Spring Cleaning

Bet you never knew cleaning would give your students so many opportunities to play percussion instruments! This happy pop ragtime shuffle includes singing and playing percussion instruments, and it's also adaptable to your class size and skill level.

There are three different optional percussion parts including a Boomwhackers® part that incorporates five different notes (C, D, F, G, C'). The idea is that students pretend to be cleaning with the percussion instruments while they are singing. Some objects require a little imagination, like pretending the Boomwhackers are vacuum cleaners.

We thought that spray bottles would be enticing to incorporate, but we didn't think it would be wise for your students to actually spray cleaning solution or even water while they are singing. Instead, have your students use empty bottles. They can pretend they are spraying them. This is why we wrote "ch" into the lyrics. It's meant to mimic the sound of a spray bottle (or a broom sweeping). Your students can really ham it up with this and overdo the "ch" sounds. Some could even have rags they can use to pretend to wipe up the pretend liquid.

The BWs always play on beat 1, and is the easiest of all of the percussion parts. Before the song, there is a set-up in the drums on the recording so players know when to come in. Some of the BW notes (like the D) only play a few times. The other percussion can get a little more complicated. Pay attention to the indications on the music for when they play and when they don't.

It is possible for students to play the percussion parts and also sing at the same time. We wrote it in such a way that the percussion starts off simple, and is slowly introduced under the vocals so that your students can ease into doing both at the same time. Then the percussion becomes more complex in the middle (bar 49) without any vocals. Everything comes together at the end. If playing the percussion while singing at the same time is too difficult, you can always have some students sing only and some play percussion only.

The percussion part itself is also adaptable. There are distinct rhythm parts for sticks, dustpan, trash can lid, and buckets (held upside down). The buckets are the most complex because they involve hitting the side or the head/top. You can eliminate any one of these and it will still work. Or you might choose to have them all play the same rhythm. Other items can also be used, such as percussion instruments you already have, or other "found objects" you come up with that are, or could be, cleaning related. Let your students be creative and see what interesting things they can find to use.

You will find individual parts for the percussion at our web site, free to download and duplicate as much as you need.