Hanukkah Hanukkah (Chanukah Chag Yafeh Kol Kach)

There are a number of Hanukkah "standards" that are found at many celebrations, and that are performed by children all over the world. This song is one that is less performed in schools mainly because there aren't many English adaptations of the lyrics. So we decided we would try one ourselves. If you want to perform the Hebrew lyrics, they are readily available on the Internet.

Our setting also gives you a chance to have some or all of your students play along on recorder, Boomwhackers®, and unpitched hand percussion (tambourine and hand drum). The song is performed three times, with the students singing through the first time. The second time, they play the instruments and optionally move, especially if only some students play. If you have a smaller group playing, have the other students do a kick out lightly on beat one, back down on beat two, alternating feet as they go. We don't recommend that recorder players do the movement, though. It's a safety issue. The third time through, some sing and others play, with the singers also moving, again optionally.

You will note that there are a couple of options for better players, both for the recorder and the tambourine. (Recorder could play the melody and tambourine could play offbeats.) Feel free to add or adapt the instrumental parts as you like, including for pitched/Orff percussion.

In this magazine, the instrumental parts are a bit condensed, each about half a page. In the tambourine/hand drum part, we actually use some one-bar repeat symbols. For most students these will be a new thing and will need to be taught. If you prefer to have your students play a part free of one-bar repeats, you can find one at MusicK8.com