives on the keyboard:

Now play and sing these sentences, and make them with your
rhythm cards and on your felt board (red notes on the 2nd bottom
line). Don't forget to put ti ti notes closer together.

31

f'J
'ill'

I'

'v""
-.J

,
,

Girls

greet

grand

ma

.-I

.-I

Gree - dy

Gi - ant

grum - ble

goats

Gar - den gnomes

.-I

.-I

gar - bage.

gob - ble

gob - lins

J
greet

g - nus

Now make these sentences with rhythm cards, and on your felt
board;
Giggling girls gossip (sa).

Grey geese gabble (sa).

Gipsy girls give gifts.

THE NOTES G and A (do and re at the moment)

Make each sentence with your rhythm cards; clap it; say it to rhythm
names.
Then make each sentence on your felt board, using red do for the G
words, and orange re for the A words. Then sing each sentence to
letter names, using your hand stave, and to sol fa, using your hand

signs. Then play them on recorder and keyboard.

32

&

An - gry

fl

,.
, y
""
tV

gl

ants

ar

gue

--

are

gree

....I

Geese

Girls

are

al - ways

--

..

dy_

gig - gling

Make up your own sentences using G and A words. When your

words are ready, make your rhythm with rhythm cards; then put red
notes (do = G 2nd bottom line) and orange notes (re = A = 2 nd
bottom space) on your felt board. Then play and singyour sentences.
Finally, draw them onto the spare staves below (colour your do G
notes red and you r re A notes orange).

