Episode 30 - Rounds & Partner Songs, Part 1 – Singing Around the World
Introduction
It’s been a whole year since the last Welcome to Music podcast and blog, and what a year it has been! Life became rather busy for Susie, beginning with the huge task of moving and downsizing from a four-bedroom townhouse to a much smaller two-bedroom apartment. That meant sorting through years of accumulated “stuff” and saying goodbye to many much-loved books, teaching resources and other treasures along the way.
Then, in January, Susie underwent a full knee replacement, which meant taking a few months away from work to rest, recover and get back on her feet.
But now she’s back, feeling better than ever and ready for the next chapter. Most importantly, she’s excited to once again share ideas, resources and experiences with the wonderful community of music educators who have been such an important part of the Welcome to Music journey.
And you may have noticed that this new chapter has a fresh new rainbow look! 🌈 The podcast and blog have had a colourful makeover to reflect the fun, creativity and joy at the heart of Welcome to Music.
A Little Background
The Welcome to Music Podcast & Blog is for Early Childhood and Primary/Elementary music and classroom educators, music therapists, studio teachers, parents and anyone using music with children from birth to 12 years.
Susie Davies-Splitter is a music educator with many years of experience teaching children and adults in early childhood, schools and universities. Together with her husband Phil, she runs Welcome to Music, where they create music resources, professional learning and programs for children and educators.
The goal is simple: to build confidence and creativity and enrich lives through the joy of music. Through the podcast and blog, Susie shares practical teaching ideas, songs, activities, interviews and resources that you can take straight into your music-making with children.
Her teaching draws on an inclusive, multi-modal, multi-sensory and Orff-based approach, with lots of singing, movement, playing, creating and improvising.
Suite of Songs
Susie continues the Suite of Songs, exploring different ways of making singing engaging, inclusive and successful for children. Echo, cumulative, and call-and-response songs were explored in earlier episodes, and now the focus turns to Rounds and Partner Songs over the next three episodes.
Rounds and partner songs are a wonderful introduction to part singing, encouraging children to listen carefully, hold their own part and experience the excitement of creating harmony together. They can also be extended through movement, dance, body percussion, instruments and improvisation.
In Episode 30, Susie shares:
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Fruity Samba – 2-part round, samba dance and percussion piece by Susie & Phil
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Charlie Chaplin – a traditional playground, swing jazz song and 4-part round
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Make New Friends / Sing, Sing, Together – partner songs
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Funga Alafia / Obwisana – partner songs from West Africa
Listen to the Episode 30 podcast on Welcome to Music Podcast.
For the complete teaching resources, including music notation, harmonies, ukulele, recorder and Orff percussion arrangements, explore the Welcome to Music Membership.
🍍 Fruity Samba
Fruity Samba is a lively 2-part round, samba dance and percussion piece written and recorded by Susie & Phil. Children can begin by learning the song and experiencing its strong rhythmic feel through movement and dance. Once the song is secure, it can be developed into a 2-part round and extended with body percussion, percussion instruments and improvisation.
It is a terrific resource for developing beat, rhythm, coordination, part singing, ensemble skills and creativity.
Try it with your students: Sing → move → dance → add percussion → sing as a round → improvise.
🎩 Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin is a traditional playground, swing jazz song and 4-part round.
Its playful character makes it a great way to introduce children to singing independent parts. Begin with the melody in unison and gradually introduce the different entries as children become confident. The song also lends itself beautifully to movement, body percussion, instrumental accompaniment and improvisation.
🤝 Make New Friends / Sing, Sing, Together
These two contrasting rounds can be sung independently and then combined as partner songs.
Once both songs are secure, try putting them together. Children need to maintain their own melody while listening to the other part happening around them, an excellent introduction to more independent ensemble singing.
🥁 Funga Alafia / Obwisana
Funga Alafia and Obwisana are songs from West Africa that provide wonderful opportunities for singing, movement, dance, body percussion, percussion instruments and improvisation.
Both can be explored as call-and-response songs and rounds, before eventually combining them as partner songs.
Why Sing Rounds & Partner Songs?
Rounds and partner songs are much more than a fun way to sing together.
They help children develop:
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Musical skills through pitch matching, harmony, beat, rhythm and part singing.
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Listening and concentration as children learn to maintain their own part while hearing another part at the same time.
