2015 Term 4, Week 7: The story of "Small One" told by Bing Crosby

 

Bing Crosby was an American singer and actor.  His full name was Harry Lillis Crosby Junior, and he was born in 1903 and died in 1977.  He was the best-selling artist of the twentieth century and sold over one billion records, tapes, CDs and digital downloads around the world.

His recording of "White Christmas" is the biggest-selling record of all time, and was first heard on a radio broadcast on Christmas Day, 1941.  Soon after, the song appeared in the Bing Crosby movie called Holiday Inn.   This version of White Christmas is from a 1954 film called White Christmas also starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye.

"The Small One" is one of the most loved Christmas stories. The story was written by Charles Tazewell and was first produced for a radio show in 1939.  This version narrated by  Bing Crosby was recorded in 1947.
This is the Disney version of The Small One from 1972.

It's a story set in Mexico where a young boy called Pablo is complaining because his donkey is so stubborn.  The narrator (Bing Crosby) tells him it's not stubbornness but pride, and he goes on to tell Pablo the story of another donkey in another country a long time ago . . .

  Here's some vocabulary to help you understand the story: 

drowse - doze or snooze        berating - growling at          disreputable - not respectable
stout - big and stocky            aloof - keeping distant          destiny - future 
envy - jealousy                      drooped - sagged or dropped   
tanner - person who makes leather out of animal skins      homage - respect

Spanish vocabulary: 
el camino del norte - the road north
siesta - an afternoon nap 
estupido - stupid
Buenos días - good morning  

si - yes 

Señor - Mister or Sir
amigos - friends 

 
 
Listen to the background music of the story. 
Can you hear how the music changes to match the mood of the story?  
How does the music represent the happy and sad parts of the story? 
How is the sound of the donkey's hooves represented by music? 
How does the music represent the donkey's ear that stick up, the ear that droops, and the leg that limps? 
Can you work out what well known Christmas carol is used as a theme for the background music?  

This is a video from 1970of Bing Crosby singing a Christmas duet with David Bowie.

This week's dances: 
Run Run Run Rudolph ( Chuck Berry - with lyrics) 

Run Run Rudolph  Lynyrd Skynyrd Cover 

Run Run Rudolph Keith Richards Cover

Crazy Christmas Dance 

Jingle Bells 
Cotton Eye Joe.  

I'm Gonna Catch You  

Johnny B Goode  

Our favourite Christmas songs:  

Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bobtail ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight!
(chorus)

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.

A day or two ago
I thought I'd take a ride
And soon, Miss Fanny Bright
Was seated by my side,
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
He got into a drifted bank
And then we got upsot.
 

And just for fun - here's a video of Mr Bean conducting the Salvation Army Band performing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. 
Watch how the musicians follow his moves exactly. 
 

2015 Term 4, Week 6: Rock and Roll Christmas

 

Dances:
Jailhouse rock -  by Elvis Presley - line dance version
Jailhouse rock - by Elvis Presley - harder version - with partners

Check out this cockatoo's reaction to Elvis Presley music
Here's Elvis doing two of Christmas songs live. 
(See how he copes with forgetting the words in the first song.)  

Run Run Run Rudolph ( Chuck Berry - with lyrics) 

Run Run Rudolph  Lynyrd Skynyrd Cover 

Run Run Rudolph Keith Richards Cover

Crazy Christmas Dance  

Jingle Bells 
Cotton Eye Joe.  

Despicable Me 
I'm Gonna Catch You  

Johnny B Goode  

Our favourite Christmas songs:  

 

And now,  for complete contrast, some Mozart:

 

Amen Fugue from Mozart's Requiem (Maunder version)  

Watch this You Tube video to see how Mozart would have been buried in a pauper's grave in 1791.

This is the entire requiem by Mozart.  

See Mrs Lee and Mrs Vincent in the choir at the performance below. 

