Lesson 2: Learning “Little Red Rooster”

Aim: How can we explore expression and emotion through “Little Red Rooster?”
Summary: Students explore how expression conveys emotions and influences the feeling of a song.
Materials: Musical Explorers online audio
Standards:
GA: ESGMK-2.CR.1, ESGMK-2.CR.2, ESGMK-2.CR.3, ESGMK-2.PR.1, ESGMK-2.RE.1, ESGMK-2.RE.2, ESGMK-2.CN.1, ESGMK-2.CN.2
SC: MGK-2.1, MGK-2.2, MGK-2.4, MGK-2.5, MGK-2.6
Vocabulary: 12-bar blues, expression

> See Glossary

Explore Expression with “Little Red Rooster”

  • Listen to “Little Red Rooster,” Track 37.

    • How do you think Eric felt when his rooster went away? How do you think he feels after he sings this song?
  • Discuss expression with your students. Expression is the way someone communicates a feeling.
    • How can you tell when someone is feeling happy or sad? (e.g., the way they look, what they say, facial expression)
  • In music, we can communicate our feelings by singing the lyrics and playing the music in a certain way. Blue notes are often used for expression.
    • The way we sing is as important as the words we sing.
  • Listen to “Little Red Rooster” Track 37 again, and ask your students if they can hear any blue notes in his singing. (Listen for “when the dogs begin to howl” and the last time he sings “too lazy to crow for days.”)

  • Write the sentence “I walked to school all by myself” on the board, or use SG33. Using the sentence, see how many different feelings your class can express by emphasizing different words in the sentence. Invite students to take turns expressing their feelings by shifting the emphasis to the underlined words.
  • Sing “Little Red Rooster,” Track 37, with Eric.

    • How can we express our feelings while we sing?

“Little Red Rooster”

I got a little red rooster, too lazy to crow for days
I got a little red rooster, too lazy to crow for days
Well he keeps everything in the barnyard upset in every way

When the dogs begin to bark and the hounds begin to howl
When the dogs begin to bark and the hounds begin to howl
Well watch out, strange kind people, little red rooster is on the prowl

Well if you see my little red rooster, won’t you please drag him home?
Well if you see my little red rooster, won’t you please drag him home?
Well there ain’t been no peace in the barnyard since the little red rooster’s been gone

I got a little red rooster, too lazy to crow for days
I got a little red rooster, too lazy to crow for days
Yeah, he keeps everything in the barnyard upset in every way

Explore the 12-Bar Blues

  • The blues is also a musical form. The most common form is called 12-bar blues. The lyrics in a 12-bar blues follow an A-A-B format. Read the lyrics together with your class, and then listen to the song again.
    • When do the lyrics repeat, and when does Eric sing something different?
  • Using SG34, fill in the blanks to create your own lyrics for an original 12-bar blues. Then sing the blues using Track 38.

Literacy Extension: Yesterday I Had the Blues

In Jeron Ashford Frame’s Yesterday I Had the Blues, a boy decides to change yesterday’s deep-down, feeling-it-in-your-shoes blues to the “greens.” Other people in his life have the grays, yellows, indigos, reds, and the pinks.

This book is also available as a digital resource on gpb.pbslearningmedia.org.

Musical Word Wall

Add the words 12-bar blues and expression to the Musical Word Wall.
> See Glossary


PDF Downloads

SG33 ↓ Download File

SG34 ↓ Download File

 


Audio Tracks