Tag Archives: Song

Music as Communication in the Classroom: “Days of the Week”

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“Days of the Week”

Informant information:

Lauren Grant is a 20 year old woman from Andover Massachusetts. She attends school at Quinnipiac University in an occupational therapy program. She has worked at the Recreational Education Center, an after school and summer care program for children with special needs, for the past four years. She has sent some examples of songs that the teachers use to engage with the students during “circle time”.

Type of lore: Verbal

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context:

At the Recreational Education Center in Peabody, Massachusetts, an after-school and summer care program for children with special needs, the following songs are sung by teachers of children with special needs in order to engage with the students. The students sing these songs along with the teachers. They are sung during “circle time”, which is an activity in which the the entire day center joins together, and all of the kids and teachers do an activity together instead of working one-on-one. It is a period for learning and socializing.

Transcript: 

Days of the week *clap clap*

Days of the week *clap clap*

Days of the week, days of the week, days of the week *clap clap*

There’s Sunday and there’s Monday,

There’s Tuesday and there’s Wednesday,

There’s Thursday and there’s Friday,

And then there’s Saturday!

Days of the week *clap clap*

Days of the week *clap clap*

Days of the week, days of the week, days of the week *clap clap*

Informant’s comments:

This song is sung to the tune of the “Addams Family” theme song.

Collector’s comments:

We categorized this piece of folklore under verbal lore because it is sung. This song is authorless, it also contains repetition and rhyme for easy memorization. This song is specific to this center for children with special needs. Such a simple concept as the names and sequences of the days of the week can be difficult for these children to grasp, which is why the song was created. This song especially has clapping in it – this invokes interaction from the children and helps develop a communication channel between them and their teachers.

Tags/Keywords: Song, Music, Special needs

Club Team “Fight Song”

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1. Title: Maryland Club Team “Fight Song”
2. Informant: Catherine (Katie) Harmon (19) has just completed her freshman year while swimming for the club team at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD.  UMD does not have a varsity collegiate team so they receive some preferential treatment as far as facilities useage when compared to other club teams.  Katie has swum competitively in MD for most of her life starting on a local neighborhood summer team, then a small local club team, eventually a high school team, and now the UMD club team.
3. Customary: Ritual
4. Language: English
5. Country of Origin: United States
6. Social / Cultural Context: Katie stated that every team at UMD does the same fight song to emphasize unity among the athletic teams at UMD.  Usually club teams do not have to participate in this tradition but since there is no varsity swim team, their team is encouraged to do so.
7. No audio, transcribed Skype interview.
8. Transcript:
“Maryland, we’re all behind you
Raise high the black and gold
for there is nothing half so glorious
as to see our team victorious
we’ve got the team boys
we’ve got the steam boys
so keep on fighting don’t give in
M-A-R-Y-L-A-N-D maryland will win!
(and then three rounds of GO MARYLAND! with fake drum noises)”
9. Informant’s comments: Every varsity team and Katie’s club team perform this distinctive fight song
10. Collector’s comments: I have seen the Maryland football team perform this fight song when watching games on TV.
11. Tags/Keywords: Pre-Meet, Ritual, Fight Song

Music as Communication in the Classroom: “What’s the Weather?”

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“What’s the Weather?”

Informant information:

Lauren Grant is a 20 year old woman from Andover Massachusetts. She attends school at Quinnipiac University in an occupational therapy program. She has worked at the Recreational Education Center in Peabody, Massachusetts, an after school and summer care program for children with special needs, for the past four years. She has sent some examples of songs that the teachers use to engage with the students during “circle time”, a special period of peer-oriented activity in the course of their day.

Type of lore: Verbal

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context:

At the Recreational Education Center in Massachusetts, an after-school and summer care program for children with special needs, the following songs are sung by teachers of children with special needs in order to engage with the students. The students sing these songs along with the teachers. They are sung during “circle time”, which is an activity in which the the entire day center joins together, and all of the kids and teachers do an activity together instead of working one-on-one. It is a period for learning and socializing.

Transcript:

What’s the weather,
What’s the weather,
What’s the weather like today?
Is it sunny, is it cloudy?
What’s the weather like today?

Informant’s comments:

This song is sung to the tune of “Oh my Darling Clementine”.

After the song is performed, “one of the children is picked to describe the weather. They are given choices of hot, cold, sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy or snowing. They point to or pick up signs and leave them on the board for the rest of the day.”

