Out of Africa/Into the Renaissance?

This week we conclude our emphasis on African/African-American music at least for the moment. In second grade we learned one addition song, this time an exercise song from Ghana, "Che che koolay." This kids had a lot of fun developing their own 4 bar-long exercises for their classmates to try.

In Third Grade we began talking about Renaissance music -- fitting since today was the first day Recorder ensemble. The leap from African music is not as extreme as it would seem. Both types of music are simple, highly rhythmic dance forms that do not rely on an ability to read notation. And as can be seen in the picture, both types of music feature drums (not they way we are using them here, of course).