YELLOW BRICK ROAD MUSIC

My husband and I drove by an orchard this weekend, and I was reminded of how much I’m looking forward to my first taste of apple cider this season (more specifically, the caramel apple cider from Starbucks). It also got me wondering why pumpkins seem to receive all the glory in the fall. Personally, I’m a bigger fan of apples than pumpkins, so I thought it was fitting to share a song about them on today’s post.

Notation

There are other variations of this song, which includes a second verse, “Unwind the apple treeโ€ฆ” Personally, I prefer this version to practice steady beat because of its variety of rhythms. However, the other version would be great for teaching quarter rest. It’s really dependent on what you’re looking to teach that day.

Movement Game

You can probably guess the nature of this movement game by the title of the song. Students stand in a loose spiral with a student on one end as “the winder” and a student at the other end as “the tree”. As they sing the first part of the song, the winder moves clockwise until all students are would up around the tree. Students should continue singing the first part of the song until they’re completely wound up. Then, the winder will signal the start of the unwinding of the tree, by jumping up and down as they sing the second part of the song. Then, the students will jump to the beat as they hop counter-clockwise to unwind.

Free Worksheet

This song is great for teaching or practicing half note. Or, if you use the alternate version of the song, you can work on quarter rest. I whipped up a simple worksheet (pictured below) that you can use to work on rhythm. Students can write the rhythms in the spaces provided. You could also hand them manipulatives (such as tiny apple erasers, paper cutouts, or legos) to show the rhythms.

Click HERE to download the worksheet for free.

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