Take It In, Take It Out: Song Review for Junior and Senior
You are humming a tune in your head and unknowingly you start to hum out loud! Oops!
If you are like me, it is a little embarrassing when that happens in public<grin>. That phenomenon of humming something in your head, called AUDIATION, is the ability to know a song so well that you can sing it inside your head without making any sound. Even stronger (and using more brain power) is the ability to sing the words of a song along with the tune and the rhythm. That is what this activity is all about.
Signal
Show the children the signal you will use. I use a small bell, a tone block rhythm instrument, a drum, or some rhythm sticks.
Tell the children that this signal will be our cue to take the song we are singing inside so we are only singing it in our heads and not making any sound. When you give the cue again, that will be the signal to take it out and sing out loud. Tell the children that the tricky thing when we come back into the out loud singing will be all to be with the right words and the right beat.
Take it in, Take it out
Start singing the song. Give the signal. Sing it inside. Give the signal again. Sing it out loud.
Here are some hints to make this activity successful.
Give the signals at the end of a phrase, not in the middle.
When the song is inside, show the beat in your body. It silently "conducts" the children so that the whole group stays on the same beat.
If you ask a child to give the signal, the activity might break down and be a little chaotic because children tend to give the signal at very awkward points in the song that are very hard for anyone else to follow.
Older children can be successful with more rapid signals taking it in and out. Younger children need longer transitions because the skill is only just developing.
I like this activity because it is a challenge for the children (and the adults). I like this activity because it is a great review activity. I like this activity because it gives the children a chance to develop their inner voice... the same voice that manages their impulse control. (What child doesn't need that?<grin>) I like this activity because it helps the children to truly learn which word comes on which beat and what tone. I like this activity because it is fun!