This blog is for our music classes. It includes background information to the lessons we take, and links to sites for further information and enjoyment. Mrs Vincent and Mrs Lee
No toast No toast for me I’m heading out to sea No toast No toast for me A sailor is what I be
Out across the waves The wind she blows Mind the rocks below
No toast No toast for me I’m sailing across the sea No toast Or mouldy bread A hammock for my head
Seas as big as trees The ship she flies Sailors tell no lies
A 1-2-3 A 2-2-3 Boom and a boom and a boom And a boom Crash Crash Boom and a boom And a go to your room
No toast No toast for me I’m heading out to sea No toast No toast for me A sailor is what I be
Dances:
Havana - tutorial by the Kidz Bop kids - except if you mirror their actions, you will be doing it using your left foot / arm actions for their right ones. You decide how you want to do it.
Brahms Lullaby - you'll know this, even if you've never heard its name or composer before.
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra has recorded a classic German
lullaby in te reo for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford's
baby.
It performed the famous lullaby, Cradle Song or Wiegenlied, by 19th century German composer Johannes Brahms.Opera singer Simon O'Neil recorded the piece before one of the orchestra's Wellington performances at the Michael Fowler Centre.
Bobby McFerrin is an American jazz vocalist and conductor. He wrote and sang "Don't Worry Be Happy" which became a Number 1 hit song - taking over from Sweet Child o' Mine by Guns N' Roses. Don't Worry, Be Happy also won song of the year at the 1989 Grammy Awards.
You can fart in a jar You can spit at a star But don’t sit under the Poo Tree You can eat till you burst You can cuss you can curse But don’t sit under the Poo Tree
My granny had a horse My granny had a whip She looked me in the nostril and she give me this tip What she say? “Hey little Johnny now you listen to me Don’t sit under the Poo Tree”
You can lie to your friends You can steal all their pens But don’t sit under the Poo Tree You can wear dirty clothes Stick a stick up your nose But don’t sit under the Poo Tree
Birdies like to eat all day But every night they rest In the tree down yonder where the sun sets in the west They’re full of worms and beetles And seeds and bits of fruit So just before they say their prayers They do a mighty poop And that is why I tell you what my granny said to me “Never sit below that stinky old Poo Tree”
You can eat off the floor You can slam closed the door But don’t sit under the Poo Tree You can dance with baboons By the light of the moon But don’t sit under the Poo Tree
The brain of a bird is a marvellous thing It can teach you to fly. It can teach you to sing It can teach you to operate both of your wings Oh the brain of a bird is a marvelous thing
The brain of a bird is a marvellous thing It can make you take journeys in winter and spring It can make you make nests of tinfoil and string Oh the brain of a bird is a marvelous thing
Your bones may be hollow Your feet may be webbed Your song may be just a quack Yet you can fly thousands of nautical miles And know how to get yourself back
The brain of a bird is a marvellous thing It can help you to see when it’s terribly dim It can lead you to water to duck, dive or swim Oh the brain of a bird is a marvellous thing
Don't Stop Me Now Continuing on our Queen theme from last week. Everybody Dance Now NZ Songs for Juniors: Taniwha Song (Note the lyrics may be a bit different to the one you know) The Library Song - A bit of a noisy song for the library! A Fatcat and Fishface favourite of ours from a few years ago - Tip of My Tongue Tip of My Tongue Are you able to play tennis on a turning tennis table? Will your mother mollycoddle Mrs Morse’s daughter Mabel? Can you lick a lolly scramble like a lizard at a lake? Can you carry half a carton full of crunchy carrot cake?
Did your sister get a blister from assisting Mr Morse? Or was it helping Harry hit a home run? Yes of course Can you stick a naked bunny in a cranny or a nook? Can you bring a bacon buttie and a bottle and a book?
Chorus: It’s on the tip of my tongue
How do horses hear a hoodlum when they’re hurtling hell for leather? Why do weasels whistle wetly in the wild and windy weather? Did your father find a feather for the funky fashion show? Or did he force young Norman Morse to tell him where to go?
Can you count the clucking chickens as they cackle in the clover After Mrs Morse’s Morris Minor nearly ran them over? Did you drink a drip of danger juice and drain the bottom drop? Can you eat the ears of elephants and never want to stop?
