Music Tip #15 Singing Rounds

I love to sing rounds. I don't know why. I think it's because I love to hear harmony and when you sing a round you end up singing harmony. Growing up I liked to sing "I Love the Mountains", "Frere Jacques", "White Coral Bells", or "Don't Put your Trash in My Backyard".

I like to teach rounds at school, but they're harder to sing (and make sound right) than you would think. 3rd graders have a hard time keeping their group going without getting confused unless they know the song very well. But 4th-6th can sing pretty well, after lots of practice.

Some of my new favorite rounds are "Hear the Song of the Nightingale" from the movie Madeline, "Music Alone Shall Live", "Dona Nobis" (which is really, really hard), "Scalloped Potatoes" and "Jolly Red Nose". I can't wait to teach the Tacobel Canon. I just found a recording of it here as well as the Scalloped Potatoes one.

A friend and I go hiking once a week and we love to sing as we hike. I like to sing rounds with her and should be happy with the two part harmony we make. But then I think, wow, if we had another person we could sing three parts......

Do you like to sing? Want to come hiking with us?