Questions/instructions:
This activity uses the computer.
Singing is something we hear and enjoy almost every day. People sing on their own, in choirs, pop groups, when they are working, in the shower, when they’re happy, and so on. Singing can be fun, even if you’re not specially good at it.

In this activity I want your team to sing me two songs.

The first will be ‘Happy Birthday’ and the second will be one you choose as a team.
Let’s watch a video of a team singing ‘Happy Birthday’.

Click the Team Song button to start the video.

[Students discuss standing up to sing, establishing a note to start on and who might do the harmony, before singing the song through once]

Here are the words for ‘Happy Birthday’. Practise it together a couple of times, then I’ll ask you to sing it to me. You need to decide which of you is going to let everyone know when to start.

Give students word sheets. Withdraw while they practise two or three times.
Now I’d like you to sing me your performance
of ‘Happy Birthday’.

Students sing ‘Happy Birthday’.

Great! For your next song, you need to choose a song to sing. It can be any song your team chooses. For example, it could be a pop song, a folk song, a nursery rhyme, or a song you sing at school. But it’s up to your team to choose the song you will all sing - so it needs to be one that you all know.

Start off by deciding together what the song will be.
You can do that now.

Remain alongside the team while they deliberate, and until they have made a decision. Give encouragement without being too directive.
Now that you’ve chosen a song, I will leave you together to practise for a few minutes. After you’ve practised, I will ask you to sing it to me. Let me know when you are ready for me to come and listen to your song. You can start your practice now.

Withdraw for 2-5 minutes. If team is not ready, provide direction to achieve the task.
Now I’d like you to sing me your final performance of the song you have chosen.

Commentary:
Coherence and rhythmic accuracy were generally high but tunefulness and vitality were not. There is little evidence of change at either year level between 2000 and 2004. Year 4 students performed slightly better than year 8 students, perhaps because of voice change and embarrassment issues in the year 8 teams.