Rock 'n Roll

Did you catch my two big announcements?

One HERE and one HERE?

I have to say I’m pretty excited about both!

In preparation for the launch of Tuneful Teens 2 on February 1st, I’m going to share an activity I use with my teen groups that can be adapted in various ways depending on the level of the group.

“Shake, Rattle, and Roll” is one song that always gets my feet tapping. And although it’s not a pop song, per say, for today’s teens, it does have a pretty cool groove to it that makes you want to shake and move.

Here’s how I set up the activity:

Split your group into three. One group gets bells (they’ll be ‘shaking’), one group gets maracas (they’ll be ‘rattling’) and one group gets drums (they’ll be ‘rolling.’)

I sing and play this song using  a boogie beat or rock beat on the keyboard and it really makes it feel authentic!

Instruct the whole group to play all together as you sing the first verse.

When you get to the chorus, change up the lyrics to:

“I said shake, shake, shake. I said shake, shake, shake” (only bells play)
“I said rattle, rattle, rattle. I said  rattle, rattle, rattle” (only maracas play)
“I said roll, roll, roll. I said roll, roll, roll.” (only drums play)

Instruct the whole group to play all together as you sing the second verse.

When you get to the chorus this time, sing the lyrics as is, and see how the group keeps up!

“I said shake (bells play), rattle (maracas play), and roll (drums)
“I said shake (bells play), rattle (maracas play), and roll (drums), etc.”

You might have to slow down the tempo at first, but then you can gradually increase it, which makes it really fun (and, of course, a great way to work on those auditory perception and attention skills!)

As I mentioned, although this song is not considered ‘pop music’ any more, I still like to introduce songs from different eras and songs of different genres into my teen groups.

Hope you enjoy!

If you want even MORE ideas for creatively engaging adolescents in music therapy, you need to check out Tuneful Teens 2 when it comes out this Saturday, February 1st!!