I’ve been busy this holiday season, in between shopping, getting our place ready to sell, and taking care of my girls (Jenna is eight, and Macy is almost four months old.) I’m also about to launch a new blog over at blogspot…I just bought my own domain: http://www.mrsmiraclesmusicroom.com. It will be up soon. No worries if you’re used to my old address though, wordpress should direct you there if you go to aileenmusic.wordpress.com. (Note: if you are following me at wordpress and start to not get notifications of my new blog posts, will you please let me know? I’m not sure how all of this will work out in the transition and don’t want to lose any followers!)
Speaking of the holidays, there are many teachers out there who absolutely love to integrate the seasons and holidays into their lesson plans. I must confess, I’m not exactly one of them. While I love the change of the seasons, and I love the holidays, I don’t usually do that many songs and activities that are dependent upon the time of the year. Part of this has to do with curriculum—depending on whether I had the students the year before (since I teach with another music teacher), I may be teaching ta and ti-ti to my first graders in December one year, and in another year it might be November or January. I don’t want to have to completely change my lessons around just because there is a holiday coming up.
I know, I’m a Grinch!
Another reason, though, is that I’ve had students in the past who, for religious reasons, can’t celebrate holidays. If I do a holiday song while that student is in class, he/she has to be dismissed to another location, or they have to have an independent assignment with headphones. So usually, I just don’t teach to the holidays. Until, that is, my singalong.
The holiday singalong at my school happens in the thirty minutes before their winter parties, the last day before break. I have done a singalong every year since I’ve been in this district, and it’s very fun! There’s nothing quite like the whole school community (including kids, teachers, parents, and grandparents) singing together.
Preparation of the students doesn’t take too long–just the week of the singalong and the week before. Then, the afternoon of the singalong, the entire school comes down to the gymnasium. On the stage, I have a large screen on which I project a powerpoint with the lyrics to all of the songs. Some of the songs are accompanied (I either use CD accompaniments from the textbook series or play along on piano) and some of the songs we sing a cappella. We sing songs for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. This year, we will be singing:
- Up on the housetop
- Winter Fantasy (a partner song with “Jingle Bells”)
- When oh When (a Hanukkah song—more info below!)
- Frosty the Snowman
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- Feliz Navidad
- Jolly Old St. Nicholas
- Che Che Kodaly (an African folk song for Kwanzaa, to celebrate African heritage)
- S’vivon Sov Sov (a Hanukkah song)
- We Wish You a Merry Christmas
“When oh when” is one of my favorites, and is definitely one of my students’ favorites. In fact, just recently, I had a student ask me not when we were going to sing “Jingle Bells” or “Rudolph,” but when we would sing “When oh When.” I learned this song from my friend Naomi Cohen, at a Jewish music workshop she presented for TRIKE. The song is below:
Second verse: When oh when…the one with dreidels spinning spin? Shouldn’t it be…now that winter nips at my chin?
Third verse: When oh when…the one with gifts for me and you? Shouldn’t it be…now that slush creeps into my shoe?
Fourth verse: When oh when…the one with latkes sizzling hot? Shouldn’t it be…now that all my windows are shut?
The song is from a recording by Leah Abrams, recorded in Cedarhurst, NY by Tara Publications. It is also on the website oysongs.com.
There are many things I love about this song: the melody is enchanting, the riddle is fun, and let’s face it—it’s so much better than “Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made you out of clay”!
On a side note, if your district or your local chapter is interested in learning more about Jewish music, I highly recommend Naomi! She has a rich knowledge of Jewish culture, songs, and dances, and is a joy! Her email address is nkcsings@yahoo.com.
What do you do for the holidays? Have you ever tried a singalong? Or are you thinking about trying it now?
Mrs. Miracle's Music Room 
My school has done a singalong every year since before I came (actually two, one for Christmas and one for Veteran’s Day). We live in a predominantly Christian district, so it’s actually expected that we do Christmas tunes (though I have added a Hanukkah song the last few years). Actually, when I came, the singalong was twice as long and had a ton of VERY religious Christmas songs. We’ve since toned it down and made it a bit more public school friendly. I only have one student who can’t sing along, so non-participation isn’t an issue for me.
Interesting, Andrea! I have had a few people ask if we could do “Silent Night,” but overall people seem pretty happy with the balance of holiday music. Veteran’s Day was actually much bigger in the last district I was in…I think there was more of a military population. There was even a Veteran’s Day parade that marched right by the school!