2015 Term 4, Week 5: Countdown to Christmas

Dances: 

Cotton Eye Joe.  

Day-O  The Banana Boat Song  

Crazy Christmas Dance  

Jingle Bells  

We are going to learn a new partner dance to Run Run Rudolph

 Run Run Run Rudolph ( Chuck Berry - with lyrics) 

 Lynyrd Skynyrd Cover 

 Keith Richards Cover

Christmas songs:  
See this link for our Christmas songs  

Fly swat game: which is F, A, C, E in a space?

Fly swat game: which is E, G, B, D, F on the line?

Make 5 bars of 4 beats in each bar.

Play the notation game.  
Identify the note name to make a word.

 
Juniors: 
Here's a new dance called Despicable Me 
I'm Gonna Catch You  

2015 Term 4, Week 4: Time for a test

 

Time to do some of our favourite dances before we practise notation for our portfolio sample:

 Johnny B Goode   (With lyrics)

 Cotton Eye Joe.  

Day-O  The Banana Boat Song  

Crazy Christmas Dance  

Jingle Bells  

 Run Run Run Rudolph ( Chuck Berry - with lyrics) 

 Lynyrd Skynyrd Cover 

 Keith Richards Cover

 

Draw the notes on the line or in the space.

Label the notes on the staff below

Here's some more practice for our portfolio samples

Make 5 bars of four beats in each bar

2015 Term 4, Week 3: Harry Belafonte - Banana Boat Song - Day O!

We are still having fun with our hand jive dance to  Johnny B Goode, (See last week's blog) and partner dancing to  Cotton Eye Joe.

We need to practise  our notation  and note values values to prepare for our portfolio sample. Clap and count this rhythm pattern. 

 Add bar lines to make 5 bars, each with 4 beats.

 

Name these notes:     F A C E      E G B D F 

Use this chart to help you name the notes. 

Some Hallowe'en songs and dances for this week. Check back to last year's blog on the history of Hallowe'en and Día de los Muertos .

The Monster Shuffle  - Our favourite from last year. 

Calling all Monsters   

Day-O  The Banana Boat Song This is not really a Halloween  song or dance, but it does have a skeleton theme. It's possibly more related to the Latin American Festival   of The Day of the Dead which happens at the same time.   The  Banana Boat Song is based on a traditional Jamaican song - the best known version by Harry Belafonte, released in 1956.  The song is about dock workers working the night shift loading bananas onto ships. Daylight has come, the shift is over and they want their work to be counted up (tallied) so they can go home. (From Wikipedia)  This is a live version of Harry Belafonte doing the Banana Boat Song in 1997.  You will notice a lot of differences between this and his original version. Often, live versions of songs can be extended and include audience participation. Notice how he acknowledges the musicians and singers at the end.

Harry Belafonte  was born in 1927 and is now 88 years old. He was born in New York, but his mother was from Jamaica and his father was from Martinique. AS a child, he spent many years living in Jamaica with his grandmother. He returned to USA and studied aciting. He started singing to help pay for his acting classes. He started singing pop songs but then moved into folk music and then, after the Banana Boat Song became a hit, he  became nown for singing Calypso music (the music from  Trinidad and Tobago). e is also known for his work as an actor in many films, and for his humanitarian and civil rights work.

Here's Harry Belafonte singing the Banana Boat Song with the Muppets . And here, just for fun, is Harry Belafonte and Animal having a drumming competition on the Muppets. 

Loading banana boats, Jamaica, circa 1957.

We can clap this rhythm or use the clave sticks. Try the treble clef and the bass clef. Can you name the notes?

An easy piano version of the Banana Boat song. 

Here's a sing-along version of the Banana Boat Song 

Fly Swat Game

Two teams, lined up in single file from front to back of classroom. First person in each team has fly swat. Stand near to board - image below projected. Teacher calls out note name, first person to swat correct note on staff gets point for team; pass swats to next person in team until everyone has had a turn.