KaeruNoUtaga

Kaeru No Utaga

Let's learn the song!

Arigato, Michael!

Let's sing the song as a round! Arigato, Rana and Michael!

Unison: All voices sing the same melody with the same rhythm.
Round: A melody or rhythm that is repeated exactly by a second, third, fourth, etc., voice. In this song, the four singers sing two beats after each other.

Additional information (translated by Rana Harada):

The origin of Kaeru no Uta came from a 19th-century German song, Froschgesang (see below). Okamoto learned this song from a German composer, Dr. Heinz Werner Zimmermann, who visited Japan around the 1930s. Okamoto wrote the lyrics to the song, and it is known as Kaeru no Uta today. Kaeru no utaga is a popular song that is commonly found in Japanese music textbooks.

Source: https://www.tamagawa.jp/social/useful/tamagawa_trivia/tamagawa_trivia-22.html

Teaching multi-cultural and world musics is more than teaching “music”. By having an in-depth understanding of the music of different cultures ourselves, we will be able to help students sing, play music and gain greater insights into the music of their own cultures as well as other cultures. Once our students have studied their culture’s music from this integrative approach, they will be better prepared to appreciate and respect music from another’s culture. We as music educators, have an important role as carriers of culture. We must present materials to our students through an anti-biased filter and advocate what Derman-Sparks has said, “Differences are good; oppressive ideas and behaviors are not.” (p. x)