ABC Creative Music are an organisation aiming to produce programmes which engineer grown-up musical creativity into child-friendly resources. Their new programmes focus on Scots and Gaelic language (among others).
ABC Favourites for Burns Night – ABC teamed up with leading folk singers Karine Polwart and Inge Thomson to produce resources that allow children to not only sing some classics using the original Scots language, but also play them on tuned percussion. Songs have different options for the range of age groups and abilities from Reception to Upper Primary. Auld Lang Syne, Ae Fond Kiss and Ye Banks & Braes are all available to ABC subscribers and you can preview this resource by following this link.
Scots and Gaelic Resources – In addition to the Burns material their new course features more songs in Gaelic and Scots sung by some of Scotland’s leading traditional singers.
Scotland has a rich musical tradition of song in all three languages spoken in the country; English, Scots and Gaelic. Learning to sing in both Gaelic and Scots is an extremely rewarding experience for children, not only can they learn words in a new language but they can gain a better understanding of the wide vocabulary available to them in both Scots and English. Children in the rest of the UK can also benefit from learning more about the rich musical traditions in their neighbouring country.
Available tracks sung (and indeed rapped!) by Corrina Hewat, David Donnelly and Mary Ann Kennedy are:
Beo (fun song for all ages in Scots)
Ion Da (lovely Gaelic Song for all ages),
Katie Beardie (traditional song in Scots for all ages)
Count to Four (ABC favourite sung in Gaelic)
The Aliens Have Landed (a fun contemporary song in Scots for P4-7/Yr3-6)
A Man’s A Man For A That Rap (the Burns poem brought up to date as a rap).
Visit ABC’s website to find out more.
