Up The Creaky Stairs

Could it get any more mysterious or uncertain than minor trilling strings, punctuated harpsichord, and... Boomwhackers®? We think not. Okay, maybe we exaggerate a little. But throw in a bunch of unidentified creaky sounds, and now you're talkin' mysterious! In this very simple piece, Boomwhackers® (BW) or mallets play a step-wise echo to the vocal melody which happens to coincidentally be moving in an upward direction, much like the stairs in question. Until they come down again, that is.

Divide your singers and your BW or mallet players into two different groups for the easiest performance option. BWs use only the notes D, E, F, G, and A, so technically you could limit it to three to five players, depending on whether any of them play more than one BW at a time. But more is also merrier, so if you have multiple sets or octaves of BWs, you can use more players.

The real fun for the kids will be the solo creaks. There are a number of them throughout the song, placed on the music where appropriate. Select one student per creak to spread it around the most. Or just have a few, or even one or two, do it instead. Ask them, "What sound does a creaky step make?" Then let them go. Do help them discern between short creaks and long ones though. Show them the notation and make it a learning lesson, if you like.

At the end of the song, we have included BW applause, which is always optional, but which we use sometimes to let the kids blow off a little steam after their high focus performance. In this particular case, you could also add a few solo creaks as well. We didn't on the recording so that you could hear the demo of how BW applause might work, should you choose to use it.