Birthday Boogie

by Teresa Jennings

Basic, short, and highly usable, this old-fashioned rock 'n' roll boogie woogie will get your students on their feet and singing birthday wishes with gusto! And to make it a little more appealing to those sometimes reluctant young men in your classes, we have added an optional divisi part. This is nothing more than the melody at strategic points sung an octave lower. That way, there's plenty of reinforcement of the melody itself to lean on.

Add some offbeat snaps during the guitar solo at measure 21 for a bit of extra punch. Continue them to the end or stop them at the D.S., as you prefer. Definitely let your students move freely as they sing, too, if only to rock side to side.

To make the tune even more usable for you, we have done a special "short mix" of it, which you will find online. This version is considerably shorter, going from the beginning of the tune to measure 19 and jumping right to the coda.

Text is taken from Music K-8 magazine.