Singing sea shanties
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Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can sing a sea shanty in harmony and using body percussion.
Key learning points
- Sea shanties are a type of folk song that were traditionally sung by sailors to coordinate their movements.
- They have a strong pulse to help this coordination, and a catchy, repeated melody.
- We can sing them in unison - when everyone sings the same melody - or in harmony.
- We can emphasise the downbeat to help show the pulse when performing.
Keywords
Sea shanty - a folk song traditionally sung by sailors to help them coordinate their movements
Pulse - the constant underlying beat in a piece of music
Downbeat - the strongest beat of the bar named after the downbeat a conductor makes on beat one
Unison - when multiple parts play or sing the same notes at the same time
Harmony - the way that different notes are played or sung together to create chords
Common misconception
Sea shanties are songs for pirates.
Many cultures based around the sea use songs to coordinate movement on boats. Sea shanties are one example of this, and were sung by many, including sailors and fishermen. Other traditional cultures had their own songs for this purpose.
Teacher tip
Consider how the group is split to ensure that strong singers are supporting in each part. The tasks could be done in smaller groups once pupils have been taught the melody and harmony, and pupils can consider dynamics and variations on the body percussion and beat to extend their performance.
Files needed for this lesson
Wellerman - full version in unison 742 KB (MP3)
Wellerman - full version in harmony 742 KB (MP3)
Download these files to use in the lesson.
Licence
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