I’m always on the lookout for fun and NOVEL kids’ songs. Anyone else get tired of London Bridge?? 🥴

I often incorporate singing into piano lessons to switch things up, build musical skills away from the piano, and give us songs to learn by ear on the piano later!

Here’s one that many kids haven’t heard but love to sing and play once they hear it.

It’s called “Fiddle De De” or “The Fly and the Bumblebee.”

This song is so flexible. It’s great for private lessons as well as groups of any size – just assign one group to be the flies and the other as the bumblebees.

Here’s how I presented the song this time: 

1. Introduce and assign the two instruments – one for the “fly” and one for the “bumblebee”
2. Sing the song. I like to “count in” with both a visual/kinesthetic reference (by tapping my hands rhythmically) and an auditory reference by saying “tap-ping” in triple meter, since that’s what the song uses.
3. Give an instruction for each participant – i.e.. “every time I sing FLY, the FLY person will play their instrument”
4. Sing again, implementing the new instructions
5. Repeat and expand – this time, I sang through the whole song on the syllable “bam” while *only* the fly “sang” along with me (played the instrument). Then I did the same with the bumblebee.

What are some of your favorite songs to sing with your students?