High & Low / Up & Down Resources

High and Low sounds can be difficult to teach to students who confuse it with Loud and Soft. I have found a few things be helpful.

Songs

• All Through the Night
• Andy Pandy
• As I Walked Out One Holiday
• Baa Baa Black Sheep
• Baker
• Boom Chicka Boom
• By’m Bye
• Chumbara
• Cluck Old Hen
• Cobbler Cobbler
• Do as I’m Doing
• Doctor Foster
• Frog Pond
• Fruit Bending Down
• Goodbye Julie
• Grand Old Duke of York
• Great Big House in New Orleans
• Ham and Eggs
• Hey Ho Welcome Song (original song based on Hey Ho Nobody Home)
• Hop Up and Jump Up
• Hop Up My Froggy
• It Rained a Mist
• Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Jack and Jill
• List to the Bells
• Mos Mos
• My Good Old Man
• Nine Red Horsemen
• North Wind Doth Blow
• Old King Glory
• One Cold and Frosty Morning
• Sailing in the Boat
• See Saw Sacradown
• Sleep Baby Sleep
• Sleigh Ride
• Three Billy Goats Gruff
• Three Little Pigs
• Two Maids Went A-Milking One Day
• Wee Willie Winkie
• When Goldilocks Went to the House of the Bears
• Wise Man Built His House
• Ya Ya We
• Yoo Hoo

Lesson ideas

• We listen to high and low sounds and move our bodies into high and low positions. Some ideas for high/low instruments:
  • High Sounds could be:
    • High C’ on Soprano Xylophone
    • High C’ on Glockenspiel
    • Triangle
    • Finger Cymbal
  • Low Sounds could be:
    • Low C on Bass Xylophone
    • Low C on Resonator Bar
    • Deep-sounding drum
• Some listening examples:
  • High Sounds
    • Prokofiev: Peter & the Wolf – bird (flute)
    • Mozart: The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night Aria
    • Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Suite: Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy
    • Léo Delibes: Lakmé – The Flower Duet
  • Low Sounds
    • Prokofiev: Peter & the Wolf – grandfather (bassoon)
    • Octobasse
    • Paul Dukas: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – contrabassoon
    • Ralph Vaughan Williams: Concerto for Bass Tuba and Orchestra in F Minor
    • Pavel Chesnokov: Do Not Reject Me in My Old Age (featuring Glenn Miller)
  • Both High & Low Sounds
    • Mozart: Requiem, K. 626; Confutatis
    • Handel: Hallelujah Chorus

• • We emulate the sounds of a lion vs. a mouse and the barks of a big dog vs. a small dog.

• You could read the folk stories of the Three Billy Goats Gruff or Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Up/Down Assessment

Download available on this page

Visuals available on these Pages:

• Baa Baa Black Sheep
• Gobble Gobble
• Ham and Eggs
• Hickory Dickory Dock
• Hop Up and Jump Up
• Hot Cross Buns
• Sailing in the Boat
• See Saw Sacradown
• Yoo Hoo

See also

• Kindergarten Melody Lessons & Resources
• Comparatives (High/Low, Loud/Soft, Fast/Slow)
• lesson plans
• melody resources

    

Extras for Plus Members

• Assessment

• Visuals