33

I. "n

_'~Y~

___

~~~~

__________________ _______________________________._. __J

~

THE NOTES G and B (do and mi at the moment)

Make each sentence with your rhythm cards; clap it; say it to rhythm

names.

Then make each sentence on your felt board, using red do for the G

words, and yellow mi for the B words. Then sing each sentence to

letter names, using your hand stave, and to sol fa, using your hand

signs. Then play them on recorder and keyboard.

Brum - bies

&
&

gal - lop

by

J j

J j

Gree - dy

boys

gob - ble

buns

..
J J J :J

Great

big

gnz - zly

J j

bears

bel - low

Make up your own sentences using G and B words. When your words
are ready, make your rhythm with rhythm cards; then put red notes
(do = G = 2 nd bottom lin-e) and yellow notes ( mi = B =middle line)
on your felt board. Then play and sing them. Finally, draw them onto
the spare staves below (colour your do G notes red and your mi B
notes yellow).

34

I"l

'1'

THREE NOTES: GAB (dor rer mi in sol fa at the moment).

Sing each exercise in all the ways we have been practising (letter
names, sol-fa, rhythm names). Play them. Then make them from
memoryon your felt board (using red, orange and yellow) and with
rhythm cards.

J J J
Gob - lins aren't

Bun - yips

are

beau - ti

gen - tie

fuI

,
,
,

35

An - na's

aunt

buys

Grand-rna bakes

Are

boys

green

and bears

gum - boots

ap - pIes

gree - dy?

Make up your own sentences using G , A and B words (a) using the
words used above, but changing their order in any crazy way you
like - just as long as each sentence still has 4 beats (b) making up
your own words. When your words are ready, make your rhythm with
rhythm cards. Then put red notes (do = G = 2nd bottom line), orange
notes ( re = A = 2 nd bottom space) and yellow notes ( mi = B
=middle line) on your felt board. Then play and sing them. Finally,
draw them onto the spare staves below (colour your do G notes red,
your re A notes orange and your mi B notes yellow.

Chapter 5

"I

Real tunes, and mQre notes .....

Now that we can read, sing and play GAB (do, re, mi) exercises, we
can look at some real tunes which use these three notes.

&

J J J J . . IJ J J

, II

Up the lad- der, down the lad- der, one, two, three

This tune is longer than the exercises we have been working with. In
fact, it is exactly twice as long. We use dividing lines called bar lines
to divide tunes into shorter boxes or bars. It makes it easier to read
- and most often each bar has the same number of BEA TS as all the
other bars in the same song. Have a look at the exercises we started
with, and you'll find that they all have 4 beats. Four beats in a bar is
very usual, but we can have 3, or 2, or 5 or 6 or 7 .....
NB One ti ti set (2 notes joined) = 1 ta beat

1 sa, beat.

-Write a large number 4 at the beginning of Up the Ladder, straight

after the treble clef.
On the next page we have a song with 3 b~ats in each bar. Write a
large 3 after the treble clef - it makes it easier to Sing or playa new
song if you can see quickly how many beats are in each bar.

,
,

37

J .1

J
Take

no

urn -

brel

lao

IJ

Down

comes
,"

Take

your

~
urn -

breI - la,

I~
blue

skies

ram;
.' f '

~
-

II

gain!

And here are some more GAB songs: count how many beats are in
each bar, and write the number after the treble clef.

, F J J J , IJ J J ,
, r J J J , IJ J J J , II

Sleep

now, my dear,

Soon comes the dawn

JJJ J

Mo - thee

wake

r r r IJ

IS

here

with the mom.

John-nyworkswith one ham- mer, one

J JF j rI

ham- mer, one ham-mer,

'JJ; J F t rlJJJ JW I
John-nyworkswith one ham-mer, then he works with two.

II

3H

U J JJ

J J IU J

Th".r-ty days hathSep tem~ber

Ap~

JJJJ

ril,June and No~vem-ber

All the rest have thir - ty one ex - cep-ting Feb - ru - 'ry

a - lone and

that has twen-ty eight days clear and twen-ty nine in each leap year.
Sing each of the GAB I do re mi songs to both letter names and sol
fa.
In each of these songs do is the last note. We can call do the HOME
NOTE or the KEYNOTE.
Since the letter name G is our do at the moment, we can say that
the songs are in the key of G major. Songs ending in do are always
major songs -major songs usually feel bright and positive.

THE NOTE HIGH D (high

.." t1

I'~

,"'v

so - blue - in sol-fa at the moment)

4V
Touch your pointer or Direction finger for high D.

ihumb

39

off

o
N.B. Stems on notes higher than B usually go DOWN on the LEFT

while stems on notes lower than B usually go UP on the RIGHT.

With the note B we can choose up on the right or down on the left.

But if we have joined up ti ti notes, both the stems have to go the

same way.

C :J

.r J

40

Sentences on high D
Sing these sentences to sol fa (high

50)~

using the hand sign

then to the letter name D, touching your Direction finger. Clap and
say the rhythm in rhythm names. Then play on recorder and
keyboard.

,
,
&

Deaf

dogs

don't

