I learned this song aurally from a friend. Originally, my friend used a Lydian version of the tune. I chose to re-arrange the song in Mixolydian to match my ears’ preference.
This is a great song to get students to open up and begin talking. In the notation, I have put parenthesis around the word (Elephant). Allow students to replace the word elephant with whatever they would like. It is up to the TEACHER to find a way to fit it in the song! Kids will enjoy trying to trick you and this builds a great opportunity to build relationships.
The hardest one a student has ever tried to get me to say is “a lion riding on a baby giraffe.”
Activity:
Ask the students “Have you everlooked at the clouds and thought they looked like something else? I saw a cloud the otherday that looked like an elephant.” Keep a beat on the drum and sing the song with the word “elephant” in the blank space. Invite the students up one at a time to select an animal to fill in the blank of the song. IT IS OKAY FOR STUDENTS TO PROVIDE AN ANIMAL NOT ON THE CHOICE BOARD OR TWO COMBINE TWO ANIMALS.
Tip:
You can add complexity in later lessons by:
- adding more drums to separate the hands
- Drumming a subdivision of the beat
- Adding rests in the drumming pattern
- Having the child sing without the teacher
Sample Choice Board for this Song
Text to Image AIs are a great way to add student voice to the activity. Google’s Gemini was used to create the following image for a student.
