Up And Down

This issue, our primary specialists are focusing on the concept of opposites. As always, the melody is very easy to learn, even for your youngest singers. The form is also simple: the verse repeats, a short chorus reminds students that they are singing about opposites, and then the verse repeats twice more. Once more through the chorus, and a final verse that coincidentally teaches us that "start" and "end" are indeed opposites.

The gentle background accompaniment on our recording is hammered dulcimer, piano, and recorder. Naturally, this is easily reproduced in a live setting, if you wish. You could also just use piano.

Consider putting the words up on a poster, bulletin board or black board so your students can follow along as they sing. Add your own opposites for variety and further learning.

Let students act out the words in some way, if they can think of something. For example, let them move up and down or back and forth. Squat down for "short" and stand up for "tall." (Our singers added a little scoop before "tall" as you can hear.) Sing softly for "soft" and loudly for "loud." This type of action reinforces the concepts you are teaching.

One bit of advice: don't let singers dwell on the last syllable of "opposites" too much as it will sound like "zits" and may produce giggling.