What's That Smell?

by Teresa Jennings

Here's a silly song that you and your students can sing for your own amusement, or for the amusement of others in a performance situation. After all, who among us has not uttered these words at one point or another in our lives? This humorous ditty takes us through the search and ponder mission that leads to the conclusion just after the music stops.

We have filled this oh-so-singable unison country tune with lots of opportunities for dramatic embellishment, so to speak. There are spoken solos peppered throughout, which you can assign to as many or as few students as you like. There are also indicated sniffs, which the whole group gets to perform. Use our dialog or create your own. Do be mindful that kids can get crude quickly when writing their own words to describe smells. (As if we're telling you something you don't know.) Guide their creative energies along these lines.

To enhance the spirit of the tune, let the kids employ random sniffing, facial expressions, and various reactions. Face masks are optional.

Text is taken from Music K-8 magazine.