• Here is a preparatory activity to feel the pulse of the music : the children are in a circle, facing the center. During the parts of the music where the beat is dominant, one child suggests a body percussion gesture (for example, clap, snap, tap on thighs) and the class imitates for 8 beats; the following child suggests a different movement or body percussion and again all imitate, and so on.

• This activity could be developed in several ways : instead of the whole class imitating the movement of one child, the child could have his or her 8 beats as soloist. The solo passes from one child to his or her neighbour.

The 8 beat solo/ensemble could then be reduced to 4 beats, which implies a greater level of concentration and reactivity.

• For more advanced students, the above activities can be modified so that the order is decided by the present soloist (he or she directs the movement to someone on the other side of the circle).

• During the parts of the music where one hears the long values (2 measures 3 times), the entire class does a legato movement which lasts for 8 beats, then another movement of the same length, then a third.

• This piece lends itself to a simple choreography:

The children are in a circle, facing the center, numbered 1 and 2.

A – 8 measures of 4 beats: choose four different body percussion movements that everyone does, one movement after the other, for 8 beats each.

B – 2 measures for one legato movement 3 times, all together.

C – 2 measures of 4 beats: number 1 remains facing the center, number 2 comes to stand facing number 1, back to center.

In pairs, repeat B, either using the same movement as in the first B-part, or number 1 invents the movement for the pair, done in mirror by the partner.

A, B and C repeat once. The second time :

Part A – walk in pairs anywhere in the room for 8 steps, changing direction after 8 steps.

Part B – facing each other, this time it is number 2 who suggests the legato movement.

Part C – use the 8 beats to return to one’s place in the circle, facing one’s partner.

The coda consists of part C twice more. Invent a humorous end to the dance with one’s partner.

7 years and up

Form ABACA – A more staccato, B and C more lyric and legato. This rondo lends itself easily to either group work or a dance.

• There are many ways to become familiar with the 3-beat measure: firstly, in a global way, by identifying the first beat with a gesture, for example, tap on thighs on beat number 1 and allow hands to float upwards during beats 2 and 3.

To begin learning the 3-beat walk, the teacher should practise with the students at a lower speed (cf VOL 1 #7).

• Draw in space: choose three points (surrounding objects), for example a ceiling light, a window and a chair. Point to each object clearly, following the 3-beat pulse.

• For young children, the difficulty of stepping a 3-beat measure is that the strong beat falls on alternate feet. Find different ways of organising 3 beats with the feet in space, for example: step front (1) -side (2) -side (3); or forward (beat1) and backward (beats 2 and 3). Invent your own step pattern in space.

• Alternate between walking (making a real step) and pointing (just tapping the toes on the floor).

• Move or make a gesture on the first beat.

• Make eye contact with someone on the first beat.

• Place on the floor a large collection of coloured circular shapes. The suggested placement would be 8 dots in a row, duplicated 4 times in the room. The children would be in four groups, one behind the other, and each child in turn walks through the line of dots, stepping on a dot every 1st beat (2 steps in the space between the dots).

• This exercise, which is already challenging, could be further complicated for older or more experienced children by placing the dots randomly throughout the floor area. Children step on a dot on the first beat, and walk towards a new dot for every subsequent first beat. (Two tips for teachers: you will need more dots than children, and you need to place the dots at regular and appropriate distances).

To make the coloured dots : cut a circle of no less than 10 cm out of coloured paper and laminate these circles. They need to be fixed to the floor with blue-tac so that the children do not slip on them.

Children are in a circle, each one standing beside a hoop, on the outside of the hoop, facing anti-clockwise. The first beat is always a step IN a hoop, and the other two beats are outside. Left foot steps into the hoop on the first beat, then two steps diagonally to arrive at the inside of the following hoop, and the right foot steps into this hoop. And so on. This exercise creates a very nice visual effect.

• Children are in a circle, each one standing beside a hoop, on the outside of the hoop, facing anti-clockwise. The first beat is always a step IN a hoop, and the other two beats are outside. Left foot steps into the hoop on the first beat, then two steps diagonally to arrive at the inside of the following hoop, and the right foot steps into this hoop. And so on. This exercise creates a very nice visual effect. (SEE SKETCH in teaching guide)

• The clear rondo form of this piece could also be expressed in a dance form.

8 years and up

• Close your eyes and listen: what movements does the music inspire in you? To discover the sensation of a compound movement in two beats (6/8) move the whole body or only a part, sideways, front-back, alone, in pairs, in a circle, holding hands, lying down rolling gently sideways, sitting or standing in pairs in a hoop or simply two by two, holding hands.

