Holiday Parade

by Teresa & Paul Jennings

Looking for a light, lively, non-holiday-specific tune to let your young ones move around a lot? Here you are! You could even use this one for holidays other than the ones in November or December. It doesn't say which holiday!

Actually, despite the parade reference, this is more of a symphonic march, as we have added strings, which we feel are particularly nice during the legato section at measure 25. Nonetheless, the beat is clearly a march, so you can definitely use it as one.

Let your students sing the song the first time through, then on the repeat at 9, have them march around in a pre-determined manner. For example, single file marching with a leader. Or in a marching band formation of sorts. If you decide to add your own instruments (real or not, really played or not), a band formation would be logical. They can also just march in place if you don't have the room to actually let them move around.

Whether or not you have your own drummers, when the lyrics refer to first hearing the beat, have students cup their ears as if listening to the drums. Add some parade costumes and props for real performance pizzazz. A baton twirler or two, or a color guard (just flags) would be fun as well.

Text is taken from Music K-8 magazine.