Bats

Bats are an intriguing creature at any time of year.  You can use the Bats song as a Halloween lesson - or just as a fun lesson!  

Process: 1. Teach the bass xylophone part by stepping and saying, “Bats.... can.... fly away” using the rhythm of the bass part.

1. Teach the song by rote.  Continue stepping the bass part while you teach the song.
2. Invite a few students to play the bass part, and then add the sound effects.  The ee ee ee sound at the end of the song is made by blowing up a balloon and letting the air out slowly.  Kids LOVE making the sound!  Choose 4 or 5 students to create the sound effects.   If you try to give every child a balloon, some will get so excited that they forget to sing.
3. On the words “fly away” the students with balloons let go of them and they “fly away.”    This is also where you’ll add the glissando on the glockenspiels.

Extensions: If you don’t have a bass xylophone or metallophone, accompany the song with an E minor chord on the guitar, or with E and B on Boomwhackers.  Play the melody on recorders or teach the children how to play the song on barred instruments. If you have any barred instruments, have the students set up the instruments in E (la) pentatonic. (Take off the F and Cs)  They could improvise a new melody in E minor as an interlude between the verses. Create a contrasting Section with creepy crawly word rhythms. Give groups of students a selection of plastic bugs, worms and spiders and invite them to create a 4 beat pattern with them.  They transfer the words to non-pitched percussion.  The pattern shown below would be:  Fly  Caterpillar Lizard Bat

They can say and play the pattern 2x, then just play the pattern 2x on rhythm instruments.   You could have the students create movement to go with the song.

Bats is in Musicplay 4.   A recording of Bats can be found in Sing and Play on Special Days.

The Orff arrangement is from "The Orff Source."

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