DESCRIPTION: The Daniel's Music Foundation logo is shown, an arced music ledger line, with a large treble clef in the middle, surrounded by smaller music notes.
David is sitting in a light blue room, holding an acoustic guitar. He has light brown hair parted to the side, and is wearing a dark blue button-down with a necktie. Next to him is a guitar amp, and several bongo drums.
David: Hello there. My name is David, and I'm a music instructor and the early childhood music specialist at Daniel's Music Foundation. And I am happy you're here.
During this video, we will dive into three of my favorite songs that have body motions to go with them. But remember, any song could become a song that you create your own body motions for. Please feel free to substitute any of the movements in this video for ones that feel best to you and your body. Do not be afraid to use your imagination, be creative, and, of course, have fun with it.
Now, let's get to the music. Our first song is a classic here in the United States. It comes from the tunes "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" and "Buffalo Gals," both written in the 1800s. The name of the song is "The Wheels on the Bus."
Let's review the motions before we sing. First, we have the wheels, where we could roll our arms around and around each other, kind of circling around.
You might keep your hands together, like a fist, or hands out flat. But they go around and around each other, like (SINGING) around and round, round and round.
Very good. Next, we have the doors that open, with arms out to the side, and shut, with arms back together in the center.
They go (SINGING) open and shut, open and shut.
Try it with me.
(SINGING) Open and shut, open and shut.
Right. My hands come apart, and then my hands come back together when the doors close. Very good.
Then came some rain, or snow, or sleet, or hail, or some kind of precipitation because we have to turn on the bus wipers. All right, so turn those wipers on. And I make my hands and arms into those windshield wipers.
I go (SINGING) swish, swish, swish, or side to side. My hands go back and forth and side to side, pretending they're windshield wipers. Say swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish. Excellent.
Next comes the signals on the bus for changing lanes, and they go, blink, blink, blink. For this, I blink with my eyes. My eyes open and close, but I also open and close my hands.
I go, (SINGING) blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink.
ight. Can you try it with me? Open and close your eyes while you open and close your hands.
Say, (SINGING) blink, blink, blink.
Good.
(SINGING) Blink, blink, blink.
Marvelous!
Now, the motor on the bus goes (SINGING) vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom.
But if the motor is going on the bus, I'm hoping that the driver is putting their hands on the steering wheel. So I have my two hands holding on to the steering wheel, and you can too, navigating it to follow the path of the road. I bring the steering wheel one way, and I bring the steering wheel the other way, back and forth.
I say, (SINGING) the motor on the bus goes vroom, vroom, vroom as I steer back and forth. Say, vroom, vroom, vroom.
Oh, I saw you had your steering wheel in your hand. Stay alert, driver. You looked great. Now, the driver is doing the best steering.
And you are doing great steering, but it's making the people in the bus go (SINGING) up and down, up and down.
Right. For this, you could either stand up tall or reach up high when we say "up" and crouch and stretch down low when we say "down."
So we'd say, (SINGING) up, stretch up high, down, stretch down low, up and down, up and down.
Wonderful. All of that moving is making the babies start to cry because the people are going up and down. So for this, we make the babies cry.
We say, (SINGING) waah, waah, waah. Waah, waah, waah.
I bring my fists near my eyes, and I move them at the wrist. It's a good rhyme-- my "fists," and I move them at the "wrists." I go back and forth.
I say, (SINGING) waah, waah, waah, waah, waah, waah.
You looked great. Now, all of that crying from the babies has the grown-ups wanting to comfort the babies.
So the grown-ups say, (SINGING) shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.
For that, I hold my finger-- one finger, my index finger-- to my lips.
I say, (SINGING) shh, shh, shh.
Can you try it?
(SINGING) Shh, shh, shh.
Very nice.
Now, we must be getting closer to our destination because the bus driver puts on the brakes to make a stop.
The brakes on the bus go, (SINGING) screech, screech, screech.
I lean forward with each screech, and then I pull my body back.
And I lean forward for the next (SINGING) screech, screech, screech.
Very good. Can you try that with me?
Go (SINGING) screech, screech, screech each time forward, and back and (SINGING) screech, screech, screech.
Oh, I must be getting close. And finally, after we've gotten out of the bus and the bus starts to roll away, we roll our arms around each other.
We say (SINGING) round and round, round and round.
Circling our arms and our hands once again, and our bus continues on. Now, let's board the bus.
Description: The video is split into two halves. On the left, David is singing and playing guitar, and on the left, he is making the hand motions he discussed previously.
["HERE WE GO ROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH"]
David: (SINGING) The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round, all through the town.
Good. And the doors.
(SINGING) The doors on the bus go open and shut, open and shut, open and shut. The doors on the bus go open and shut, all through the town.
It started to rain. Put on the wipers.
(SINGING) The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish. The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish, all through the town.
Put on those turn signals.
(SINGING) The signals on the bus go blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink. The signals on the bus go blink, blink, blink, all through the town.
Lovely job. And the motor, hold on to that steering wheel.
(SINGING) The motor on the bus goes vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom. The motor on the bus goes vroom, vroom, vroom, all through the town.
This makes the people go up and down.
(SINGING) The people on the bus go up and down, up and down, up and down. The people on the bus go up and down, all through the town.
Making the babies start to cry.
(SINGING) The babies on the bus go waah, waah, waah, waah, waah, waah, waah, waah, waah. The babies on the bus go waah, waah, waah, all through the town.
