Darla Hanley's Music Room
Creative Teaching for Students of Today (& Tomorrow) PK-8
Today’s Teaching Strategy: Dancing Palm Trees
(Movement with Instrument Play)
Elementary (2-3)
© 2025 Darla S. Hanley
This teaching strategy is all about swaying to the pulse and feeling Ta-a! It goes with a 2025 track called “Flip Flops” by Rodrigo Santim because of its fluid “palm tree feel” (lol) and mellowness.
Note to any jazzers out there: Listen for the quote of “It Could Happen to You” (1943) by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke!
ProTIP/Spoiler Alert: The quote starts at 1.28 in the track and happens twice.
This track is available on multiple streaming audio platforms. (Like many of my teaching strategies, you should feel free to find other audio tracks to anchor the learning experience using music that works in your setting or new tracks to simply “mix it up.”)
Pedagogical Foundations
What music is appropriate for children? Um. Most.
In my view, children need to hear real music, across musical styles, performed by a million different artists (lol). This music needs to be everything: playful and serious, strong and smooth, and energetic and quiet, for example. It should, at some point, include traditional and non-traditional instruments, a variety of voices (solo and in combination), instrumental only, a cappella, acoustic, electric, etc. Plus, it goes without saying that the lyrics need to be kid-friendly, but otherwise…
I feel like I’m on a loop track here (lol). The selections of music we play for and with students matter. It’s like deciding which words to expose children to as they are learning a language. We don’t give it any thought as we informally (and formally) invite students to interact with—and use their words. We talk to them, they hear language, and it prompts their learning. In music, we need to play sounds for them, they hear that music, and it prompts their learning.
Further, students do not need to know the labels of what they are saying or hearing (e.g., noun, verb, adjective; solfege syllable, meter, chord progression) to initially engage with it and learn from and with it. All of that comes…
My mentor, Dr. Edwin Gordon, always talked about sound before symbol. We see this same idea in methodologies written by Johan Pestalozzi, Shinichi Suzuki, Zoltán Kodály, Carl Orff, among others. These scholars recognized the significance of the sounds we hear—and how we use them in music education. So how do we choose those sounds?
When I’m searching for new music for a music classroom setting I consider the following:
Quality!
(This is #1. Students need to hear solid intonation, balance, blend, articulations, and every beautiful artistic nuance.)
If they hear poor quality, out of tune sounds, etc. that’s what they will acculturate toward. Make sense? (Tune that piano! (lol))
Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, Timbre, Dynamics, Texture, Form
Style
Artist(s)
Instrumentation/Voices
Message within Lyrics
Date/Era
How do I react to it?
What’s my thinking about how it will resonate with students? AND
How can I use it to address learning targets?
I recently did a workshop in Europe where a music teacher was AMAZED by the recordings I suggested using in the PK-8 music classroom. He never considered using non-Classical or non-traditional music in his general music teaching. (What?) Needless to say it was pretty awesome when about a month after the workshop he sent me videos of his students playing instruments along with Count Basie and Horace Silver! I bet he’s added even more non-traditional tracks to his teaching playlists—and his students love it! (Note: I’m not suggesting that teachers replace using traditional or Classical selections with new ones. I say, include it all!)
Pedagogical Call to Action:
I encourage you to find a track to use in your classroom that represents an artist, musical style, or instrumentation—that is completely NEW to you and your students—and see what happens.
ProTIP: Streaming audio platforms (like Spotify) offer search capabilities, we know… but they also curate playlists of what’s new (and popular) at the moment—all over the world. Let the platforms do some of the work and check out their prepared playlists.
Today’s teaching strategy “Dancing Palm Trees” combines chanting, movement, and instrument play with a track and artist that’s 100% NEW to me! I hope you give it a try with your students. But first, let me remind you who I am:
Hi! I’m Darla, an experienced PK-12 music educator, college professor, and former Berklee College of Music Dean looking to connect with teachers, parents/caregivers, and others seeking to advance creative music making for today’s students—and their teachers. In Darla Hanley’s Music Room you will find teaching strategies, advice and teaching tips, playlists, and more.
Today we are going to pretend we are palm trees dancing in the warm breeze—and play shakers, ocean drums, and rainsticks!
Invite students to stand and sway (double time “Ta-a” feel) as you speak the chant. Video provided to make it easy!
Play the recording of “Flip Flops” by Rodrigo Santim and lead students to perform the chant and moves with the track.
ProTIP: Begin the chant at 0.23 following an introduction.
Now we will add instruments. First, let’s practice the parts!
ProTIP: Lead students to clap the shaker “Ta-di” rhythms, and mimic holding and slowly turning the ocean drum (Ta-a) and/or rainstick (Ta-a-a-a) while you demonstrate how to hold and play them.
Select a small group of students to play shakers, ocean drums, and rainsticks (2-3 students per instrument type). Distribute instruments and review instrument parts by rote to remind students of what they play. Watch me. When I point to you, begin playing. Keep playing until I give you a signal to stop.
ProTIP: The idea here is to have the opportunity to assess student’s abilities to play rhythmic patterns so keep these groups small—and rotate students in and out.
Play the recording and “layer in” instruments to enter during the introduction. Lead the chant and movements as before.
Which instrument part matches our swaying palm tree movements? (Ocean drum)
ProTIP: If not introduced previously, this could be the opportunity to formally teach the half note (Ta-a) symbol as they have moved to it and played it on instruments.
ProTIP: You know your students—if this isn’t the time to teach music notation, making the connection between the rhythm of the movement and a rhythmic pattern will further prepare them for when you do!
Materials/Set Up
Space for Movement
Shakers
Ocean Drums
Rainsticks
Scarves or Ribbons*
🎵 Rodrigo Santim "Flip Flops” Link to Track on Spotify
Dancing Palm Trees
© 2025 Darla S. Hanley
Dancing palm trees in the breeze
Moving calmly as they please
oh, what makes them move so slow
Ocean winds that gently blow
[Sway, sway, sway, sway]
[Ta-a, Ta-a, Ta-a, Ta-a]
Video
Dancing Palm Tree Rhythms
© 2025 Darla S. Hanley
EXTEND the Learning:
Invite students to create new ways to move as palm trees (still using the Ta-a rhythms).
ProTIP: Give time for students to explore ideas and create movements—only offering suggestions, as needed.
Distribute scarves or ribbons (2 per student) and have them “sway their scarves” and they perform the chant with the track.
Learning Targets
Move, Play, Connect
Learning Outcomes
Respond with movements and instruments
Create new movements to reflect a Ta-a rhythmic pattern*
Perform a chant with a movement and instrumental accompaniment
Assessment
Formal Observation/Summative Assessment
*This only happens within the EXTEND the Learning part of this teaching strategy.
Thanks for checking this out. If you use this teaching strategy, be sure to leave a comment to let me know how it resonates with your students!