Hey, May!

A little inside story: this song almost didn't make it into this issue. When we were just about to leave for the recording session, we learned that we had a problem with the string quartet personnel which might have caused us to cancel that feature for this issue. Concerned that we might have to substitute a piece or two for our string quartet music, we quickly put our energies into coming up with alternatives. As it turned out, we so enjoyed this little song, we decided to keep it even after our string situation was worked out!

Short, simple and just plain fun, "Hey, May!" gives your students a chance to sing out with gusto and expend a bit of energy with the movement. It is also a song about the month of May, which just happens to be one of our months of focus.

Again, if you have the recording, your students will pick up the melody, style and general liveliness of the song very quickly. The background for the piece is played by a pretty kickin' jazz ensemble, so as you might imagine, your students will get to practice swinging, too.

The movement is outlined by the lyrics during the chorus. It involves easy rhythms - all quarter notes - and easy actions. While singing, "Hey, hey, hey!," each time, they either clap, stomp, snap, slap or step. The one exception is when they get to yell, "Hey, hey, hey!" The chorus repeats one more time at the coda, and finishes with a final enthusiastically yelled, "Hey!"