Students

Second Semester Music Class Songs:

Hit Play to start listening and use the arrows to change between the following tracks:

1. Yekeke (partial clip-- for full clip click here-- clip will play immediately after a 30 second PRI intro):
This is a traditional song from Guinea in Mandingo that the children learned to sing and drum. In this clip from my new CD, Kelenia, the clarinet is saying "ah nimo-li-la" and the kids can respond "Yekeke, nimo, yekeke", hitting the djembe (a West African drum) 3 times when they say "Yekeke" and pointing to themselves when they say "Nimo".

2. Eh La Bas:
This is a traditional song from New Orleans in French/Creole. I made up a story to go along with it that tells about King Louis XIV of France, who told people to go "La Bas" (over there in French) and they found Louisiana and named it after King Louis XIV. This recording is with my quintet featuring Jason Marsalis and part of a CD for children that I hope to release soon. I am also working on a children's book with this story to go along with the CD-- currently looking for publishers for that.

3. Mozart Tip-Toe (Non Piu Andrai from Mozart's opera, The Marriage of Figaro):
I had an older clarinet student who had to play this for an audition to a program at Juilliard, and I was trying to get him to play it with a sense of building anticipation like he was tiptoeing to a highly expected destination. As a result, I decided to teach that concept to 2-6 year olds using this game where the children tip toe and find Mozart hiding in various places around the room playing the piano, writing for the opera and writing for the clarinet-- at each point, the music changes to reflect the image of Mozart that we discover in its hiding place.

4. Tumbalalaika:
This yiddish song form Russia is a beautiful waltz about a boy who loved to play the Balalaika and to ask riddles. We sang the song and each child also learned how to play the waltz pattern (a three beat pattern) on the drums.

5. Lil' Liza Jane:
This is an old, old song. It's a call and response form, with the response to whatever the caller says being "Lil' Liza Jane". This version is by one of the patriarchs of New Orleans clarinet players-- Willie Humphrey. When I was a child I used to go down to New Orleans and hear him play (when he was in his 90s and his trumpet-playing brother was in his even later 90s!). Listen up, because that's some old time tradition and wisdom he's passing down!

6. The All Asked For You:
This is a song originally by the Meters one of the originators of funk music from New Orleans. Here, it's done by Milton Batiste... I guess you get a good representation of 3 of the New Orleans dynasties in this playlist-- the Marsalis (Eh La Bas), Humphrey (Lil' Liza Jane) and Batiste families. Each of those families have many great musicians. We used this song to learn about the tuba.

Every song or game that we learn in music class has a purpose beyond entertainment. Some are designed to help internalize a musical concept, such as high vs. low or chord vs. melody. Others are designed to introduce the children to rhythmic and melodic structures that are not common in most western children's songs.

In order to expose the children to as wide a musical vocabulary as possible, we will sing songs from all over the world and from various genres, including jazz, African, Brazilian, Cuban, bluegrass, blues and classical music. Many of the songs that we sing have been recorded by the great masters of the genre to which they belong. This will allow the child to listen to the great artists that have defined their genres. Being able to actively listen to these masters at such a young age is perhaps the best way to internalize that ever illusive element that makes great music great.

Please check back regularly, as I will continue to add new songs to this site as we learn new music in class.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your child, please feel free to send me an email at oran@oranetkin.com

Check Back Soon... More Songs Will Be Added Shortly