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Dance with Us

15

Category

vocal
rhythm

Age

8+

Number of participants

6+

Duration

approx. 30 min.

Working method
  • playing in pairs
  • group work
Musical abilities of the trainers

1  2  3  4  5  6

Equipment and instruments
  • music player / app to play the videos
Competences
  • cultural / intercultural sensitivity
  • attention
  • movement coordination
  • cooperation
  • concentration
  • perception
  • expression
  • sense of rhythm

Dance with Us

Get to know the culture of other European countries
through music and dance.

AIM

The purpose of the game is to strengthen the unity between the group members and in a cultural sense with the other nations living in Europe.

Description

With the help of the videos below, get to know the specifics of the dances of different nations together with the group, and try to imitate the movements!

In Your Shoes

33

Category

vocal

Age

12+

Number of participants

4-40

Duration

approx. 25 min.

Working method
  • individual
  • group work
Musical abilities of the trainers

1  3 4 5 6

Equipment and instruments
  • papers, crayons
  • music player / app to play the song
Competences
  • cultural / intercultural sensitivity
  • creativity
  • collaboration
  • attention
  • cooperation

In Your Shoes

This activity has a multicultural and motivational orientation.
But it’s also orientated on song creation asking the participants to do a “collage like” new song. It consists of using different cultures’ popular songs to develop a new one.

AIM

The first aim is to impulse multiculturalism and own music production. This aim is composed by the use of different cultures’ music and the objective of doing a collage with them. As one of the beginning activities, it will motivate the participants to open their music culture knowledge and give them the security that they can create music with a limited musical knowledge.
Apart from what we have mentioned, the cultural perspectives are going to be worked also thanks to the translations of the songs.

Description

  1. We divide the participants into groups of 4-5 people of mixed nationalities
  2. Each group will listen to a given pop song
  3. They will be asked to share and write down their own countries’ stereotypes and their own personal qualities
  4. They will gather all the ideas and create a lyric for the given song, showing that stereotypes and personality are different.
  5. They will practice it
  6. They will present the created songs

The exercise can also be played in a version where the participants of the same nationality use and search for the music of other nations and use their characteristic features.

comments for facilitators

Helping teams to work properly together and suggesting how to arrange the piece is desirable.

Twinkle, Twinkle

57

Category

vocal

Age

12+

Number of participants

5+

Duration

approx. 30 min.

Working method

group work

Musical abilities of the trainers

1  2  3  4  5  6

Equipment and instruments
  • music player / app to play the song
Competences
  • cultural / intercultural sensitivity
  • sense of language
  • perception
  • attention
  • cooperation

Twinkle, Twinkle

Introducing new aspects of a popular European melody.

AIM

In addition to singing the well-known melody together, the participants also listen to the lyrics in different languages and discuss how the same melody can appear in other cultures as well.

Description

We first sing the melody that everyone knows together, and then we ask the participants to tell us when they first encountered it.
After recalling the memories, we present the song in several languages, and the participants can guess in which language they heard it. Then we ask the participants how they think it is possible that the same melody appears in so many languages. The participants say what they think about it, without considering any possible version (singers, performers, spread of sheet music, etc.) as the only true one (Youtube and Facebook can of course be excluded, because we are talking about old times).
After thinking together, we show the version of the song sung in several languages and the Mozart arrangement. We can also try to sing in foreign languages.

COMMENTS FOR FACILITATORS

About the melody:
The origin of „Ah! vous dirai-je, maman” is a bit clouted, with an “anonymous” pastoral song being credited with the melody. The song dates back to 1740, while the lyrics incorporated within are relatively new. In 1761, the melody was first published, while the
first publication of the melody combined with the lyrics goes back to 1774.
“Ah! vous dirai-je, maman” is a French children’s melody/song which was popularized by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart when he created “Twelve Variations” based on it. Since it’s composition, several different versions of it have been created using diverse themes and lyrics.
Several songs over the years have been based on this melody, and also in several languages. In English alone, three popular children’s song is based on it: “Alphabet Song,” “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” and “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.”
Other prominent versions are included: “Morgen kommt der Weihnachtsmann” (Germany), “Hull a pelyhes fehér hó” (Hungary), “Campanita del lugar” (Spain), and “Daha Dün Annemizin” (Turkey).

LYRICS

English

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.

French

Ah ! Vous dirai-je maman
Ce qui cause mon tourment?
Moi je dis que les bonbons
Valent mieux que la raison.
Papa veut que je raisonne
Comme une grande personne.

Hungarian

Hull a pelyhes fehér hó,
jöjj el kedves Télapó!
Minden gyermek várva vár,
vidám ének hangja száll.
Van zsákodban minden jó,
piros alma, mogyoró,
Jöjj el hozzánk, várunk rád,
kedves öreg Télapó.

German

Morgen kommt der Weihnachtsmann,
Kommt mit seinen Gaben.
Bunte Lichter, Silberzier,
Kind mit Krippe, Schaf und Stier,
Zottelbär und Pantertier
Möcht’ ich gerne haben!

Spanish

Campanita del lugar,
suena alegre, suena,
noche en que Jesús nació,
que a la Humanidad salvó.
Campanita del lugar,
suena alegre, suena.