Tune In A CAGe

This song is meant for all of you who struggle daily trying to keep your recorder classes motivated. It will work well with beginners or advanced players of any grade level. Ideally, it is meant to be played with the accompaniment cassette. However, if you do not have the cassette, the piece will work adequately using piano and some creative "hip-hop" classroom percussion.

In my classroom, I introduce recorder playing (third grade) with the notes C and A. These two notes are simple to finger and provide enough physical support to allow the students to hold their recorders up without much trouble. The notes also fit well with the way I introduce melody reading to them in first grade (So-Mi). The next two pitches introduced are B and G. It is easier for beginning players to manipulate only C, A, and G because there is no need for the "finger trading" that occurs when playing melodies that use B's and C's next to each other. Voila! The rationale for "Tune in a CAGe."

Because of its limited pitch content, "Tune in a CAGe" can be taught by note or by rote. Teaching it by rote can provide a quick, satisfying, musical experience for your kids, teaching it by note will do the same as well as offer a lesson in music reading. The rhythms are not complicated and the melody is written in such a way as not to provide opportunities for students to "miss the holes." There are no places in the piece where your students will have to play C to G. The entire song requires the lifting and lowering of one finger at a time.

If you teach modes as part of your general music curriculum, you may want to take advantage of the "A dorian" tonality of the piece. Have the class sing through the song first in solfege (fa, re, do) to gain a tonal center. You could also use the piece to reinforce the concepts of form (ABA coda).

I hope you find many educational opportunities to use "Tune in a CAGe" but more importantly, I hope you and your students have a good time! - Norm Sands