Collector’s comments:

This folklore is important to children with special needs because of the way it teaches them about the weather and helps them to communicate. It has a clear purpose, which is to help the children learn another complex topic that is difficult for them to comprehend. This song is authorless, taught to the children by their teachers, and uses a lot of repetition, participation and images to keep the children engaged.

Tags/Keywords: Song, Children, Special needs

Music as Communication in the Classroom: The Beginning and Conclusion of “Circle Time”

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The Beginning and Conclusion of “Circle Time”

Informant information: 

Lauren Grant is a 20 year old woman from Andover Massachusetts. She attends school at Quinnipiac University in an occupational therapy program. She has worked at the Recreational Education Center, an after school and summer care program for children with special needs, for the past four years. She has sent some examples of songs that the teachers use to engage with the students during “circle time”.

Type of lore: Verbal

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context:

  • At the Recreational Education Center in Peabody, Massachusetts, an after-school and summer care program for children with special needs, the following songs are sung by teachers of children with special needs in order to engage with the students. The students sing these songs along with the teachers. They are sung during “circle time”, which is an activity in which the the entire day center joins together, and all of the kids and teachers do an activity together instead of working one-on-one. It is a period for learning and socializing.

“The Introduction Song”

Transcript:

“An Introduction Song”
It’s very nice to meet you,
Have a great, great day!
It’s very nice to meet you,
And this is what we say!
Shake my hand, shake my hand, shake my hand!

“Circle time is over”
Circle time is over now, over now, over now!
Circle time is over now,
It’s time for <insert next activity>

Informant’s comments:

Lauren stated that the first song is used as an “introduction song”

The second is sung at the end of circle time, to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down. This song is used primarily as a transition into the next activity, which can be snack time, free-play, individual learning, etc.

Collector’s comments:

We categorized these pieces of folklore under verbal lore because they are sung. This folklore fits under the category of folklore from families with children with special needs because the children with special needs sing these songs along with their teachers. These songs are also authorless. They contain repetition and rhyme for easy memorization. These songs are specific to this center for children with special needs because of how they’re used on a daily basis. Transitions are often difficult for children with special needs to navigate, and the employment of these simple, repetitive songs at the beginning and conclusion of every “circle time” serves to signal to the children when they can expect a change.

Tags/Keywords: Song, Music, Special needs,

Jodie

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Title: Jodie

Informant info: Informant requested to remain anonymous. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2005 and was a member of the Army Infantry 10th Mountain Division of Fort Drum, New York. Informant served in Iraq from 2006 to 2007. Informant is 28 years old.

Type of lore: Customary/ Verbal, Tradition, Song

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was interviewed at Dartmouth College. Informant was asked about any songs that they sung during their time in boot camp or while serving abroad. Informant spent childhood in the Northeastern United States and feels a lot of hostility toward the Midwestern United States. Informant mentioned that they sing lots of songs revolving around a character named Jodie. This character represented the guy that comes into your social and family contexts while a soldier is deployed and takes your girlfriend or has sex with your mother.

Associated file: Informant requested to remain completely anonymous.

Transcript:

[I have recorded the item exactly how it was told to me in the interview]: Uhh there are a lot of songs. A lot of them will refer to this Jodie. Jodie is like this name, I don’t know why its called Jodie so don’t ask… Uhh Jodie’s like the name of the person that’s in Dear John letters you know, um Jodie’s the guy that comes and steals your girlfriend or fucks your wife or your mom or or whatever. Uh there’s lots of songs about Jodie while we are marching or running and what not. I don’t know why that’s the device chosen to motivate so many soldiers but it’s a high testosterone environment and its also a very simple environment, mostly because of all the dumb southern farmers and Midwesterners that can really relate to shooting the guy that’s fucking your wife. Shot guns and heartbreak and trucks and dogs and tobacco and whiskey sort of thing. But yeah those songs

Informant’s comments: Informant mentioned that the figure of Jodie is taken very seriously and that are a number of songs that involve his character. Informant suggested that I search the internet for some examples and mentioned that “chances are they were sung during my time in the military.” Informant also mentioned that they don’t understand why this motivates soldiers but attests that it does.

Collector’s comments: After informant sang a previous song, they became more serious and talked about a character in many songs named Jodie. The overall attitude was contrasted greatly as frustration and a lower tone of voice.

 

Call On Me

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Title: Call On Me

Informant info: Informant requested to remain anonymous. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2005 and was a member of the Army Infantry 10th Mountain Division of Fort Drum, New York. Informant served in Iraq from 2006 to 2007. Informant is 28 years old. Continue reading →