Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock. 2: Anansi went walking

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Tiddalik 1 - Tiddalik 2 - Lakshmi 1 - Lakshmi 2 - Anansi 1 - Anansi 2

In the second part of the story Little Deer is determined to teach Anansi a lesson by playing his own trick on him. The song - 'Anansi went walking' - tells the events of the story while the music activity focuses on identifying the strong beat of the song and clapping simple rhythm patterns, including rests.

Tutorial: 'Anansi went walking'

Join Andy and Rebecca to learn the song 'Anansi went walking'. The main elements of the tutorial are:

• Identifying how the animal sounds in Verses 1 and 2 for Snake and Lion are the same length and the same pitch.
• Practising singing loudly the ‘Crash! Bang!’ in the Chorus.
• Clapping in the rest before the ‘Crash! Bang!’ in the Chorus.
• Clapping in the three beat rest in Verse 2 after ‘All at once Anansi stopped’.
• Identifying how Andy and Rebecca sing the same notes for the conversation between Anansi and Little Deer, but an octave apart.

Story: Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock, Part 2

Anansi has tricked many of his animal friends into falling asleep on the magical moss-covered rock…and has then stolen their food. But Little Deer has been watching Anansi and she decides to teach Anansi a lesson. She agrees to walk with Anansi to the moss-covered rock, but when they get there she tricks him into saying the magic words. Anansi falls asleep and wakes up to find all the animals gathered around him, laughing.

Story questions

• Who has secretly been watching Anansi? (Little Deer).
• Why does Little Deer want to play the same trick on Anansi? (She feels sorry for the other animals and wants to teach Anansi a lesson).
• How does Little Deer manage to trick Anansi into saying the magic words?

Song: 'Anansi went walking'

Sing the song with Andy and Rebecca. In addition to the full vocal and backing track versions of the song there are individual clips for Verse 1 and Chorus (Snake), Verse 2 and Chorus (Lion) and Verse 3 and Chorus (Little Deer). This allows you to navigate quickly to the individual sections of the song and to focus on specific sections while learning it.

Music activity

Focus: pulse and rhythm patterns - clapping / tapping rhythm patterns, including rests

• Talk about how a strong beat - or pulse - always runs through a piece of music, holding it together.
• Andy and Rebecca clap the pulse and the children copy.
• Then they add some rests, so that they are pausing on some beats and clapping on others. The children copy these rhythmic sequences.
• Then Andy and Rebecca make more challenging rhythms, changing the patterns and substituting different clapping beats for rests. They also add tapping rhythms, where the children tap their shoulders.
• If you have time the children can make up some of their own clapping and tapping patterns with a partner, remembering to add some rests.

Listening music

An extract from the opening movement of Symphony 5, by Beethoven

• This piece of music was written over 200 years ago. What is the style of the music? (Fast and exciting!)
• This piece has very strong rhythms - just like today’s song.
• Clap and sing the opening four notes together.
• The opening of the music is like a musical 'conversation'. The first four notes play and then the next four notes answer.
• What are the dynamics of the first few bars? (Loud!)
• Can the children hear when the music becomes quieter, then loud again? Children can put their hands up when the music is loud, then down again when it becomes quieter.
• Can the children hear any moments of silence, or rests?

Resources

Other episodes in this series

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