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This page last updated: May 14, 2007

Listen to the Mockingbird: More Great Dances for Children, Schools & Communities

Plastic binding, 64 pp. Edited by Andy Davis, Peter Amidon and Mary Cay Brass

Listen to the Mockingbird Book and CD

A collection of 24 more dances that have been time-tested in classrooms and at community dances.

Includes longways dances, circle dances, square dances and contra dances. New chapters on teaching dance in the classroom, building a sense of community, choosing partners, tips on calling and creating new dances with children. Glossary, tune transcriptions, and combined index for Chimes and Mockingbird also included.

Cassette/CD recording features some of New England's finest dance musicians playing all the music needed to teach the dances. Reels, jigs, polka and waltz are played dance length. Four square dances include singing calls on the recording.

Read a review of this item.

Book $15.00

CD $15.00

Cassette: $10.00

Book
CD
Cassette

Table of Contents: CD

Click on a title to sample it! (Mp3 format)

  1. Quebec Reels
  2. New England Jigs
  3. Southern Reels
  4. Blarney Pilgrim
  5. Les Saluts
  6. Irish Reel Medley I
  7. Forester's
  8. Listen to the Mockingbird
  9. Ocean Wave
  10. First Night Quadrille
  11. Butterfly Whirl
  12. A-Rovin'
  13. Irish Reel Medley
  14. Franconia Waltz

Table of Contents: Book

Reviews

From Winter 1999 Orff Echo

Susan Kennedy reviews Listen to the Mockingbird : More Great Dances for Children, Schools and Communities

When it comes to dances set to reels, I have yet to teach a group of any age, any ethnicity, or any level of experience that has not loved them. Maybe it's the simple, free movements, the exuberant music, the satisfying weaving and turning with your partner. Listen to the Mockingbird is a collection of dances with all of that, and more.

Called "traditional dances" by the editors, these are social dances of British Isle origins: longways sets, circle dances, and more contemporary contra and square dances. The editors explain, "these dances are not strictly speaking ‘dances for children.’ They are dances for people and they will thrive when they are done with students, teachers, parents, administrators and other community members joining together." This statement sets the tone for what is more than a collection of engaging movement experiences set to music; it is a book that focuses on working together as a group consideration towward one's partners, the freedom to create within a structure, and the opportunity to shine as a dance caller. The editors are obviously committed to helping the reader create a rich experience for their students, and have included sections on "Building Community Through Traditional Dance," "More Thoughts on Choosing Partners," "Tips on Calling a Dance" and "Creating New Dances with Children." Long after the specific choreography of a dance fades from memory, these aspects of the dance experience will stay with the dancer.

Listen to the Mockingbird is a substantial resource of dance and music material. The dances are arranged by their formations -- Longways Set, Circle, Sicilian Circle, Square and Contra Dances each of which is clearly described and simply diagrammed. All of the dances are built on easy walking, skipping and sashaying movements that are within the capability of lower elementary age students. The difficulty increases with the more complex figures and the faster transitions of the square and contra dances, providing a suitable challenge for middle school students and committed adult groups. A glossary of traditional dance terminology provides a quick reference.

Valuable teaching tips are included in the body of the dance descriptions, with suggestions for sequencing and verbal cueing. some of the dances have built-in assists, such as "The Vowel Dance," in which the shouting out of "A - E - I - O - U" (you!) leads the novice through a short grand right and left and to a new partner. Students can practice the feel of a fermata in "Les Saluts," and learn a little Frenchh in "Le Brandy." My students have spontaneously burst into dancing "Jubilee Rag," in spite of -- or perhaps because of -- a through-the-arch figure that becomes a frantic, laughing dash to complete in sixteen counts. With this exception, I have found that the tempi and phrasing of the music fit comfortably with the dances.

The structure of the dance follows the structure of the music throughout, as is clearly explained in the section on "How the Music and the Dances Fit Together." A unique feature of the accompanying recording is the flexibility to use many cuts interchangeably with the dances. Some of the dances call for "any reel," allowing the teacher to choose among, for example, a Quebec, Southern or Irish reel.

As would be expected from a recording produced by Peter Amidon, the sound is authentic, and the cuts are long enough to allow a generous number of dance repetitions. And for those who want to bring live music to the dance, two dozen traditional jigs, reels and waltzes are notated with their melodies and chords. Listen to the Mockingbird is valuable not only for the quality of its specific content, but for the model it provides for valuing social dance as a vehicle that brings people together with respect and pleasure. A resource prepared with this kind of integrity is a gift to the Orff community.