Chorus: It’s on the tip of my tongue
Can someone tell the Morses that their dog is here for dinner That their cat has lost its confidence, their guinea pig is thinner? The Morses are our neighbours Mr, Mrs, Norman, Mabel And all of them play tennis on a turning tennis table
Chorus: It’s on the tip of my tongue
And a new tongue twister nonsense song by Fleabite (same singer as in Fatcat and Fishface) called Liver Lover:
"Liver Lover" lyrics 1.Chicken liver, duck liver, cock-a-doodle cluck liver Lamb liver, cow liver, give it to me now liver Shark liver, goat liver, stick it up your coat liver Turkey liver, pig liver, juicy and so big liver
Camel liver, bear liver, breadcrumbs everywhere liver Frog liver, toad liver, cycling up the road liver Kiwi liver, bat liver, we’ll have none of that liver Monkey liver, gnu liver, crested cockatoo liver
Liver, liver lover, liver Don’t be angry, just forgive her You can’t live without your liver
2. Cat liver, rat liver, rabbit from your hat liver Beaver liver, mouse liver, running round your house liver Cod liver, eel liver, it’s not a big deal liver Sparrow liver, mole liver, halfway down a hole liver
Dog liver, snake liver, sorry my mistake liver Worm liver, slug liver, chug-a-lug-a-lug liver Moose liver, crab liver, cooked in a kebab liver Less liver, more liver, even dinosaur liver
Liver, liver lover, liver Cry your tears into the river You can’t live without your liver
3.Horse liver, ass liver, hiding in the grass liver Lizard liver, snail liver, reading all my mail liver Tiger liver, hen liver, please say that again liver Wolf liver, fox liver, think outside the box liver
Eagle liver, goose liver, hanging from a noose liver Mammoth liver, quail liver, banging in a nail liver Mongoose liver, weevil liver, is it good or evil liver Hippo liver, otter liver, I’ve not got a lot of liver
Liver, liver lover, liver Be you fat or be you thinner You can’t live without your liver
Oh Monkey liver, bee liver, swinging through the trees liver Penguin liver, croc liver, tick tick tock liver Zebra liver, possum liver, sitting on your bottom liver Bison liver, shag liver, don’t be such a nag liver
Spider liver, crow liver, long long way to go liver Hedgehog liver, whale liver, wave your furry tail liver Lion liver, deer liver, had it up to here liver Tui liver, trout liver, shake it all about liver
Liver, liver lover, liver Kangaroo or caterpillar You can’t live without your liver
And something from our You Tube favourites department: Just to prove that you are never to old or too young to dance - watch this video with an old man and two young girls doing a shuffle dance in China.
Now that we have finished New Zealand Music Month, it's a good time to look at music for children by New Zealand composers and musicians. Last week we talked about the visual reference to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody in Mother Goose's "Baked Beans" video. Here's a Muppets version of Bohemian Rhapsody - can you find the connection? We revisit our favourite from previous years - The Wreck of the Diddley by Fatcat and Fishface. Here's a link the the lyrics.
Some background and vocabulary to help you understand the song better:
In the early days of European settlement in New Zealand there were very few roads, and most people wanted to live within close distance of a coastal area with a harbour or sheltered area for ships to dock. Travel by sea (or river) was usually the easiest and quickest way to transport people and goods from place to place. In those days, the various types of ships and boats were as common as the trucks, trains, buses and planes we use for transport today. Except, there was no GPS, no rain radars or satellite weather information, no telecommunications to send signals if you were in trouble - and no rescue services. There were many shipwrecks, and many ships disappeared without a trace. Many,many lives of passengers and crews were lost. The Wreck of the Diddley is set in New Zealand waters - somewhere near the Wellington suburb of Island Bay, on the shores of Cook Strait (although NZ waters were not known to be visited by pirates, as indicated in this song).
Typhoon - a really big storm - and another name for a tropical cyclone. It's called a typhoon in some Asian areas, a hurricane in the Northern Atlantic areas (USA, UK) and a cyclone in the South Pacific (Australia, Pacific Islands, New Zealand).
20 foot high-a foot is a measurement of distance. It's a little bit over 6 metres.
Port and starboard the left and righthand side (or direction) of a ship when facing the front.
Abandon ship everybody get off the ship
A dozen twelve
Was a bright summer’s day back in 1859 No it wasn’t, it was 1863 And we sailed on the good ship ‘My Darling Clementine’ No we didn’t, it was ‘Mary Jane Marie’
Then came a storm, a typhoon I recall And the waves they crashed all around They were 20 foot high and they looked us in the eye And we thought to a man we would drown
Chorus: We thought we’d die diddley die Diddley diddley diddley die We thought we’d die diddley die Diddley die
It was young Nick Magoo who saw the rocks ahead No it wasn’t, it was old man John McGee And the captain steered to port and we headed into land No he didn’t, it was starboard out to sea
Then was a mighty crack, a terrible sickening sound And the brave mast came a-tumbling down The salt it stung our eyes, ”Abandon ship”, we cried And we thought to a man we would drown
Chorus:
The water was a-boil with a dozen drowning men No it wasn’t cos I counted 43 And we clung to bits of wood and anything we could No we didn’t, we were sinking helplessly
We shouted to the skies and we said our last goodbyes As the darkness gathered all around We were frozen to the core and we couldn’t swim no more And so to a man we did drown
Chorus:
And sometimes late at night on the shores of Island Bay If you listen you will hear a ghostly sound And some do say it’s wind and some do say you may Hear the singing of the sailor men who drowned
Chorus:
And another quick Fatcat and Fishface favourite - the Undies Song.
