This popular lullaby is given a Caribbean feel in this arrangement, with the sounds of steel pans and hand drums.
The video
Hush Little Baby
This popular lullaby - well-known from North American versions - is given a Caribbean feel in this arrangement, with the sounds of steel pans and hand drums. Children are encouraged to join in with sounds and instruments to suit the special thing in each verse that ‘Mamma’s gonna buy…’
- Verse 1 - about a mockingbird - could feature a recorder, whistle, panpipes or ocarina.
- Verse 2 - diamond ring - could be played by glockenspiel.
- Verse 3 - looking glass - could feature a triangle.
- Verse 4 - billy goat - might be accompanied with woodblocks, castanets or temple blocks.
- Verse 5 - cart and bull - could feature a guiro or scraper.
- Verse 6 - ‘the sweetest little baby in town’ - could be played by tambourine.
But these suggestions are optional: choose groups and instruments to suit what’s available in your class.
Ukuleles and guitars can play along with chords C and G7 very gently, so as not to wake the baby!
In the last section (Coda), the wavy lines in the video give a few general ideas for up and down tunes to improvise softly with voices (to ‘la’ or ‘doo’ or similar) or melody instruments (eg using notes C, D, E, F, G, and A). But there’s no need to follow the arrows: make up your own tunes and patterns that fit in and sound good.
Other percussion, body percussion and mouth sounds might also contribute gentle touches here, based on ideas from within the song.
Resources
Teacher Notes
Download / print the Teacher Notes for the series (pdf)
Download audio
Download the audio for this dance session as an mp3 file
