In our first Global Music Journey, we embarked on an exciting exploration of languages, rhythm and creativity. All children demonstrated courage, collaboration and creativity as they performed their own versions of the ‘Hello’ song, inspired by ‘Sorida’ (a traditional Shona greeting song from Zimbabwe).
Throughout the lesson, we introduced ourselves to one another, explored different languages—including some of the languages from our class: English, Albanian, Akan (Twi-Fante and Twi-Asante) and Romanian—and embraced the learn-share-create-perform principles of our Global Music Journey practice.
We began by learning Sorida in Shona, discovering its rhythmic and melodic patterns and using it as a foundation to create our own unique versions. Children experimented with singing ‘hello’ in different languages while incorporating body percussion, clapping patterns and new melodies. Working in pairs, they composed their own greeting songs, showcasing their ability to listen, copy, improvise and perform.
To celebrate each group’s creativity, we recorded their performances and provided positive feedback, highlighting what worked well and what we enjoyed in each piece.