Bop! Bop!
by Paul Jennings
This bluesy rock tune is a great selection for the beginning of your recorder year. The song features the notes A and C, with easy rhythms. As a matter of fact, true beginners can play just A using the same rhythms if you like.
If you are feeling adventurous consider designating the section between 19 and 31 as an area for improvisation. The players can use rhythms that make sense to them and use either the notes A and C or if possible, use the notes A, B, and C. And always remember – when teaching kids to improvise, there is no "wrong." Encourage them, ask the player in question what they thought about the experience, and by all means give them more than one chance to try it. For practice, they can even improvise against the tracks for the whole tune.
You can follow along the music yourself using the piano/recorder score if you like. We have made it available to you for downloading from our web site.
Text is taken from Music K-8 magazine.