This piece is a call and response dance song from Zimbabwe.
The title is not given. The piece is performed by students from Sigunda
Secondary School in Zimbabwe. The instruments used are voice, and body
percussion (hand clapping and stomping).
Play is a very important part of human development. It
allows us to stretch our imagination, reinforce information, and practice skills.
Play also helps us learn to interact with other humans. By playing together,
people learn how to share ideas, feelings, responsibilities, and objects. Having
fun while playing also helps us to develop deeper social bonds with people,
especially if the playing experience is positive. In this video, we see
students from a classroom in Zimbabwe at play. They are clearly performing some
curricular activity, but none-the-less, the students are having fun, and
enthusiastically participating. One can see how this kind of singing and
dancing could be performed outside of school as well. One student acts as the
song leader, and the rest act as the chorus. Students take turns dancing in
front of everyone else. Everyone is having a positive experience, and even one
of the teachers gets caught up by the excitement and joins in at the end. The positive,
and physically active song and dance engage more areas of the brain in the
learning process, so these students are encoding whatever information they were
studying much more efficiently. They are also forming a fond memory, which they
can reminisce about later in life.
Hi Mark,
ReplyDeleteWhat is the context for this activity? One can see their excitement and that they are enjoying the experience. I'm wondering what, exactly, it is that they are suppose to be learning while engaging in this activity. Does it have any social / historical meaning for them? Is it made relevant to them by the teacher? Could we enjoy a bit more context on the song?
Hi Mark! I totally agree with your statement that play helps us learn to interact with other humans. It's funny that you mention this because that was what one of my group members talked about in our voicethread discussion. By teaching mainly elementary students I feel that I have a bit of a leg up in terms of getting students engaged and working together in music play. The students in this video, as you mention, are all enjoying themselves while playing. I love using call and response songs and clapping games in my classroom because they are easy to catch on to and include everyone. I've noticed that these games allow students to be as involved as they want to be. Most students want to be the leader or have a special role in the games we are playing, but some students are quite content clapping the beat or singing the response patterns.
ReplyDeleteHi Mark, I really enjoyed watching the video you shared of a Zimbabwean music activity! I think we can learn many things about these students (and their teacher) from even just a few minutes of this call and response activity. I was especially interested in watching how the students played into each role (caller or response team) and how they traded off turns while dancing. There didn't seem to be any official "selection" process for dancers and yet the transition from one group of students to the next went very smoothly. Clearly the teachers have created a very positive and comfortable environment for the students to experience musical play! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Mark,
ReplyDeleteI am also curious if there is any history to this piece/game or what the context is of the song. It seems that they are all dancing in a particular way. Are they supposed to be dancing "silly"? (It seems silly based on the teacher's expression.) Is that the choreography given to them for this song? Are the words telling them how to dance? I am also wondering if the leader is calling out specific people to dance, and that is why the teacher joined in. They are definitely having fun and are enjoying themselves!
Mark,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post. I do wish there was a little more context for the game and the singing, but your discussion was very well done. You mention how excited and engaged the children are as they are singing in the chorus and taking turns dancing. I also noticed that some cheered and whistled for certain dancers. I think the positive environment provided in this example offers a great testimony to the benefits of socialization within the games of children. Great post!
Hey Mark!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post. I would love to try this piece with my group of kids I volunteer with at the church. This piece reminds me of a game I used to play as a child called jump in jump out. There would be a group of students that would sing while one more would do a dance while introducing themselves. I believe your piece works well with socialization because it allows students to express themselves physically and musically. I noticed some vocals that may not be traditionally apart of the song and perhaps something the students added themselves. Do you think the dances that they are doing are meant for this piece or do you believe it may be current popular dances? I love the fact that everyone is enjoying themselves, even the teacher! One of the students looked as if he was hesitant to participate but once he got up there he was the life of the party and enjoyed every moment! Again, thank you for this post and I really believe this is something I can use for my students!
Hi Mark,
ReplyDeleteI would agree with your colleagues that additional information would be helpful. In addition, I would encourage you to consider socialization a bit more specifically. What can we infer from what we observed about the norms of society? How the desired ways to behave or values? For example, there seems to be a great deal cooperation and sharing of leadership roles. It does not appear that anyone is eliminated in the game for any reason, so we might infer that competition is the most highly valued construct in the culture.