In our 5th grade classes, we have been studying World Instruments, particularly focusing on instruments of African descent. With February being Black History Month, we took a slight detour from our drum ensembles and worked on an African American spiritual called Long John taken from a marvelous book by Will Schmid (see above). We discussed the "talking drum" concept and how these were taken away from African slaves by the masters for fear of escaped slaves communicating with other slaves. We further discussed the use of imagery and "code language" in these spirituals that aided slaves in escaping via the Underground Railroad. I wish you all could've been a fly on the wall to hear the discussions and conversations that ensued from this topic. These are some thoughtful and intelligent kiddos we have! :)
Just to bring a little sunshine to your day, here's a quick view of our beat work with some kiddos keeping the steady beat and triplet pattern in... ah.... their own special way, shall we say?
I would recommend keeping it at the small video setting rather than full screen for the best viewing. ;o)
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