dance

Deer

drink

dew

r E r

Da - ring

<Ira - gons

dive

THE NOTES D and B (so, mi):

Copy, sing and play:

, r
Dogs

Brown

bu - ry

bears

bones

don't

r r

Ba - bies

drib - ble

, ,
bite

41

THE NOTES 0 and A (so~ re)

Copy, sing and play:

,
,
,

Dra - gon - flies

are

dan - eing

r r

Are

dol - phins

~
An

~
-

nl - mals?

na

al - ways dreams

=r

THE NOTES 0 and G (so, do)

Copy, sing and play:

j
Gen - tie

&
&

t P

don - keys dream

Dra - gons

dine

~ J"

r~'

George de - tests

J J

gra - eious - ly

gar - lie

-1.2

TH E NOTES D! B and A (50, mi, re).

Copy, sing, play:

,
,
,
,
,
,

bro - ther

ar

gues

Dan's

r r r
r r J r r r

Apes

Dol- ph ins

Bon - fires

~
Are

beau - ti

r'

ful

dan - ge - rous

are

dough-nuts

r r

Big

are

r'

keys

don

bite

r r

ba - king?

awe- some

Make up your own DBA (so mi re) sentences, (a) using the words
in the exercises above, but mixed up in any crazy ways you like, as
long as you keep to 4 beats every sentence (b) using different words
starting with DBA.
Write them on the spare staves below. Then sing and play them in as
many ways as possible.

43

The notes G B D (do mi so ,:

Copy, sing, play:

,
,
,
,

J J

r r r

Grand - rna bakes

dump-lings

r r r

Da

buys

r r J
Bear - ded goats

r r

Brave

dogs

gloves

r r

gob - ble

dai - sies

guard

geese

,
,

44

r r

Glow-worms ba - nish dark - ness

~
Do

---fIll

aJ

g - nus

bite?

Make up your own G B D sentences

(a) using the words in the exercises above - mixing them up in any

crazy order you like

(b) using different words starting with the letters G B D.

Write all your sentences on the spare staves below. Sing and play.

You might like to know that we can call these three notes (do mi so)
the primary triad. (They are notes 1, 3 and 5 out of the MAJOR
SCALE. If they sound together, we called it a MAJOR CHORD.) SO
it's useful ,that the colours for these sounds (do = red / mi - yellow
I so = blue) are known as the three PRIMARY COLOURS (ie, colours
which can't be mixed from other colours).

45

The notes GAD (do re so)

Copy, sing, play:

,
,
,
,
,

~ ~

Geoff and

Dan

are

ar

- gu

- lng

r r
are

~.

Dol-phins

gre - ga - n - ous

Are

J :J s

dau - ghters grate- ful?

r r J
Dai - sies

Go

and

grow

a - ny - where

:r- r r
get

din - ner

Make up your own GAD sentences (a) using the words in the
exercises above - mixing them up in any crazy order you like
(b) using different words starting with the letters GAD.

Write all your sentences on the spare staves below. Sing and play.

46

(do re mi so,

The notes CAB 0

Copy / sing / play:

&

J J

r r

Gnomes and

Da - vid

&r

Ben

r r

bears

dance

J J j

buys
buns and grapes

ate

Ga - ry's

:J J

din - neT

.+7

,-

~ J

. girls drink gIn - ger

All

Boys are

Gnats and

,.

beer

r~-J

bea - ting great big drums

r r

ants

bite

din - gos

Make up your own CABO sentences (a) using these words in any
crazy order you like - write them on the staves below; sing them;
play them.
(b) using different words starting with the letters CABO. Write them
on the staves below I sing I play_

2J

~,_ _ _ _ _ _22J

.'"'

4H

The note C (fa

..

fl

green - in sol fa at the moment)

.,

11.

r~

"...v
~

When you are using your hand stave, C lives between your Direction
finger and your Biggest finger.

le~,.

hand

Copy / sing / play:

& F

cows

Calm

-&

chew

r r r r r

Cle - ver

&

Cheer - ful

cats

can climb

r r r

F
cud

F F~
-

cas - tIes

chil - dren chat - ter

4':)

The notes C and D' (fa, so)

Copy, sing and play:

,
,

,
r
,
r F

r
r r r

ducks

Da - vid drinks

co - eoa

Cats

chase

The notes C and A (fa, re)

Copy / sing / play:

J~_J---l-F jJ

J J

. -+--r_ _

An - na

cooks

awe - some cakes

r r

Cle - ver

ants

r r r

car - ry crUlnbs

The notes C and G (fa, do)

Copy / sing / play:

Can

J :J
Grand- rna

chew

F F

cash - ews?

,
,
,

50

Grace

cleans

Calves

grub - by

gam - bol

Great

gongs

car - pets

r r r
-

ly

clum - si

clang

The notes C and B (fa, mi)

Copy / sing / play:

,
,
,

r r r

Crabs

can't

blow

Big

bub - bles

clang

bells

r r r r
Bu

- sy

-I
I

Cle - ver

crea - tures

r-

bab - ble

r-

bud - gies

co - py

chat - ter

51

The notes C B A (fa mi re )

Copy / sing / play:

&

IT
era

r r

&

,
,

bee - tIes

Bon - ny

Cats

ar

gue

r r

crawl

beau

bees

are

Bo - wer birds

ti

J
are

ap - pIes

bu

al - ways cooks

are

Ants and

&

~
~

r r r

All

bears

zy

ful

r r

- sy

crea -tures

r r

de - ver

Make up your own C B A sentences (a) using these words in any

order
(b) using different words beginning with C B A. Write them on the

staves below; play and sing.

52

The notes DCA (so fa re)

Copy ,sing, play:

r r
J
& r
Dogs

chase

Are

cats

ant

=g

eat - ers

r r

dan - ge - rous?

r r-=r-f- r
Crum - bly chee - ses

are

de - Ii - cious

eric - kets chirp

all

day

._]

53

=i

Can

dogs

,.

