5. Cycling Around

Bicycles and tricycles became synonymous with Coventry thanks to James Starley.  This syncopated tune evokes the Ragtime era and provides opportunities to combine multiple voices and body percussion rhythms in a ‘bespoke’ creation!

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S

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C

 (repThis song has the effect of sounding really busy and children should begin by going with the flow, letting their ears lead the way through listening to the track over and over. Gradually, with the aid of the vocal video, the voice will begin to follow the musical lines and then singing may be refined! 
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The structure is as follows:
A: Introduction - the first four parts enter in canon, chanted rhythmically.
B: The 5th part joins the fray.
C: Riding on my bicycle/Riding along/Freewheeling/I can play piano.
D: Dancing to Ragtime (repeat from C) and please move!
E: Outro: See how the five parts are 'whittled' down to none.
 
Who can meet the cycling challenge and sing all the parts from low to high? 
Use vocal inflection for fun to add interest and help differentiate between cycle names. 
    
At the beginning and the end,  experiment by chanting the weird and wonderful names of cycles and familiarise your singers with their rhythms by exploring body/untuned percussion. 
 
♫     How many songs can you find about bicycles? E.g. Daisy, Daisy.
💡   Chart the development of the bicycle from the 1880s to the present day.
culturespacecoventry.com/gearing-up