And the grown-ups are trying to take care of the babies.
They say (SINGING) shh, shh, shh. The grown-ups on the bus say shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh. The grown-ups on the bus say shh, shh, shh, all through the town.
Oh, we're getting close to our stop. The brakes go on.
(SINGING) The brakes on the bus say screech, screech, screech, screech, screech, screech, screech, screech, screech. The brakes on the bus say screech, screech, screech, all through the town.
Oh, we got to our destination, and the bus rolls away as the wheels turn round and around.
(SINGING) The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round, all through the town.
Description: The video is once again a single feed. David is no longer holding his guitar.
David: Wonderful. Our next song is called "Skinny Marinky Dinky Dink," and I start by putting one arm to the sky and the other hand at that arm's elbow. And then the arm that was up goes down, and the arm that was down goes up.
I say, (SINGING) skinny marinky dinky dink.
Arm goes down, other goes up.
(SINGING) Skinny marinky doo.
Let's try that far. Arm up, arm at the elbow.
We say (SINGING) skinny marinky dinky dink.
Arm comes down. Arm that was down goes up.
(SINGING) Skinny marinky doo.
Very nice. For "I," I point to my eye. It's kind of a joke because "I" can mean yourself, but it could also mean a body part, like your eyes. So for "I," I point to my eyes. I say, I. Then for "love," I cross my arms on my chest. I say, love. Can you try that? Cross your two arms across your chest. Say "love."
And for "you," I point to you. Altogether, it looks, I, I point to my eyes; love, I cross my arms on my chest; and you, I point to you. I love you. Very nice.
For "morning," I pretend to make the sun rising, with my hands together as they get higher and higher and higher. So you can put your fingertips together, and you raise them above your head higher and higher, like the sun going higher. Let's try it together. Hands together and higher and higher, like the sun rising. Very good.
Then "I love you in the morning and in the afternoon."
So (SINGING) love you in the morning and in the afternoon. I love you in the evening.
And then the sun goes down, and out comes the moon. So I change my sun into a moon. I make a circle with my fingertips. My sun is now the moon.
(SINGING) Underneath the moon.
And then I say "whoo" as I bring my arms down to start again the part you know from the beginning.
(SINGING) Skinny marinky dinky dink, skinny marinky doo. I love you.
Let's go for it.
(SINGING) Skinny marinky dinky dink, skinny marinky doo. I love you. Skinny marinky dinky dink, skinny marinky doo. I love you. I love you in the morning and in the afternoon. I love you in the evening and underneath the moon.
Whoo!
(SINGING) Skinny marinky dinky dink, skinny marinky doo. I love you. I really mean it. I love you. Don't you forget it. I love you.
Wonderful!
Our last song today is called "The Silver Rain," and it is from a poem by Alice C. Henderson called "The Harvest." It is a lovely poem that helps us remember the beauty in our bread. Let's get ready for the song. Can you make some rain by bringing your hands up, wiggling your fingers, and bringing them down, like the rainfall?
Let's try it again. Hands go up, wiggle your fingers, bring them down for the rainfall. After the rain, comes the sun. See if you can take your two hands and, like you're fingerpainting, make circles with them. So it goes, the silver rain, the shining sun.
Next comes the beautiful flower called the poppy. For that, we put our arms to the side, bring our hands closer together. Now, our hands are touching. Now, our arms are touching, then our hands open up at the top to make a flower.
Let's try that again. Arms apart, hands apart, bring them closer. Hands together, arms together, open up at the top so the flower can bloom. Right.
Next comes the ripples of the wheat as we picture the wind blowing on the wheat fields, making waves along the (SINGING) amber waves of grain.
Another song, but for another time perhaps. So pretend you're making waves. Pretend you're making wheat ripple because the wind is blowing on the field. And it makes bread that we eat. So we take a piece, and we bring it to our mouth and eat it. We take a piece of bread with our hand, and we bring that hand to our mouth to eat it.
Next, we sit and place our hands on our lap and sit up tall at every meal, and we place our hands together for our grace, and then at our hearts for (SINGING) I always feel.
Right. So that's sitting up tall, hands together, hands at our heart. Back to eating the food to our mouths, we bring our hands to our mouth, then rainy fingers that fall down low. The sun in the sky, like we're painting, and finally, making our beautiful poppy flower by bringing our hands together, our arms together, and opening at the top to bloom.
Well, we have what we need. Let's go for it. This is "The Silver Rain."
(SINGING) The silver rain, the shining sun, and fields where scarlet poppies run. And all the ripples of the wheat are in the bread that I do eat. For when they sit at every meal and say our grace, I always feel, like I am eating rain and sun and fields where scarlet poppies run.
Beautiful. Let's try that again.
(SINGING) The silver rain, the shining sun, and fields where scarlet poppies run. And all the ripples of the wheat are in the bread that I do eat. For when I sit at every meal and say our grace, I always feel, like I am eating rain and sun and fields where scarlet poppies run.
Very good. Well, I just have to say, thank you for making music with me today. And remember to stay in the know. And to help us grow, click on the Subscribe and Notification buttons below. I cannot wait to do this again real soon. So thank you for joining us, and see you again next time.
Description: We see the Daniel's Music Foundation logo again, as well as the links to the foundation's social media channels:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danielsmusicfoundation/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/dmfmusic Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanielsMusicFdn YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp30ob_W2ec2ok8mfitep8A