Work With Your Hands

"Did you ever want to work with stone or brick? Did you ever want to work with wood?" So begins the song and the topic of this year's all school revue, Work With Your Hands, an homage to the skilled crafts and jobs of the trades. As it so happens, the popularity of this type of career is on the uptick recently, and we couldn't be more excited about it. We love to see young people become interested in learning the ways of building and repairing, and very probably ensuring a solid future for themselves in the process. Who doesn't need a plumber or an electrician from time to time? Painters, carpenters, tilers, roofers, you name it, are all important workers. And like the song says, "At the end of the day, you can turn and say, 'I did that with my hands!'" It's a very gratifying feeling.

The song "Work With Your Hands" is all unison by design. That way it's more accessible for most age groups. Plus, just having to learn all the words in the verses seemed like enough of a challenge. If it's too much, you can always just repeat the first verse, or even use a selected group of singers till the chorus (bar 25). If you use the Performance/Accompaniment recording, be sure to crank it way up to support the lyrics and the energy, not to mention the rock groove.

This might be a good song/topic for classroom discussion. What are the trades? What are some of the jobs in the trades? What exactly do they do? There are many well-known ones, but also many that are lesser known. A bit of research might reveal areas of interest your students didn't even know they could try. There is also an aspect of learning some of these skills that might be intriguing – apprenticeships – learning on the job, and often being paid to learn, depending on the situation. Some schools even help with job searches after, and even before graduation. It can be an excellent opportunity worth consideration for many young people.

Work with your feet, too! - Especially if you decide to use this as the opening song of the musical revue this year, you might want to spice it up with a little action! Our choreographer, Melissa Schott, has given us some terrific ideas to employ, either as she presents them, or adapted however works best for you. On our web site, you will find her free video and a PDF of teaching notes.