• The piece is structured with a recurring theme. In pairs choose a way of swaying with the partner. Sway together during the recurring theme; then separate, walk freely in the room by oneself, and find another partner only when the main theme is about to resume. Find a different way of swaying with the new partner.

4 years and up

• Note the structure of the piece and point out to the students the major and minor elements.

• To underline the phrases and to avoid getting tired, each pupil in turn gallops while holding an object (small stick) that he hands to a classmate at the end of the phrase (7 gallops and 1 beat to give the stick); this person takes the object and gallops towards someone else during the next phrase.

• Two groups each with a leader : group A gallops behind their leader on the minor phrases and group B on the major phrases. Change leader after each phrase. Next, group B takes the minor phrases and group A the major phrases. Children can also pretend to be wearing a helmet (by making the shape of the helmet above their head) while galloping freely around the room.

5 years and up

This track is composed of four short pieces introducing different movements : the first piece is a slow march; the next three are three distinct jumping or bouncing characters, and the last is a mixture of all four, a locomotor sequence.

• A slow walk is quite difficult for young children : help them find how to stay balanced while bringing forward the other foot, by consciously using the articulation of the knees. Often a slow walk has a decompositional element which allows the children to anticipate each step, and thus to step on the beat with precision. In this case there is no decomposition, but a rhythmic element (1 short note before each beat). At first, children need to learn to walk in tempo.

• Secondly, pay attention to the quality of this walk. Is it affirmative? strong? hesitant? Invite the children to express the quality of the music they hear in their walk.

b) c) and d) describe the same movement, but with different amplitude, energy and weight. The title they are given are suggestions. Feel free to substitute them with other alternatives.

• b) The flea’s jumps are light and fast : they ask for a very small amount of momentum and could be done with both feet or even from one foot to the other. The children’s age and motricity skill will possibly determine which way they want to land.

• c) The grasshopper’s jump is a bigger one and lands on two feet. It requires more momentum and a stronger articulation; it has more weight than the flea’s.

Notice that the jumps of the flea and the grasshopper land on the strong beat, but the toad is in the air on the strong beat and lands on the second beat. (This musical decision is arbitrary, as one could also imagine the toad landing on the strong beat).

• d) The articulation of the toad’s jump is in three parts : first part (upbeat), bend knees and prepare to jump; second part, leap on the strong beat and land on the second beat. It requires more energy in the preparation time to make bigger leaps than the grasshopper.

• e) Locomotor sequence

The last piece, which includes all the elements, lends itself to the creation of a story, either by the whole class, or in groups of 4 children where each one plays one element, according to the music. The names the children give to the jumps will be in direct relation to the story they imagine.

In order :

A – the slow walk 
B – the flea
C – the grasshopper
D – the toad

One suggestion : walk in a forest where you have never been before. Walk carefully, because it is the first time you step in this new environment. What kind of animals could be jumping here …?

5 years and above

This suite has fourteen changes of locomotion. Apart from the skipping sections there are four different walking speeds (of which one will ask for a run).

• While sitting, listen to the suite and “walk” or “skip” the hands on the knees. Show the length of long notes by raising the hands higher into the air after tapping on the knees.

The teacher needs to have a good knowledge of the sequence. At first, students cannot react instantly to the changes of locomotion. By listening to the track several times, while doing various activities, their musical memory will be refined.

• Follow the music and adapt to changes of locomotion according to the principle of one sound = one step.

• Associate each step with a spatial element : skipping in a circle, free running, walking in single file (one behind the other), half notes two by two, whole notes draw large circles on the spot. Encourage students to come up with their own ideas.

• Divide the class into four groups; each of which takes a note value and invents a movement for this value. The entire class skips during the skipping music, and each group moves at the appropriate time. Rotate groups.

7-8 years

This piece is a warm up exercise alternating a skip and a walk.

• Sitting, first practise “skipping”* with the hands tapping on the knees, before transferring this rhythm pattern to the feet by skipping around the room. 

• Follow the music (rondo form) and change between skipping and walking (one sound = one step) when the music indicates. Notice that towards the end, the changes happen more often.

Here is the form:

A – 4 phrases of 8 beats
B – 4 phrases of 8 beats
A – ditto
C – 4 phrases of 8 beats
A – 2 phrases of 8 beats

Coda:

B – 8 beat walk
A – 8 beat skip
B – 8 beats walk
A – 8 beat skip

• Add skipping in a circle and walking freely in space.

After some practice, the children can be expected to be able to change from skipping to walking exactly with the music (this requires a good quality of listening and anticipation).

• Children would also enjoy creating a story with different characters. Form a group for each character and move when they hear their music.

• Older children could even work in groups of five, where each child portrays a character in a story and moves by him/herself with the music of his character.

