Inspired by the recent visit of songwriter Dan Crow to our school, Grade 3 decided to write a new version of one his most popular songs, Apples and Bananas.
The song has just one line, ‘I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas’ but in each verse the vowel sounds are changed and the results are very funny.
How we did a new version of Apples and Bananas
1 First we worked in pairs, thinking of different types of food and writing down possible new words for the song. (For example, cucumber and rhubarb or jelly and ice cream.)
2 Then we tried singing different combinations of words, changing the vowels each time to see which ones worked best.
3 Next in groups of four or five we shared our ideas and then the groups performed their own versions of the song for the rest of the class.
4 Having selected ‘Potatoes and Tomatoes’ for our new lyrics, everyone then learned to play the melody on keyboards and xylophones. Some students also learned to play the bass line.
5 Finally, we divided the class into singers and instrumentalists, rehearsed and then recorded the song.
We will send a link to Dan Crow to see what he thinks. We hope he likes it!