The creative use of folk dance and music in the educational context.
CD with booklet - $25.00 - inc. GST
(Booklet available for those who purchased the CD only - $11 inc GST)

The Phoenix Special is a limited edition CD and booklet containing dances taught by Gary King at the 1999 American Orff Association Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The items are of diverse cultural origins including Macedonian, German, Yiddish, Romanian, French, Hungarian, Indonesian and Greek. The material is selected to facilitate the teaching of music, dance and social concepts from the Early Childhood to the Middle Years of Schooling educational contexts. The collection includes items which provide positive developmental experience in these areas:

Social Concepts Greetings through dance gesture, group cohesion activities, cooperation game, ostinato improvisation and choreography for individuals, partners and groups, listening tasks and coordination tasks presented in play and game based formats

Musical Concepts Metre - age appropriate movement activities in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/4, 10/4 Rhythm - rhythmic body percussion improvisation in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/4, 10/4, syncopated rhythmic motifs in 3/4 suitable for percussion accompaniments, down and upbeat accents, easy and challenging remembered imitation activities for body percussion or instruments, Phrasing - a first introduction to rhythmic percussion instruments using movement game and regular 8 beat phrasing, irregular (3 and 7) bar phrasing. Melody - Dorian mode example, improvising minor melody to I V accompaniment. Harmony - I & V ostinato accompaniments in major and minor, example of vocal paraphony Modulation - key change from from minor to relative major, from tonic to dominant in major and minor keys, from tonic to supertonic, modulation to major and to minor on cadence. Arrangements - many pieces suitable for classroom percussion and recorder ensemble. Recorded examples of numerous string, wind and percussion instruments.

Dance Concepts New stop & go games Explorations of 3/4 metre and 4/4 metre with balls and scarves Limited improvisation dances ("creativity with a safety net") Asian sitting down singing dance. Elemental qualities eg "flowing" Yiddish dance, fiery Romanian stamped accents Hungarian "men's dance" suitable for upper primary boys.

CONTENTS including Traditional & Educational Contexts

.	Dance	Country
1.	Ceresna	Macedonian
2.	Ceresna - long version	Macedonian
3.	Zwiefacher	German
4.	Broiges Tanz	Yiddish
5.	Itele	Romanian
6.	Clog Branle	French
7.	Spanish Waltz	Dutch
8.	Dudalas & Dunantuli Ugros	Hungarian
9.	Malayan Hand Drill	Indonesian
10.	Koftos	Greek

