Our weather has finally changed here in Southern California. Trees are beginning to change colors and mornings and evenings are cooling down. Neighborhoods have started putting out pumpkin decorations and those who plan ahead have already begun to gather candy.

Halloween is coming.

I shared in this post that I’m actually not a huge fan of Halloween. Many people love being scared. They love all things spooky, and are thrilled to dress up as witches, ghosts, and goblins. I happen to not be one of those people.

Our students are the same way. Some of them love spooky songs, others can take them a bit too seriously and it’s not a fun time for them. Some schools may even discourage teachers from singing scary songs.

So today I’m sharing songs that are perfect for Halloween - whether your students love to be spooked or they’re just in it for the candy.

1. Spooky Scary Halloween Songs

Witch, Witch

This song has its origins as a nursery rhyme.

The two note chant it easy for students to sing in tune, making it appropriate for younger grades. Alternatively, you can speak it as a rhyme like I have notated here.

Young students will also love the game that accompanies the song: the student as the “witch” stands in the middle of the circle. After the last line (“no, you old witch!), the students scatter and the witch must catch someone to take his / her place in the circle.

Recommended Grades: K - 2

Musical Uses:

Singing assessment of the child in the middle
Solidify steady beat in a compound duple meter
Shouting versus singing voice
AB Form

Miss White Had a Fright

This rhyme is pretty humorous, and fun to chant. Many teachers use it with younger grades because the rhythm is so straightforward. I’ve done a post about using it for rhythm vs. beat here.

However, creatively this rhyme is so playful it lends itself to older grades as well. Here are some ideas:

Recommended grades: 2nd - 3rd

Musical Uses

Act it out in small groups
Ask students to create an ostinato using sounds like "Eek! A ghost!" "yummy yummy" and "shhhhhhhhhhh" or whatever inspires you from this rhyme.
Add an intro with wind chimes, a rain stick, or any other instruments students choose
Add dynamics: ask students to decide which places should be quiet, and which should be loud.
Perform: some students speak the rhyme, some act out the rhyme, some play instruments, some speak the ostinato.

Ghost of Tom

This song also goes by the name, Ghost of John. Like many folksongs, Ghost of Tom has a shared background between more than one place. Some sources say it has its roots in Kentucky, though some have traced it to Europe. Either way, it’s a great one to use this time of year.

Upper grades who are not as easily frightened may find humor in the last line. It also has a pretty extensive range, making it great for your older students.

Recommended Grades: 3rd - 5th

Musical Uses:

Sing it in a round
Range extension (the “oo” vowel is great for helping kids with their head voice)
Singing in natural minor

2. Not So Spooky Songs

If you teach in a school that doesn’t celebrate Halloween, or you have students who are easily spooked, enjoy this collection.

Five Little Pumpkins

This rhyme is darling, and perfect for young students who enjoy counting songs. Much of the song can be dictated easily, allowing you to pull target phrases out for students to analyze. The exceptions are lines with an anacrusis to the next phrase, or lines with a rest.

Recommended Grades: K - 1st.

Musical Uses:

Rhythm vs. Beat: students track the beat by pointing to strips of pumpkins
Act it out
Give each pumpkin an instrument representation to play while the class speaks the rhyme
Dictate the last phrase using pumpkins placed over hearts

Who’s That?

While note technically a Halloween song, nor necessarily a fall song, I think Who’s That fits nicely into our theme. Students can recall going door to door collecting candy when you introduce this song.

To play the game, students march in a circle, with one student in the middle who has his / her eyes covered. Two others are stationed somewhere else in the classroom. One child outside the circle is assigned to sing “mammy”, the other to sing “daddy”. When the song ends the two outside students silently walk back to the circle so the child in the middle can guess whose voices he / she heard.

Recommended Grades: 2nd - 3rd

Musical Uses:

Half note
Do - sol
Singing assessment
Add a call and response intro: the teacher “knocks at the door” (claps hands) and students give her a contrasting answer.

Big Rock Candy Mountain

The length of this song alone makes it appropriate for older grades.

There are a few versions of this song. Some have a little more detail about the main character in this song (a traveling "hobo"). I chose this version because it was the one I grew up with, and the focus is on the candy - perfect for Halloween!

Recommended Grades: 3rd - 5th.

Musical uses:

Ask students to think of types of candy, and then group them by names that have the same rhythm
Create a contrasting B section of candy names, then put on body percussion and/or instruments.
Make up a new verse
Anacrusis
Dotted quarter and eighth note
Fa

Halloween is a really special time for our students.

These songs are perfect for meeting students where they are musically, while enjoying all the fun of Halloween!

Enjoy!

It's no secret that I've never met a Saint-Saens piece I didn't love. I've blogged about him and his works here, here, and here. Students also love his pieces because they're so easy to listen to and use some amazing imagery. He's by far one of my favorite composers for introducing classical music to children.

But as much as I looooooove Saint-Saens, I do have a confession to make:

I'm not too crazy about Halloween.

There. I said it.

I've never been one for scary movies. I have an aversion to being scared out of my wits by a spooky ghost story. Hauntings, witches, zombies popping out of nowhere. . . just not my thing.

That said, I've never protested to eating my weight in Halloween candy. (I suppose the holiday isn't that bad after all.)

Many of our students enjoy all things spooky and scary but some students can be really bothered by it. With that in mind I work to find a balance between the two types of students. Perhaps that's another reason why I love Camille Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre so much.

It's creepy for sure, as any song about Death dancing with skeletons should be. But the music is also so fun and clever it's hard not to love it.

About the Piece:

If you aren't familiar with this piece already, Saint-Saens based it off of a poem by Henri Cazalis. Here is the translation:

Zig-a-zig-a-zig it's the Rhythm of Death!
Death at midnight playing a dance tune,
Zig-a-zig-a-zig on his violin.
The winter wind whistles and the night is dark.
The winter wind whistles and the lime trees moan.
Weird white skeletons streak across the shadows
Running and leaping wrapped in their shrouds.
Zig-a-zig-a-zig the dance grows even wilder
You can hear the eerie clatter of the dancers' bones
But wait! Suddenly they all stop dancing.
They scatter, they vanish for the cock has crowed.

Saint-Saens does an amazing job of painting the imagery in this poem with his music. As you listen you can hear the howl of the wind, the dancing of the skeletons, and the rooster crowing before the skeletons leave.

Take a Listen!

The Game:

For this game you'll need a violin bow. (If you don't have one, use a rhythm stick and just pretend!)

You'll also need to be pretty fimiliar with the piece, or at least have a good idea of what to listen for.

(0:25)To begin the game, all students stand drooped over, like sleeping skeletons.
The teacher (playing the part of Death) will slide through the graveyard as the song begins, holding her violin bow and looking at the sleeping skeletons.
(0:50) When the melody of the song begins, the teacher will wake up the skeletons one by one by tapping them on the shoulder with her hand as she dances through the graveyard.
As the skeletons wake up they'll fall in line behind the teacher and copy her dance motions.
(Since the piece is a little long you might consider passing off the bow to a new student to become Death and lead the dance.)
(6:57) When the rooster crows at the end of the piece (played by the oboe) the skeletons freeze and the teacher touches them on the shoulder again to make them fall back asleep.

This is a super simple game and very easy to play, as long as you're familiar with the piece. Your kids will love it!

Let me know how it goes!