The Sounds Of Santa's Workshop
by John Riggio
In this delightful tune your students get to join the elves in making the sounds of Santa's workshop! The inspiration for it came when John's wife heard one of our percussionists lugging around a large box of percussion toys, which made a cacophonous yet joyful sound. Add to that watching a Christmas movie that portrays the North Pole in all its glory, and you start to wonder what the big guy's workshop would actually sound like. After you sing this song, you'll know!
If you're using our accompaniment recording, the first two bars you hear are actually set-up bars. The bicycle horn, ratchet, anvil, sleigh bells, and bird call form the whimsical bed of the busy elf soundtrack, and then the full ensemble comes in. The vocal part is simple and repetitive, and it's only sung the 1st and 3rd times because the second time the students whistle the melody. Students can also join the elves with their own percussion parts the 2nd and 3rd times at bar 3. (Don't forget to rest for two bars at bar 1 on the repeat.) If you find it useful, have some students sing and whistle while other students play percussion. If you have students who can do both simultaneously, so much the better.
In order to accommodate those schools who like to perform using our full performance tracks, the full version on the recording (track 7) is mixed without kid percussion so that your youngsters can shine without having to compete with the percussion on our tracks. (Too many elves can make quite a racket.) If you'd like to use a full mix with the kid percussion included, we've created a special web version just for you. If you prefer to perform "without a net," the instrumental performance on the recording has no student parts whatsoever.
Of course, to perform this song, kids may want to dress up like elves (pointy shoes and hats, scarves, colorful clothing) or in winter garb (coats, hats, scarves, boots). A sign that says "North Pole" on stage would be a nice touch, too. And if you really want to make it a special performance, you could add some movement. Our choreographer, Melissa Schott, has come up with some wonderful ideas to capture the style of the song. And it's free at our web site MusicK8.com
Text is taken from Music K-8 magazine.