An American Shaker song from 1847 with scarves, joyful movement, and a surprise — it also works as a beautiful four-part round. Teaches high do, do-based pentatonic, 2/4 meter, and repeat signs.
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Why teachers love it
Every phrase of the song has a corresponding scarf movement — hop up and jump up means jumping with the scarf flipping upward, whirl round means circling the scarf in the air, gather love means bringing both hands to the heart. The movements teach the words, and the words teach the movements.
The first half of the song works as a round with the second part entering on beat 2, 3, or 4 — making it a four-part round. In a chorus performance, the scarves move at different times for each group, which looks spectacular. It's also a great idea to film the kids and show them how it looks.
The song begins on high do and features the octave leap from low do to high do several times — making it one of the most effective songs in the library for teaching high do in context. Students hear and sing the octave before they ever analyze it.
Younger students learn the basic scarf movements in unison. Grades 3–4 divide into two groups with contrasting colored scarves, moving sometimes together, sometimes separately, sometimes in contrary motion — a completely different and more sophisticated experience with the same song.
"The first half of the song also works as a round, and looks great in a chorus performance as the scarves move at different times. It's also a great idea to film the kids and show them how it looks."
What members get
More songs like this
The Singing Classroom library has 150+ songs organized and tagged so you can always find exactly what you need.
Another beautiful scarf game for younger students. A natural companion to Hop Up and Jump Up in a scarves unit.
A four-part round for older students. Pairs naturally with Hop Up and Jump Up for a unit on round singing across grade levels.
A Hebrew round with a friendship theme — a natural thematic companion to Hop Up and Jump Up around Valentine's Day.
Another song with beautiful scarf-friendly movement potential — legato, flowing, and expressive for older students.
Questions
The real problem
Every teacher knows this feeling. You find a song, try it on Monday, and something goes sideways — the kids don't engage, you're not sure how to teach the movement, the lesson loses momentum. It's not that the song was wrong. You just didn't have a clear picture of how it actually goes.
That's what makes The Singing Classroom different. Every song in the library — including this one — has a full video of Deborah teaching it with real students. You don't have to guess how the scarf movements go, how to introduce the round, or how to handle the two-group grades 3–4 version. You watch it. Then you teach it.
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