Hey, Bunny

It's our position that every primary music classroom ought to have a bunny tune or two at the ready for singing about the spring, Easter, nature, animals, gardens, and anything that might be construed as potentially bunny-related. Plus it's just a really darn cute topic for young students to sing about. (We do actually have a repertoire of them, if you're interested. Check under "Easter" or "Spring" in our Index at MusicK8.com)

There's a bit of a story to this ditty. A bunny is caught eating flowers that clearly do not belong to it. Some scolding, chasing, and promises of consequences ensue. The lively folk/country accompaniment keeps the energy level high as the drama unfolds. To help maintain the exuberance, have your students put a little separation on each of the action words during the chorus each time (run, hide, chase, find). Also try to have them follow the dynamics as they occur. Not only are they musically effective, they're also a good lesson on recognizing and applying them in the context of a song.

Run, hide, chase, find, play ukuleles... - As if this wasn't fun enough, we have added the option of including ukuleles. There are four suggested chords, (Ami, G, F, and C) but the rhythmic pattern you use is up to you. We chose to do half note strums playing on beats 1 and 3 on the recording, but you can do whatever works best for your students given their ability level. You could even mix and match. Some ideas are indicated on the music (bottom of page 21). In bars 16 and 20, you will see that the G chord is in parentheses. The change of chords on beat 4 in those bars might be too fast for your players, so you can just let them rest instead if need be. For your convenience, there is an extracted ukulele part with chord diagrams on page 24 of this issue.