Holiday Show Practice for 4th Grade - "Zemir Atik"

Hello again 4th graders -- here's our other song "Zemir Atik." As I told you in class, the melody is very old. The words which were probably added more recently mean: "We will return again to an ancient melody and the song will linger on. When we raise our glasses together our eyes and hearts will be bright. How good are our tents because there's dancing there. How good are our tents, still we return to an ancient melody." Once again I am supplying you with a vocal music track and the words. Hopefully you will find a moment this week in your tents between the dancing the the glass raising to give it a listen. Happy Thanksgiving!

How to tune your Ukulele

It occurs to me that some of you who are taking the ukulele home for the Thanksgiving break and some of you others players might appreciate a little guidance as to how to keep the instruments in tune -- so here you go!

Wonderland Avenue Music - Ukulele Tuning from Richard Lawton on Vimeo.

Holiday Show Practice for 4th Grade -- Still Still Still

Greetings 4th graders -- as discussed in class here are the practice materials for the first of our two songs for the holiday show, "Still Still Still." You can listen to the tune by click of the triangular play button in the black rectangle below. I am also including a second audio track so you can practice the German pronunciation.

Holiday Show Practice 1st Grade - "The Little Light of Mine"

Hello again First Graders -- here is the second song for Ms. Border's and Ms. Orr's classes -- "This Little Light of Mine." Again you can play a recording by clicking on the play button below (you can also make the lyric page bigger by clicking on that.) Besides singing the song, our other responsibility will be leading the audience in clapping on the back beats. This a little harder than it sounds and will take some practice.

Holiday Show Practice 1st Grade - "North Winds Blow"

Hello Ms. Border's and Ms. Orr's classes -- here is a recording of the first of your two songs for the holiday show. You can play it by clicking on the play button on the black rectangle on the bottom of the page. Remember, there is a body percussion part which we will be working in class, but here at least is a chance for you to learn the words, some of which you wrote yourselves!

Holiday Show Practice Kindergarten - "Must Be Santa"

One of our goals to give the kids some say in what we sing and how we sing. Our other kinder song, "Must Be Santa," is an example of this. Each class has contributed a verse to make the song our own. You can play the audio by click on the black rectangle at the bottom of this post. And if you click on the lyric page, it gets bigger.

Holiday Show Practice First Grade - "Jambo Bwana"

Jambo Bwana from Richard Lawton on Vimeo.

Hello again first graders. For your other song, "Jambo Bwana," I've given you a video with subtitles. I hope you like it!

Holiday Show Practice First Grade - "I Saw Three Ships"

Hello Ms. Schofield's and Ms. Unger's classes -- because there are 4 first grade classes I've split you into two groups. Your first song is "I Saw Three Ships." We will talk about the percussion part in class. My goal in posting this practice audio (below the lyric page) is to get you to learn the song. There are a lot of verses, the pattern is the same each time. Can you figure it out? (Also, a heads up -- clicking on the lyric sheet makes it bigger.)

Holiday Show Practice for Kindergarten - "Oh Hanukkah"

Oh Hanukkah from Richard Lawton on Vimeo.

Hello students, teachers and families. Here is a practice video for "Oh Hanukkah," one of the two songs we will be singing at the Roscomare Road Winter Holiday show on December 15. As we discussed in class, I would like you to focus on the fact that some of the notes are low, some medium and some high and really concentrate on singing them correctly.

Holiday Show Practice for 2nd Grade - "S'vivon"

Hello again second grade -- here is our other song, "S'vivon." Click on the play button on the black bar below to listen the recording and click the lyric page to make it bigger. Apologies for my froggie voice!

Holiday Show Practice for 2nd Grade - "Snowflake Song"

Snowflake Song from Richard Lawton on Vimeo.

Hello second graders -- here is a tutorial for the Northern California indian tune "Snowflake Song." The exact meaning of this song is unknown, so as we discussed in class we will be developing a B section involving reaching out the snow spirits.

Holiday Show Practice for 5th Grade - "T'zena, T'zena, T'zena"

Hi again fifth graders -- our other holiday show song is "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena." It was written in 1941 by Issachar Miron and became a hit song for the Weavers shortly after WWII.

Many of you already do an excellent job with the Hebrew pronunciations in the first verse, but if you need some help I am also including a pronunciation track.

Holiday Show Practice for 5th Grade - "Happy Christmas/War is Over" Part 3

And here is the third part. I've tried to break the song down into manageable chunks. This should also be your philosophy as you learn it. If any of the chords are too challenging at first, skip over them and come back later.

Wonderland Avenue Music - "Happy Christmas/War is Over" (in F) - Part 3 from Richard Lawton on Vimeo.

Holiday Show Practice for 5th Grade - "Happy Christmas/War is Over" Part 2

Here's the second video on the John Lennon song...

Wonderland Avenue Music - "Happy Christmas/War is Over" (in F) - Part 2 from Richard Lawton on Vimeo.

Holiday Show Practice for 5th Grade -- "Happy Christmas/War is Over" Part 1

Hi fifth graders -- here is the first of three tutorials on how to play "Happy Christmas/War is Over' on Ukulele. I hope you won't mind that I am using video I made at my old school. The song uses six chords over all, and if you find one chord is giving you some trouble, skip it and come back to it. I will be giving you the music in class this week.

Wonderland Avenue Music - "Happy Christmas/War Is Over" (in F) - Part 1 from Richard Lawton on Vimeo.

Holiday Show TK Practice - "Ise Oluwa"

Hello again. In addition to video I will also be posting audio clips for the kids to practice to. Just click on the play button to hear the track, in this case "Ise Oluwa," a song from Nigeria. The words mean "nothing that the creator has made can every truly be destroyed."

The second track is to help the kids pronounce the words. We will also be working on this in class.

Holiday Show TK Practice -- "Little Snowflake"

Greetings Friends - I will be posting practice material for the students to use at home and for teachers to use in the classroom for our Holiday show which will on December 15. More information about the show will be coming, but meanwhile, here is cute video with one of the two songs the TK's will be singing in the show. Hope you like it!

Holiday Show 3rd Grade Practice -- "Good King Wenceslas"

Hello Third Graders. Here is a practice video for "Good King Wenceslas" -- one of the two songs we will be playing and singing for the holiday Show in December. I hope you don't mind that I am using a video I made for the students at my old school. I wanted to make sure you had something to work on over the three day weekend. I am also posting the music I gave you in class. Remember, you don't need to learn the whole song in one day. If you could learn even one of the phrases by next week that would be huge.

Three Minute Recorder - "Good King Wenceslas" from Richard Lawton on Vimeo.