Lisa Schoen (MN) & Rachel Tully (IA)
This fall I had the privilege of working with Rachel Tully, a gem of a student teacher from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. She and I were on the lookout for a new (to us!) autumn song we could sing and enjoy with our primary students. We searched for a song that was fun to sing, could incorporate playful partner movement, and would lend well to adding non-pitched percussion instruments.
At my school (a public school in a suburb south of St. Paul, Minnesota), it has become trickier to use songs that even mention the word “Halloween.” So when we found this sweet song written by Betty Barlow, published in the Music & You music textbooks, we knew we had a little work to do if we wanted to use it with our students.
Originally entitled “Town Hall Halloween Ball,” we, along with my retired music teacher aunt, Nancy Rodolico, thought through our options. We needed to replace the word, “Halloween,” with something that would preserve the musicality and fun of the original lyrics and honor the stress pattern of the melody. We landed on the title, “Town Hall Festival Ball,” which we ended up liking even better than the original!
And pop, pop, poppin’ the corn.
There’s plenty to share, all the folks are there,
At the Town Hall Festival Ball.
They’re bob, bob, bobbin’ for apples,
And packin’ in the pumpkin pie.
There’s plenty to share, all the folks are there,
At the Town Hall Festival Ball.
As we sang and played with this song, Rachel’s creative juices began to flow. She thought it might be fun (and later we also realized, very helpful!) to extend the song a bit, so she crafted this sweet refrain:
Ooooh, the Town Hall Festival Ball.
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Engage Listening: Picture Score
Listen for the food in my song. Sing the song and collect student answers, drawing simple pictures on the whiteboard for each of the foods the students recall, and periodically singing the song so students can check their answers. Intersperse some questions between singing turns to deepen the listening experience: What is cider? Have you ever tasted it? What does it mean to bob for apples? Have you ever had pie? What kind do you like best? What is a ball? What kind of ball do you think they are talking about in this song? Later we also added the arrow icons to represent the half and full cadences and the corresponding movement.
Movement
Invite students to copy the actions and eventually to sing along:
They’re sip, sip, sippin’ the cider, (pantomime sipping a mug of cider)
And pop, pop, poppin’ the corn. (snap fingers on pops)
There’s plenty to share, (right hand gesture out), all the folks are there, (left hand gesture out)
At the Town Hall Festival Ball. (spin hands and touch feet or lap on the word, “ball,” to mirror the descending melodic line)
They’re bob, bob, bobbin’ for apples, (nod head and tap fists on top of each other)
And packin’ in the pumpkin pie. (pat/rub tummy)
There’s plenty to share, (right hand gestures out), all the folks are there, (left hand gestures out)
At the Town Hall Festival Ball. (spin hands and reach hands up high on the word, “ball,” to mirror the ascending melodic line)
Secret Song
Another day, the picture score is on the board as the students enter the room. Do you remember some words that go with this song? Chin the song (hum or sing the melody on a neutral syllable). Students sing words and add actions they recall.
Partner Movement
Who will be my mirror? Choose a student to come and face you in front of the class. Perform some simple movements and playfully pretend to be looking in a mirror as the student copies. Let’s play the mirror game with our song!
Partners sing the song, looking at each other and smiling while: sipping cider, snapping fingers, gesturing right hand out, left hand out. On “at the Town Hall Festival Ball,” spin hands and low five (ten) with your partner. As the song continues, look at each other and bob heads and tap fists (alone or with partners), pat (your own) tummies, and spin hands and high five (ten) for the last “ball.”
Wave goodbye to your partner and go find a new partner during the refrain. Model how to invite a new partner (hands reach out, eye contact, smile). Sometimes we play games when we can choose to say, “no, thank you,” but this is a game in which, if you are invited, we always say, “yes!” What do you do if you don’t find a partner? What do you do if you see someone standing all alone? Can you make this game work with three people?
Big Kid Movement Variation
My third graders loved learning this song, and created some more complex movements that felt satisfying and fun:
There’s plenty to share, (Take right hands like you are shaking hands)
All the folks are there, (keep shaking right hands, and take left hands to shake as well)
At the Town Hall Festival Ball. (with crossed hands still connected, hop around in a circle with partner OR do the dishrag with your partner. On the first “ball,” squat down low five and on the second “ball,” high five above heads).
Adding Instruments
Since this was the first experience for some of my primary children to play instruments in music class, I gathered instruments that would be easy for little hands to play, and made sure I had several of each: egg shakers, claves, tiny tambourines, and crow sounders.
At a ball, there is often a band playing music while the people dance and have fun. I’ve been your band (with my guitar/ukulele/piano) but I am feeling a little lonely. I think we need some more musicians in our band! Here are some instruments we could add to play some solos. What’s a solo? (when an instrument or singer is playing alone) Show each instrument and collect student observations and knowledge (How do you think we play this instrument? Does anyone know what this is called? What does this sound remind you of?).
Gesture to the four food pictures on the picture score. Let’s use these parts of the song for our instrument solos. Ask the group to decide which instrument will play each part and mark the picture score accordingly.
Invite four students to come up and play solos in the “band.”
On the Town Hall Festival parts, let’s play the instruments all together!
During the refrain, students give their instruments to a new player and sit down. Take turns until everyone has had a chance to play a solo.
Another day, add more students to the band so there are two of each instrument, three, four, and then all. Rotate so that all students have a turn to play each instrument.
Conclusion
Town Hall Festival Ball ended up being a delightful addition to our music room. It’s fun to sing, the movement is satisfying and sweet, and the instrument experience worked well. I can imagine a future melody study playing the repeating words and the ascending cadence on barred instruments. I also envision students learning how to play the chords on ukulele. We hope you enjoy trying this little gem of a song with your students. Let us know what unfolds!
References
Staton, B., Staton, M., Davidson, M., Kaplan, P., & Snyder, S. (1988). Music and You: Grade 1. MacMillan McGraw Hill.
