Zoomah^©

Listen up!

• Listen through and notice how the warm-up consists of two exercises, one in bars 1-8 and the other in bars 9-16. Can the children hear the difference between the two? What do they notice? Does one exercise feel happy and the other sad? Which note makes the difference?

• The exercises are both based on different types of scale: the first uses a major scale while the second uses a minor scale. Notice how the major scale exercise has a happy, uplifting sound, while the minor scale exercise has a sad, melancholy sound.

Tactics

• You might want to sing the exercises quite slowly at first, listening carefully to check everyone is singing in tune.

• Aim to produce a strong and confident sound. Make sure the ‘z’ on zoo is quite clear, with rounded lips on the ‘oo’ and opening mouths right out again on ‘mah’.

• Play around with facial expressions. Try smiling as you sing the major scale and then frown for the minor scale. How does this affect the sound?

• When everyone is confident you could sing each exercise as a round, with the second part starting when the first part gets to bar 2.

Extended activities

• Try the major and minor game. Play the children the following Song Bank songs and ask if they use major or minor scales. The type of scale a song uses determines whether it’s in a major or minor key. See if the group can describe the music without using the words ‘happy’ or ‘sad’.

• This warm-up is a great way to prepare for singing the traditional English folksong, Scarborough fair.

Did you know … ?

• In the famous jazz standard, Every time we say goodbye by Cole Porter, the lyrics use major and minor keys as a metaphor for happiness and sadness.