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Confidence and independence as children become responsible for their own musical line.
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Social skills and teamwork through collaborative music-making.
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Creativity when songs are extended through movement, instruments, body percussion, dance and improvisation.
And perhaps most importantly, children get to experience that wonderful moment when several seemingly independent musical ideas suddenly fit together. That's where rounds become a little bit magical.
Explore the Suite of Songs
The songs featured in this episode are just the beginning! Our Suite of Songs brings together a colourful collection of rounds, partner songs, echo songs, cumulative songs and call & response songs, providing endless opportunities for singing, movement, part singing, percussion, improvisation and creative music-making.
Within the Welcome to Music Membership, you'll find a growing collection of rounds and partner songs from different cultures and musical styles, together with our own original songs and arrangements.
Each song can become the starting point for so much more than singing. Explore movement, dance, body percussion, instruments, improvisation, rounds, ostinati and part singing, with ready-to-use resources to help bring the music to life.
Want More Ready-to-Use Music Resources?
If you've enjoyed exploring these songs, you'll find lots more inside the Welcome to Music Membership. The Membership brings together songs, music notation, colourful teaching resources, instructional videos, lesson ideas, courses and professional development for educators working with children from birth to 12 years.
Many of the songs and activities featured in the Welcome to Music Podcast and Blog are available inside the Membership, ready for you to use with your children.
Try the Welcome to Music Membership FREE for 7 days and start exploring!
We hope these ideas inspire lots of singing, playing, moving and music-making with your children.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WELCOME TO MUSIC MEMBERSHIP
Imagine having a treasure trove of resources designed to make your teaching journey a breeze. The Welcome to Music membership is your ultimate toolkit for primary/elementary music educators, early childhood teachers, music therapists and anyone that uses music with children 0-12 years. Here’s what is inside:
✨ 100+ Hours of PD Certificates: Dive into our extensive library of on-demand courses and webinar replays, earning professional development certificates at your own pace.
🎤 Library of Webinars and Workshops: Unlimited access to our complete collection of webinars and workshops, packed with resources including topics such as: Bucket Drumming, Instruments in the Classroom, Games, Performance Ideas, Indigenous songs, Lilting lullabies & tranquil tunes, Story Songs, Folk Dances, World Music and many more, all with PD certificates
📚 Ready-Made Resource Kits: Over 250 lesson plans, activity sheets, and teaching resources to save you hours of prep time, including complete music notation with songs, dances, choral music, percussion arrangements, recorder pieces, ukulele accompaniments, music reading worksheets, arts and crafts, links to the curriculum and assessment and much more
💻 On-Demand Courses: Interactive courses covering everything from Music with Babies & Tots, Early Childhood Music to Advanced Ukulele!
👨🏫 Exclusive, Community Forum and member-only private Facebook group: Connect with a vibrant community of educators, share ideas, and receive continuous support from Susie, Phil, and the team.
💡 Always Fresh Content: New resources added regularly, and all webinars available shortly after they go live!
🦘 Lots of Aussie Content: A huge and growing collection of Susie and Phil’s original and traditional songs with added resources and instructional videos alongside resources from other notable Australian music and movement educators
🈹 25% Member Discount off Welcome to Music products: All members receive 25% off any physical or digital products (excluding Black Belt Ukulele products) in the Welcome to Music Store! https://welcometomusic.net/
Become a member of the Welcome to Music community today and enjoy all these fantastic benefits. Visit our Membership Page
Closing
This podcast has been brought to you by Welcome to Music – building confidence, creativity and enriching lives through the joy of music. In the show notes, you'll find links to a summary of this episode and our social media platforms. In the blog, you will find all the notes and links to this episode.
Our goal is to help make teaching and learning music easy and fun for all. I use an inclusive, multi-modal, multi-sensory and Orff-based approach to help make the learning stick.
- Find us at https://welcometomusic.net/
We would love you to subscribe to our YouTube channel where you can find almost 200 videos for kids – from lyric, play-along, instructional and animation videos www.youtube.com/c/WelcometoMusicSP
- Find 100’s of our songs on streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music – just search for Susie Davies-Splitter & Phil Splitter or the song title
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Happy music-making! 🌈🎶
Susie & Phil, Welcome to Music
Ep. 29 - Interview with Bill Henry, founder of the YouTube channel, Mr. Henry’s Music World – Part 2
