George Washington

Here's a nice little cross curricular tune for you to share with the regular classroom teachers. Very simple and entirely in unison, you could probably use it with most grades. The fun part of the song, of course, is the chorus where students get to speculate about young George and the cherry tree. This is a great topic for discussion! Is it true? Or is it a legend that may have evolved over time?

The orchestration on the recording is kind of neat on this one. The verses are sung over a sparse, "fife and drum" sort of background a la 1776. When it gets to the chorus, it becomes a marching band with lots of percussion and even strings. On the D.S., it gets even livelier with the addition of some "Sousa" trombones and piccolos. If you have time, have students compare and contrast the styles.