~~~

and

dream?

cats

Make up your own sentences using A COin any order; write, sing,
play

The notes 0 C B (so fa mi)

Copy, sing, play:

&r

Din - gos

can't

bark

Ants and bees

r r

Bo - wer birds

r F E F

are

bu

- sy

crea -tures

r r

are

de - ver

54

Bart

climbs

Clean

Birds

r r r

ben - ches

pIpes

;;;;q

dai - ly!

dis - co - ver crumbs

E E
era

drain

zy

r r

beasts

dance

Make up your own sentences using 0 C B; write, sing, play

==_
. _---_
.-==-------__
. -. . -._.--_.
- - -,]

===,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _ _..

,y

------;

55

The notes G A C (do re fa)

Copy, sing, play:

J_.

Geese

are

J J ~

r r r
-

eu

ous

fl

Jr r

Ca - mels aren't great com - pa - ny

j J
Goats and

J J r r
gob - lins

J J J J

ca - per

J J J

Gra -ham goh - hIes chips and

J J J J ~ J
Anne and

An - ge

- Ia

can

gra - vy

J J

gig - gle!

Make up your own sentences using G A C; write, sing, play

56

The notes G C 0 (do fa so)

,
,
,
,
&

r r

Grand - rna's

cows

dance

F F

Don't

drop

chew - ing

Da - vid

goes

L
Geoff

Close

dis - likes

iTa

gum

r r r

clog

- dan - cing

r r

il

corn

F
chips

doors

gent

ly!

2d

Make up your own sentences using G C D; write, sing, play

57

The notes G 8 C (do mi fa)

Gi - na

&

F
Can

~ r
Big

F F F

buys

Bel - la

gal - lop?

-~

chooks

,"'.Y'

gob - ble

fl

...I

.,

j
F

-r

cake

choc' - late

...-

gar - bage

- ...

...

Coc - kies gob - ble bread-crumbs

'I.

58

r r r r r

~
Guy

con

busks

fi

dent - ly

Make up your own sentences using G B C.

Write, sing, play

The notes GAB C ( do re mi fa )

Copy I sing I play:

Grace

grabs

all

&r r r
Choc - chip

his - cuits

Ben's chips

are

great

59

~
All

&
&

Ba

boys

~
-

by

~
~

Gin - ger

cats

gum

chew

gob - lins

~ ~

~
are

cute

r r r
-

are beau - ti

ful

Make up your own sentences using. GAB C. Write / play / sing .

,.

.'"

flO

THE NOTES GAB D (do re mi so;

Copy / sing / play:

&
&r
~

Gnats and

,
,
,

A -

bee - tIes

bo - ther

Don't

r r gg
drink

Aunt

Gail

r r

my

goes

bel - ly

...

~ ~

ate

Ga - ry's

~~-.

Ben

J
J
j
~
J
Grow-ling

dew

din - gos gnaw

J. - ;1

dan - cing

din - ner

~
a

F
bone

Make up your own GAB 0 sentences (a) using these words in any
crazy order you like - write them on the staves below; sing them;
play them.
(b) using different words starting with the letters CABO. Write them
on the staves below I sing I play.

61

,.~

" v

The notes 0 C B A (so fa mi re)

I

Copy, sing, play:

,
,
,
,

r
Dan

ba - lance ap - pIes

can

J J
An-gry

r r
Bin - di

r
Doves

J J J J

F F

bulls

can cause death

r r

_.....

r
F
E
Cook a - dores
L
coo

and

bees

don - keys

buzz

62

Ca - leb

ate

dis - gus - ting beans

r r f 2d

Make up your own sentences (a) using these words in any crazy
order
(b) using any words starting with the letters 0 C B A . Write / play /
sing .

..'"v..

The notes GAB CD (do re mi fa so')

Have a look at the last GAB C 0 sentence below, and you'll see that
it is two bars long, with only one note in the second bar. Then there
is a sa, followed by a little stroke sitting on the middle line. This is
another rest: it is two beats long (sa-a) - making that bar add up to
four beats, like bar 1 .