1.&2. Ceresna - Macedonian Traditional Context: A popular song at Macedonian weddings, during which the bride and groom might lead the dance. As is typical in Macedonian culture, the dancers begin with hands joined in a 'line' (an arc of about one quarter of a circle), the leader has R hand free, and the dance travels CCW. In this dance however the leader turns to face the dancers on her left, and travels back along the 'line' CW. This creates a new arcing pathway about two metres inside the first. Just before each bow dancers make eye contact with a facing dancer, and greets him or her with the bow. Educational Context: Greeting dance for any age group. Irregular phrasing (7) The melody has 5 notes (m f s l t). Chord structure is I I I I V I I The vocal style is paraphony (parallel harmony). Arrange for 2 vocal parts, soprano & alto recorders, moving bordun eg BM.	3. Zwiefacher - 'Die Alte Kath' - German Traditional Context Bavarian couple dance (Old Kate) in complex metre. Educational Context: The complex metre of 10/4 is an advanced musical concept that presupposes mastery of the more fundamental two and three feel, and develops the ability to changes from one to the other (3 3 2 2). The tempo is slower than most examples in Balkan music and therefore more manageable.
	4. Broigos Tanz - Yiddish Traditional Context: The dance is said to be about the making up of a 'broiges' or tiff between husband and wife Educational Context: Dance easy version, then advanced version, then create your own dances with scarves. Preserve the binary form and distinctive rhythms of the steps in each part. The regular changes between Am and E (then Dm and A) offer wonderful opportunities for melodic improvisation.
5. Itele - Romanian Traditional Context: A very satisfying group experience once mastered, including the opportunity to stamp loudly or call "Hop Sa Sa" in unison! Emphasize straight backs, leaning back slightly rather than forward looking at the feet. Educational Context: Practise steps without basket hold. Practise steps for B section first. The A section steps are as for the B section while also travelling.	6. Clog Branle (Branle des Sabots) - French Traditional Context: Arbeau comments that if one wishes the men make the first taps, and the women do so in the repetition and that those who wish introduce new mimings. Educational Context: Remembered remembered (sic) imitation. The leader improvises an action in 4 beats (Arbeau's "other mimings") all repeat this after waiting 4 beats.
7. Spanish Waltz - Dutch Traditional Context: Dutch couple dance Educational Context: The piece was selected for its irresistible exposition three metre. Each of five melodic sections repeats, one with a variation. One melody is of 8 bars duration, all others are 16 bars. The A melody returns as a Coda.	8. Dudalás - Hungarian Traditional Context: 'Dudalás' means imitation of the bagpipes (duda). Group dances such as this originated before partner dancing in Hungarian tradition. Dancers begin with hands joined in a line (a circle arc), the leader has L hand free, and the dance travels CW. The leader initiates patterns (as below) in an improvised sequence, which is imitated by the line. At a Tanz Haz (social dance) items are sequenced in fixed 'dance cycles', as in this case, where Dudalás is followed by Ugros. Educational Context: Dance leaders take care to choose patterns to match the musical phrasing. Melody 1 consists of phrases of 4 beats, melody 2 has 6 beat phrasing, and also ventures into Mixolydian modality. Both melodies suit recorder and metallophone or chime bar accompaniment.
8. Dunantuli Ugros - Hungarian Traditional Context: Ugros means jumping dance Dunantuli means South of the Danube See also notes for Dudalas Educational Context: The traditional form offers a superb opportunity for dance improvisation. The leader chooses or creates ostinato patterns and combines patterns moving to a new pattern in accordance with the musical phrasing and changes of tune. Note the traditional form of the melodies (ABB).	9. Malayan Hand Drill - Indonesian Traditional Context: A sitting down dance from Northern Sumatra and the Malayan Peninsula in which repeating unison hand drill patterns are performed in long rows to various musical accompaniments. Advanced versions involve symmetrical interactions alternating with 'neighbour-but-one' on each side.
10. Koftos - Greek Traditional Context: As is typical in Greek culture, the dancers begin with hands joined in a 'line' (an arc of about one quarter of a circle), the leader has R hand free, and the dance travels CCW. On the last beat of the phrase the leader claps in one of four positions:- in front, above the head, below knee level, behind back. All other dancers try to clap simultaneously with the leader. Educational Context: Dance game for any age group. Focus is on last beat of regular phrase. The harmony modulates between minor and relative major (Am and C). Arrange for recorders, melodic percussion eg BX, rhythmic percussion.

Folk Dance in Education

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The Shenanigans Collection "A wealth of repertoire no music educator should be without" Sue Buchan, Geelong College. The first Shenanigans album coincided with the Second Australian National Conference of Orff Schulwerk in Melbourne 1982. The cassette cover featured the image of a Celtic harp in black ink, each printed by hand with a rubber stamp 'Australian Folk Dances' was followed in 1983 by 'European and Israeli Dances' (harp in blue ink) and in 1984 by 'Shenanigans - Red' (harp in red ink). By the Symposium in Salzburg (1985) a further cassette had been produced which featured a drawing of folk dancers by Audrey Shoobridge (reproduced in green ink). At this time (1986) a commercial edition of 3 cassettes and booklets was produced, establishing the earlier home-made cassettes as collectors items. Not all existing tracks were included, new versions of some items were recorded, and new items were added. Dance Music for Children (purple jester by Kerry Gavin) most resembled the blue harp album. Dance Music for Children 2 (International Bush Dancing - Orange folk dancers) combined the black and red harp albums. Dance Music for Children 3 (Australia's Many Cultures -Brown Hungarian Folk Dancers) was based on the green album. 1987 saw a new concept, a 'teachers' pack' of 6 cassettes, the 'Complete Music and Dance Kit' (Pink - Dancing Southern Cross' drawing by Greg Caulton) which was later released as a single cassette. In 1989 a double cassette album of originals for small children featured artwork by Sharyn Madder: 'There's a Wombat in my Room' (singing games) and 'Dance Like a Kangaroo' (singing dances). Finally before the advent of the CD era, 'More Dance Music for Children' (two purple jesters) was released in 1990. Then came the era of Shenanigans on CD.... Gary King Sep. 2000

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