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Scarf movement for “Danse Macabre” by Camille Saint Saens. A scarf activity for young children ages 4-8.
This piece of music is a tone poem for orchestra. That means it’s a musical composition that tells a story through music. The piece was composed in 1874 by Camille Saint Saens. The poem represents a danse of the dead.
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Zig, zig, zig, Death in a cadence
Striking with his heel a tomb,
Death at midnight plays a dance-tune,
Zig, zig, zag, on his violin.
The winter wind blows, and the night is dark;
Moans are heard in the linden-trees.
Through the gloom white skeletons pass,
Running and leaping in their shrouds.
Zig, zig, zig, each one is frisking;
The bones of the dancers are heard to clatter –
But Ssht! of a sudden they quit the round,
They push forward, they fly; the cock has crowed!
The scarf movements are based on each of the characters and sections of music in the piece.
CLOCK
DEATH
SKELETONS
GHOSTS
XYLOPHONES
PUMPKINS
WIND
WITCHES
ROOSTER
The scarf movement cards with actions help tell the story. Here are the scarf movements.
Show the movement cards to the children and have them practice the moves.
Then have them move with the music.
When there is more than one action, either have them choose their action, switch between actions, or divide the class into groups and have each group play one of the actions.
Next work on DYNAMICS.
Have the children practice the actions showing pianissimo, piano, mezzo piano, forte and fortissimo.
Leave latitude for students to move as the music inspires them. These are just suggestions.
I chose a variety of movements so that the children are moving up and down, across and in a circle.
Moving different directions helps them with coordination, as well as fosters motor muscle development and helps make other connections to things like reading, writing and creativity.
Be sure to watch the video to get all of the activity teaching tips.
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Hi there! I’m Sandra, one of the authors behind Sing Play Create. My goal is to provide teachers with interactive resources and activities to improve the effectiveness of their teaching and enhance student learning.
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