63

Now copy / play / sing:

,
,

r r

Goats and

dres - ses

bring

guest

dogs

bark

and

growl

0 r

Dom

can

Chained

r r r

ha - hies chew

r r

&

Do

go - an - nas

bite

E2! Ie

J -

cats and dogs?

Make up your own sentences (a) using these words in any crazy
order
(b) using any words starting with the letters DeB A .

NB If your words need two bars, don't forget to make sure that each

bar has exactly 4 beats (add rests if necessary).

Write / play / sing.

--

65

Chapter 6
Five Notes
Before we tackle lots of new GABCD songs, we'll learn a few more
rhythmic ideas for notes longer than tao
Twice as long as ta looks like this:

and we count 2 beats: ta - a

And now we know the two-beat rest (sa - a)

that goes with it.

d.

If we want a note three times as long as ta we just add a dot to the

ta-a:

and call it ra-a-a.

If we want a note 4 times as long as ta, we leave the stem off, and
count ta-a-a-a.

You'll need to make new rhythm cards for these three new long
notes, and for sa-a. Make 2 of each.
Now we're ready to look at lots of real songs. Some will have 4 beats
in every bar, some 3 and some 2. Write the relevant number at the
beginning of each song. This is called the time signature.
(You might notice in other music books that time signatures have
two numbers, one on top of the other. At the moment we're only
worrying about the top number, which tells us how many beats are
in each bar.)

6h

How to tackle each new song:

1.

Clap its rhythm

Say its time names.
Say the words of the song in that rhythm.
Make its rhythm from memorywith your rhythm cards.

2.
Colour all the G notes red for do,' colour all the D notes blue
for so; colour all the B notes yellow for mi.
Give yourself the starting note on an instrument, and then,
very slowly, TRY to sing the first bar to so/ fa. (The colours
should help). Don't get too anxious about the rhythm at the
moment.
Once you have worked out the first bar, try singing the second
bar.
Then try bars 1 and 2 joined up, slowly and carefully.
THEN try to sing the first 2 bars in the right rhythm as well as
with the right sol fa!
When you have bars 1 and 2 right, try bars 3 and 4 in the same
way.
Sing bars 1 - 4 right through. Soon you'll have the whole song!
Sing it to its words.

3.
Give yourself your starting note on an instrument, and then
sing the song to letter names, touching your hand stave.
Sing it again to letter names, fingering but not blowing your
recorder.
Play it on the recorder.
Play it on the piano or xylophone.

67

NB Don't write the alphabetical names beneath the notes: If these

haven't stuck in your head, you must have skipped through the last
54 pages much too fast. Go back and start again at page 1 , and go
slowly and thoroughly, until you really know which note is which.
A handy (!) way to check which notes live where on the stave is to
use your hand stave, and touch each finger or space between the
fingers as you sing:

n nd

l I dDirection finger D

nne
el c c
Id

Biggest finger B

A A A

Ring finger G
Sing this up (forwards from G) and down from D (backwards!), every
day, touching the lines and spaces on your hand stave, until you're
really sure.
The sol fa colours:
If you are a person who finds colour interesting, think about the
notes between the primary triad notes with the primary colours:
re, with a red do on one side and a yellow mi on the other side,
is orange ( which is the colour we get if we mix red and yellow!)
And fa, with a yellow mi on one side and a blue so on the other
side, is green (which is the colour we get if we mix yellow and blue!)
So the notes do

re
mi
fa
so'
red orange yellow green blue,

which are next to each other in the rainbow!

give us the colours

Repeat marks:

Some songs need to repeat - we show this with two lines close

together (a double bar ine) and two dots inside the bars - at the

beginning and at the end.

Pease Pudding Hot

14 II:
,

r-

"it- ~

r *

Pease pud ding hot

Some like it hot

~ ~

Pease
Some

pud-ding
like it

,~ J J
My

1fI

In

the pot
the pot

In

r r

play

with the

..

~. ~

days

Nine
Nine

days

I; J
~

r r

glp - Sles

~.

IJ
In

..

-20JI

old.

old.

,gg

My Mother Said

mo - ther said

,r

Pease pud ding cold

Some like it cold

r
IJ

IF E E r

ne - ver should

the

wood.