*Skipping is a universal motor skill of children at a certain stage of development : it is a step which rebounds on the same foot – left, left, right, right, in a trochée rhythm (cf volume 3 and 4).

5 years and above

• Start by feeling the slow pulse, making a new gesture on each beat.

• Then practice walking, without losing your balance.

• Once you have a good feel for the tempo, let yourself be inspired by the character of the music, adopting a certain style of walking. The teacher can suggest some ideas at first.

• Each child in turn walks, imagining a character whose walk corresponds to this music, or/and a situation where the walk is suggested by the music.

• Children are in a circle, and each child adopts a style of walking to go towards someone else in the circle, with the musical phrases. He/she will carry an imaginary object, and it is this object which will define the manner of walking. Lots of imagination needed!

• Children could be in pairs (A and B) and create a “conversation in motion” by taking turns adopting a movement or walk with attitude. The phrases are clear enough for them to understand when to change.

• This music contains more elements than just a slow march. With advanced students, highlight the compound syncopations and different rhythms that support the slow pulse by walking, for example, on the downbeats and moving the upper body on the upbeats, or by creating and clapping new rhythms based on the existing rhythmic elements.

7 years and up

This piece shows accelerando and rallentando.

• As a preparation, children walk freely in the room, each at his or her own pace (without the music). The teacher chooses one child’s walk and improvises for it; that child recognises that the teacher is playing at the speed of his walk. Everyone else stops walking for a short time, then all walk at the speed of the child chosen. Repeat several times with different children.

• Listen to the musical track and ask the children to describe what they hear. Children are in two groups, clap the beats, each group clapping 8. Strive for precision in following the tempo changes.

• In a circle, pass the beat: each person claps 4 beats (or, which is more difficult 2, and then 1 beat), with the option of changing direction at a vocal signal.

• Beat time as if you were conducting the music; adapt the gesture to the speed and dynamics.

• The children are in several groups of between 4 and 8, forming a “train”. The controller (teacher) indicates which train will get started or stop. He or she may indicate two trains at the same time, so they must be careful to avoid each other. This task asks the children to be ready to start and stop at any given time, and to be able to enter immediately into the correct speed of the music.

6-7 years and above

This track consists of two distinct parts.

Part 1 :

• Listen to the walking music and find different ways of showing the beat (clapping, snapping, body percussion etc). Change every 8 beats. Help children identify the moment when the melody changes from treble to bass. Walk at the tempo of the music.

• The theme is reminiscent of a polka, and instead of walking the beat one could imagine the children bouncing twice on each foot with a regular pulse (cloche-pied in French).

• The children are in groups of 8, with a space of approximately 1 meter between each child. Each child in turn walks 8 steps with the phrase outside the circle, passing the child next to him or her and slotting into the space next to that child. (For example, child number 1 slots in between child number 2 and 3). Older children could be closer together and each child walks past two children, still with the same number of steps. The effect of this is that the entire circle rotates.

• Still in a circle of 8 children, each child imagines an accessory which will give a certain allure to one’s walk (for example, a scarf, a pair of gloves, a hat). Each child in turn crosses the circle while walking 8 steps, and takes his or her place on the other side. Encourage the children to be influenced in their choice of accessory by the tessitura of the melody (treble or bass).

Part 2 : music in 6/8 time. The structure of the music is as follows: A B A B A B plus 8 beats. (Children may identify this themselves).

• Children are in pairs in a double circle (one facing inside, one outside).

A: They take hands and do 7 pas chassés anticlockwise, change direction on the 8th beat and do 7 pas chassés in the other direction.

B: On the spot, hold right hands and skip in a circle for 8 beats; change hands and skip in the other direction.

Extra 8 beats at the end: personal invention.

8 years and above

• This track lends itself to a dance. Teachers could give themselves and their students the pleasure of creating the dance together.

During the introduction (8 measures of 4 beats in slow tempo) the class sets up a scenario: for example, imagine a scene in which people greet each other, choose a partner or take one’s place in a circle or in a line, depending on the shape of your dance.

The structure of the music is as follows:

A: 4 measures of 4 beats, twice
B: 2 measures of 4 beats, 2 measures of 4 beats, twice
A: 4 measures of 4 beats, twice
C: 4 accents + 2 measures of 4 beats, twice
Coda: same structure as A but with a modification for the end of the piece.

• Make your own dance with two groups or two by two, or children in a numbered circle.  Some ideas for the phrases of 8 beats : 7 steps, stop and change direction on beat 8 (walk sideways, forward/backward, two by two around a circle or in two lines facing each other). For the accents : move all together or create a gesture that reflects the energy of the accents. If in twos, alternate action between one and two.

• Step beats only or walk twice as slowly and add a snap on the offbeat.

7 years and above