The Little Leprechaun

by Karl O'Hitzemann

This delightful Celtic folk style song can be used for celebrating St. Patrick's Day, for helping to learn a little bit about leprechauns, or for adding a seasonal feature to a spring performance. A quick Internet search on leprechauns will yield a lot of neat results. It's kind of fun to read about all the folklore regarding these little creatures. Of course, probably the best-known "fact" about leprechauns is that they have a pot of gold that they keep at the end of a rainbow. And trying to get it away from them is a pretty tricky proposition.

The accompaniment track for this song has a great Celtic sound featuring piano, bass, drums (including a bodhran), guitars, penny whistle, solo fiddle, and strings. It will really help your singers get into the spirit of the piece.

You can have a lot of fun staging this song by having a few kids dress up as leprechauns. They could dance around the stage at predetermined times, maybe even in choreographed ways. Or maybe you can have a little bit of a "chase" every time the chorus is sung ("Can you catch the little leprechaun?") If you do this, be sure to plan it out lest you have any collisions or mishaps.

Also, be sure you have everyone wear lots of green. You could even have a few Irish props like shamrocks, shillelaghs, pots of gold, etc. If you have the space, time, and talent in your midst, consider putting a rainbow on the wall as a backdrop or setting. Let your singers try sounding Irish, too - especially with the "lye dee dye dee dye" section.

Text is taken from Music K-8 magazine.