SHAKESPEARE SONGS
TEACHING MATERIAL
WorldVoice
Hey Ho
Warm up ideas
1. You can use some of the warm up ideas for Full Fathom Five (please see Full Fathom Five
teaching resource), to encourage connection to the breath with the ‘H’s of Hey Ho and for shaping
and unifying the vowels ‘eh’ and ‘oh’.
2. Using a steady, 4 beat pattern, gradually build up a body beat riff/ostinato. This could start as a
‘call and response’, the teacher playing a pattern and the children echoing. For example:
a. Stamp (left), stamp (right), finger click left, click right (repeat a few times)
b. Stamp left, stamp right, clap (pause, or silence on the last beat)
c. Add quick beats on 1 and 2 and 3 4, which could be: clap clap clap clap Stamp(L) Stamp
(R)
d. Let the children come up with body beat patterns as a ‘call’ for all to ‘echo’ back in
‘response’. Use other parts of the body on different beats, always rooting in a steady 4
count pattern:
i. Slap thighs
ii. Pat shoulders
iii. Gently slap chest
iv. Brush, or swipe arms
3. Listen to the first half of Hey Ho and explore adding some of the body
beat patterns you’ve created, listening carefully to the pulse of the
music and being sure to keep in time. It’s important the body beats
are not louder than the track.
4. After a few times playing with this, the children are likely to be
better prepared to begin learning the song.
www.britishcouncil.org
Teaching the song - Suggestions
Either with the children or just for you, take a moment to look at the ‘Hey Ho’ song structure below.
It may seem like a long and complex song to learn, but actually, once you’ve learnt each of the coloured
sections, short in themselves, you have the pieces of the puzzle to put together. Each coloured section
is only 4 bars, meaning 4 counts of 4: 1 2 3 4 / 2 2 3 4 / 3 2 3 4 / 4 2 3 4
1. GREEN: For the first rehearsal, invite the children to listen for the first counter melody ‘Hey Ho’ 1
in green (HH1). Notice it comes in when chorus, marked in red (CH) repeats.
2. Sing together, focusing on singing these longer notes with a good supporting breath before
starting each phrase. You could divide into 2 phrases: (Breath) Hey hey ho, (Breath) hey ho hey
hey ho.
3. Sing it with the track, over the Red chorus theme.
4. RED: After two, or three times of practicing this, the children will have heard the chorus theme
several times and may well be able to sing it now. Practice this, making sure of clear vowel
shaping, supporting the sound with good breathing and posture.
5. Now sing through the whole song, joining in each time the red and green theme come in. You’ll
discover you now know more than half the song.
6. BLUE: At your next rehearsal or so, you could lean the first 4 bars of the verse, called verse A
here.
a. Sing it first to ‘do be do’ until the melody is accurate and confident
b. Chant the text ‘It was a lover and his lass…’ perhaps stopping to explore / discuss As You
Like It, the ‘old’ English and Shakespeare’s plays , poetry or songs.
c. Once this is really well known, have a go at dividing group into two halves and singing as
a round. Then into three.
d. Once again, sing the whole song, singing all the sections you’ve learned, chorus and
verse.
7. YELLOW: Continue learning in sections, following the previous two sessions
with learning the descending 4 note pattern of verse B counter melody,
then singing over verse.
8. PURPLE: This is the last piece of the jigsaw, except for the Middle 8
section, or contrasting idea, mark on the diagram in pink, with the
counter melody in pale yellow.
9. As with the video recording of Hey Ho on the SchoolsOnline website,
this could be solo work for one of your keenest young singers.
It could also be a homework talk for a small group to go away
and learn on their own through listening.
NB: Notice that the last three repeated choruses are to gradually
grow louder and bolder, so encourage your singers not to give their
full sound away all at once, but remember; full hearty singing in
good voice is not the same as shouting.
www.britishcouncil.org
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