Amblin' Down An Autumn Avenue

Here's a great song to use with your autumn performances. It's an easy-goin' swing tune with a big band/string accompaniment. Despite the complexity of the background instrumentals, the vocals are all unison and have very simple lyrics.

If the piano/vocal looks a little confusing at measure 9, just listen to the recording to see how it works. It's actually pretty straightforward. The kids sing the lyrics the first two times before going on to the bridge (m. 19). When they go back for the D.S. (m. 5), they use the spoken words for verses 3 and 4 starting at measure 9. (By the way, this section is also a good cross curricular moment, so get those classroom teachers involved. What is a synonym? How many other ways can your students come up with to say "walk"?)

To make the song even more performance-friendly, we have included some movement suggestions. Use these as is, or change them in any way. The simplest action starts right at measure 5 with rocking from side to side. When it gets to measure 19, we suggest having students display colored leaves (real or artificial) as each color is named. The leaves are then gently waved side to side. They can either remain in view or tucked away until the next time at measure 19. The rocking resumes at measure 27.

For the spoken section at measure 9 on the D.S., you could use a select group or everyone for movement, depending on your situation. Have them take steps as the words are spoken. They can do this as a group, or have them trade off in smaller groups, especially if space is a concern. Alternatively, everyone could just constantly step (amble) along a predetermined path using four steps per measure (one per beat) or two steps per measure (one every other beat starting with beat one). Turn around on "turn," and stop moving on "stop." Be sure the music is loud enough for them to hear the beats and move with them.