Three Blind Mice...and One Tone Deaf Foreigner

This week I taught my morning kids two new songs. The first was Three Blind Mice, which Teacher May and I had decided to teach them this week because we needed new songs. The song is a bit fast, so it isn't easy for them to sing. I tried to break it down so they could get a few syllables here and there. It was interesting teaching them the song because they really wanted to understand what the lyrics meant. If you recall, the lyrics to Three Blind Mice are a little…sick. I mean, clearly the universe hates these mice. First, they're blind. Then, they accidentally run into a farmer’s wife, who instead of adopting a cat to solve her mouse problem, promptly chops off their tails. What does that solve, anyway? And the song doesn’t even offer a happy ending...or really ANY kind of resolution. It just ends with “Did you ever see such a sight in your life, as three blind mice?” Who ends a sick song like that with a QUESTION?! Who wrote this song--Raffi??

Anyway, I was trying to explain it carefully so the kids wouldn’t be traumatized. May said they’d already discussed, as a class, the food chain and how humans not only kill and eat animals, but hurt animals for no reason. They didn’t seem traumatized, just a little confused as to why we were singing a song about mice getting their tails chopped off (and rightly so). When I was a kid, I never really thought about the words until I was older. I was more focused on the melody. Of course I knew all the words and what they meant, but I never gave it much thought. But these kids, being unfamiliar with the language, are focused on both understanding the song AND learning the words/melody.

And they love it. Well, maybe the song less than the cool moves I made up (impromptu moves, too!) to go with it. Since it’s not easy to describe choreography, here’s a video demonstration of Three Blind Mice. Yes, this is the singing voice I use to sing for both children and their parents. And this is me NOT sick, so my voice is sounding pretty good! Ha. And after seven months of daily humiliation, I have few qualms posting this on my blog. Plus, I think I've lost most of my readership anyway. :)

Guess which part they LOVE? The 'Home Alone' moment--slapping their faces. They shriek with glee every time we hit that part and then exclaim, “ONE MORE TIME!!”

The other song I taught them wasn't planned, and I have no idea how I know it. Maybe it’s called “In a Cabin in the Woods,” but I'm not sure. It, too, comes with choreography. Here’s a demonstration:

Teacher May was singing them a song the other day with the same tune. I sat there, trying to figure out where I knew the tune from, and then I remembered this song from a home video we have of me singing the song when I was a toddler with my mom. So I taught it to the kids. Guess which part they LOVE?

“HELP ME! HELP ME!”

Of course. They love it almost as much as they love “Have you ever seen such a sight in your life?”

So yeah, we’ve had fun this week, singing these songs. I'm sorry you felt you had to listen to them. At least you weren't the cameraman (poor Mike). Or Teacher May, who has to listen every day. The kids, eh, I don't feel sorry for them. They get me back daily when they touch me after picking their noses.