II

69

Whistle, Mary, Whistle

rlrrJJIJ

Whis- tie, Ma- ry, whis- tIe,

and you can have a

cow.

rlrrJ JIJ
can-notwhis-tle, Mo-ther,

be -cause I don't know how.

Dance, Thulnbkin, Dance

Dance,

"

.....
I'

~
~l'

J IJ
.-

r-

t::.I

lAC

Thumb - kin,
dance
Foreman Longman
Ringman Littreman

II

.....-

-..;

Dance, Thumb kin,

- - I

dance

~rrr
ev'

ry

one, but

IJ

Dance,

ye

rr

Thumbkin, he

mer - ry

IJ J

can dance

men,

~
- lone.

:11

70

Grandma Grunts

&2

J Jlr UIJJJIE IJ JI U JI

Grand-rna Grunts said a

&r
girls

&F
say

,
,

~
must

cu-ri-ous thing: Boys must

IJ

IJ J Ir

sing.

That

IJ J IU J Ir
Twas no

Ion - ger than

heard her

IJ

Great

whales,

Come

Sat

'J J

un - shut eye,

IJ

IJ

ling

by

words Matthew Arnold

musio JAC

whales

.
sat -

F
ling,

IJ J J J I

Sail and sail with

Ir r E r I L;;!
Round the world for

II

yes - ter - day.

Great Whales

&1

IJ J

what

IS

whis-tle but

J ,%II

e - ver and aye.

71

12
IJ

Who's That?

j
Who's

IF lAC rlJ alj IF

that

tap-ping at

aUla * IJ

knock-ing at the door

1J

the win- dow?Who's

IJ

win - dow,

Dad

Mam

I~

Ir
-

IF

IAul

my

tap-ping at the

a u Ia *

knock -ing at the

dy

that

door.

Mister East Gave a Feast

JAC

'~T';-0-1 W J r t Ir r ptlp-r 1]

Mi-ster East

gave a feast

rvtis-ter North

laid the cloth

, r r F' Ir T ~ *-_1 J r-;J-J--}

Mi - ster West

did

his

best

Mi - ster South

I~rw rlrfrr JIJJ , burnt his mouth with

ea-ting a

cold po - ta - to

..-

..-

..-

Lit - tIe

Li

- sa,

fl

....
"
.,,,,
L

Little Lisa

..-

.v

small.

- - -

lit - tIe

Kit-ten small at play time,

'J J n In a
Lit - tie Li - sa,

Danish

- -

Li - sa

r-

r-

__

has

kit-ten

kit-ten small at

bed time,

lu

IJ

II

Li - tIe Li - sa loves her kit - ten small.

Go to Sleep (Fais dodo)

English words JAC

French

4 r J I] a IJ a J Ir Ir J.gE. a I
4J r JIJ rlrrri d rlr r rig rl

oJ

Go

to sleep,

sis -ter is

palS

Pi - erre, lit - tIe

bro - ther, Go

here. Ma - rna is near - by

in the shed fi-xing your new big bed.

4JaJI r
erre, lit - tie

to sleep. your

in case you might cry,

Go

to sleep. Pi -

air JI] alJrJIJ.

bro - ther, Go

Pa

to sleep, your sis - ter is

here.

Zoom! Zoom! Zoom!

J :l

r r

Bees

Zoom! Zoom! Zoom!

a - round us hum.

In the sun - ny wea - ther,

In the bu- shes, in the hea- ther, Bu-sy

,F

Gennan

IJ J

Zoom! Zoom! Zoom!

Bees

J J

II

a - round us hum.

Here We Go (Lightly Row)

wordsJAC

Herewe go,

Rib- bons fly,

,
,E
~

up

the

Here we

row,

go,

Dan-cingo'er the gras-ses- 01

IE

r r r

Hand

to

10

Let me lead you

It's the joy of spring!

ba -bies cry,

to and fro,

to and fro,

hand and

I ;-J
Hear our

IE
toe

- r

to

r r IJ
VOl-

ces

sing!

toe,

II

74

I would be happy

Hungarian

Ir g IE! J IF

I would be

hap - py the

field to plough,

SIX

I;
lea-ding now,

swift - ly

rd

show you how,

so

0-

xen

j j
swift- ly!

