2015 Term 1 Week 7: Singin' in the Rain

Here's ten hours of non-stop rain, thunder and lightning . Some people enjoy the sound of rain to help them sleep - that's why it's ten hours long! 

 

This week had a real change in the weather with Cyclone Pam arriving in New Zealand, so it's a good time to learn a few songs about the weather and rain.

Do you know this nursery rhyme "It's Raining, it's Pouring"?  Follow the old man as he walks in his sleep. 

Here's a jazzy version of It's Raining, it's Pouring.  How many instruments can you identify?

In this video, children play ukuleles and add a short rap and dance to It's Raining, it's Pouring.

 This is  a musical score.  It is  quite slow and is designed for beginner recorder players. Can you follow the rhythm pattern of the quavers, crotchets and minims? Can you identify the rests and what values they have? And here's another score for the song, played by recorder, but without rests. Can you follow the notes?

This is It's Raining, it's Pouring in (British) sign language.  It's very easy to follow.

This is a group called the Speks and they have done an Irish music version of the song. This is a live performance for children.

Here's a very clever soundscape of rain - which becomes a song - by a group called  Perpetuum Jazzile.

Let's  make a soundscape of rain ourselves.

This  song is one of the most well known songs about rain. It is also one of the most famous dance sequences in all movie history.  It's called "Singin' in the Rain" from the movie of the same name.  The dancer is called Gene Kelly, and he was one of the most famous dancers in Hollywood history. 

This is a Muppets version of Singin' in the rain, starring Grover.

Here's a short Pat and Stanley video of Singin'  in the Rain.
 
This is a flashmob in Auckland doing a promotion for their upcoming show "Singin' in the Rain". 

There is now a stage production of Singin' in the Rain. Here's a performance at a Royal Variety  Show in England. What problems do you think the performers and producers of the show would have putting on a show like this - and how do you think they solved them? 

This is a world record for the most umbrellas in a dance - done to celebrate what would have been Gene Kelly's 100th birthday.  Do you recognise the music they chose?

And here's  an action song based on SInging in the Rain.

It's raining cats and dogs.

Raining cats and dogs!

 It's raining cats and dogs means it's raining very heavily.  Here's a story about it, and you will learn how other languages say that it's raining very heavily.

Speaking of raining cats and dogs, here's a video especially for  Mrs Lee's Spanish classes.  Can you find the cat in the weather report?
And - nothing really to do with rain, except it's called a desert rain frog - and is really cute! Here's a bit more information about it. 

I bet you never thought you would see a horse singin' in the rain . . . 

Many people think this is the best dance sequence ever in a movie.  It is from the movie called Stormy Weather in 1943.  The dance scene was done in entirely in one take. Apparently, the movie makers had run out of money and they could not afford to film it a second time, so it had to be perfect the first time.