Submitted by Ron Jones, California
Idea posted July 8, 2003
I had a great week with the lower elementary. One of the state music standards in California is to have the kids create their own dance to age appropriate music. I used "Hard-Boiled Egg" (from Music K-8, Vol. 9, No. 4), and was it ever a total hoot!
I enlarged the drawing of the rapper egg, Eggbert, from Music K-8 magazine to poster size and made each student an 8.5" X 11" copy for later in the lesson. Everyone listened to the song, and then I told them their task was to individually make up a dance for the song as though they were going to be on MTV. I gave them criteria for the choreography:
1) It's a rap song... use movements appropriate for the style of music (ballet won't work).2) Eggbert the Rapper is a cool dude... you have to be a cool dude (or dudette).
3) "Hard-Boiled Egg" has a specific form (e.g. AB, ABA)... your dance has to reflect that form.
4) The song is about an egg... at some point in the dance you must show me egg.
Then, I let them invent. We now have a fully choreographed rap song for the spring concert that the students developed. They love this song. (Eat your heart out Paula Abdul.) The last ten minutes of class was spent turning Eggbert into a colored egg while listening to a loop of the song for inspiration. It was lots of fun!