Ready, Set, Learn Series: Karen Romano Young, Author

Cab Calloway

He was the hi-de-ho man, who called out a chant for the audience to repeat. Much loved and much imitated, Cab Calloway is the inspiration for this activity.

Helps develop: listening skills, rhythm, relationship between words and music, memory

You'll need: catchy phrase, such as a line from a Cab Calloway recording

Before you begin: Use a Cab Calloway line, or any catchy phrase or tongue-twister, to start you on this activity

What to do:

1. Play Echo with your child. Ask him to listen to you and repeat what you say. Begin with a one-word chant. Have your child echo one word at a time.
Hey. (Hey.)
Ho. (Ho.)
Hi. (Hi.)
Who. (Who.)
You. (You.)
Me. (Me.)
They. (They.)
Hey! (Hey!)

2. Work from one word to two words and then three words or more.
One. (One.)
One two. (One two.)
One two three. (One two three.)
One two three hop. (One two three hop.)
One two three jump. (One two three jump.)
One two three go! (One two three go!)

3. Invite your child to start the chant and you be the echo.

Follow-up activity: Sing songs that have echoes and responses. Here are some favorite examples. See Helpful Hints for others.

• "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with responses (ask a grade-schooler to sing it for you)
• "The Other Day I Saw a Bear"
• "Rise and Shine"

What's Happening: Most children can sing, but not all can sing with other people. Singing an echo is a discipline that requires listening, recalling, and repeating. Echoing is fun, it's a cooperative effort, and it produces a beautiful sound.

Moving Ahead: Encourage your child to listen for songs with echoes in them while you play the radio or a tape.

Helpful Hints:
• Rise Up Singing (Sing Out Corporation, 1988) is an excellent source of all kind of songs, including many echo songs. It includes guitar chords and information about the recordings.
• Check Cab Calloway recordings for these echo-chant songs, among others:
"Fifteen-Minute Intermission"
"The Calloway Boogie"
"Hi-De-Ho Man"
• Read Yo! Yes? by Chris Raschka (Orchard Books, 1993).