Red Bird

Part contemporary story song, part old-timey folk style, this song offers quite a bit of flexibility for performance at your winter, holiday, or Christmas program. It would also be comfortably at home at any program from November through February, and even March in some parts of the country.

If all you did was use it as a song your kids sing, it would be lovely and well-received. Even the second part is optional, so it could be unison. You could perform it with some or all of the optional instrumental and percussion parts – rhythm sticks, jingle bells, mallets (ukulele and/or guitar), medium and low buckets and/or hand drums. We do recommend using the snaps at least, which occur on the last beat every other bar. You could even do it a cappella, removing the intro and repeat of the coda. The individual parts, as well as audio for teaching part 2 and the various full performances have been put on our web site for you to access and consider how best to use with your students. However, the best and most rewarding way to do it (if you can) is as written.

Ribbons, feathers, or streamers - For a nice visual effect, consider adding a ribbon dance. Feathers or streamers might also work. Use red, green, and maybe white. Devise movements that are simple and flowing so they don't upstage everything else. For example, have red ribbons go slowly up for the first bar, slowly down for the second. Green ribbons go up for the third bar, down for the fourth. Repeat similarly for the next four bars. During the verses, with ribbons held waist-high, just slowly sway side to side, once per bar, starting on the right for uniformity. Repeat the intro moves during the section at 17 as well as the ending.

Feeling crafty? - We have asked our arts and crafts specialist, Kristyn Johnson, to create a complementary activity for students to do as well. Since the song is a bit more mature, she came up with a more age appropriate craft that involves traditional paper quilling. The results are striking! You can access her template, directions, and video tutorial at MusicK8.com