The last four songs coming up have a different sort of beginning.

You remember the strong beats we talked about in chapter 3, when
we read verses out loud? Read the words of these following songs
out loud, and feel which syllables or parts of the words need a h'eavy
beat and which need a much lighter beat. You'" find that these last
four songs all have a light or a weak beat beginning.
The way that this works musically is for the bar line to come just
after the weak beginning and just before the first strong beat. We
call this an upbeat. (This name comes from the fact that a
conductor's arm goes up on a weak beat, ready to fall down strongly
on the next strong beat.)
Songs that start with an upbeat finish with a shorter bar than usual:
in fact, if you add the weak upbeat and the shorter last bar together,
you'll find that they add up to the number of beats in each bar of the
song.
I eat my peas with honey

I've done it all my life

It makes the peas taste funny

But it keeps them on the knife.

II

75

I eat Iny Peas

eat

,r
,r

life

keeps
Both

my

I've done it all my

peas with ho- ney

Ir

It

makes the peas taste

them

on

the

I .atl1y R::.as

JAC

......

I E2F

fun-ny

I~

3-1
but it

%AI

knife.

and A Rainbow have 4 beats every bar, so

count yourself in by saying one beat less than 4 (=3), at the speed
you want the song.

f'1

A Rainbow

~
My

--E

raiL-

IQ
heart_

bow

JAC

Ir

leaps_

up

when

r r Ir
.

In

the

sky

This Rainbowsong has something else new.

Look at heart and leaps and rain-bow.

be - hold

r g

II

76

Each has two notes spread across one word (or one syllable of a
longer word). The little curvy line above those two notes is called
a slur.
It asks us to sing or play those two notes very smoothly, joining
them together. When we playa slur on the recorder, we tongue the
first note of the two, and then let the next note slide in without
tonguing it.
Practise playing these slurs on the recorder:

Fr

, (1

Ih

IfF

~--tf4-

..............

I Cf

77

Slurs can also be over more than 2 notes:

Tongue the first note and let the other 2 notes slide.

II

Try to Sing and play this 4-bar phrase from a longer song:

Air_ _ __

frre _ __

wa__

I J.
F
ter
earth

Upbeats again.

Here are two more upbeat songs, both with ti-ti upbeats. Count 3
before you Sing / play, at the speed you want the song.

7'd

When the Wind is in the East

, 4 j j

gj

33j

When the wind is

III

JAC

J JI j J J. Q :J II

the east,'tis good for nei-ther man nor beast.

A-Hunting We Will Go

,
fl
--,
I

.r

...,

,~

a - hun -ting we will

go,

a - hun - ting we will

~.

Ir

r r r

go,

We'll

catch

., ., ., .,

..I'""

put him in

a box and

lit
I

....;.
r

=~
.,

- tIe

and

.,

~.

him

go.

then we'll let

ffox
--

The last song on the next page starts with a ti-ti upbeat,

but has has three beats every bar, so count 2 before you Sing I play.

There are several slurs: two short ones and a very long one.

When you're playing the recorder, don't forget to tongue the first

note and then let all the other notes slide, with your tongue not

moving at all.

When you're singing, make all the slurred notes join each other

smoothly in one breath.

.1
.1
.1

.1

--7Y

You'll also need to watch out for the back-to-front rhythm of the
word "trumpets": it goes short-long instead of the more usual long

short.

At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners

lolmDonne

lAC

IF) F I~

Atthe found

earth's

1 -

rna - gined

J IJ
blow_ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

trum- pets,

an

gels,

(")

your . trum-pets,

and

ners

COf_

r rI

Blow

your

a - nse

Congratulations if you've honestly got to this point without skipping

bits, without writing alphabetical note names under notes, and
without having to always ask someone else to show you how a song
sounds before you have a try. I hope you agree with me now that
learning to read and write music is not as hard as you thought it
would be, and is GREAT FUN!
Volume 2 will carry on from here: more notes, scales and key
signatures, more rhythmtc concepts ..... and lots more tunes, in 2
parts! It gets better and better!