Today in music class we enjoyed learning about the history of castanets and playing different songs with them! I've taken the following excerpt below from "The History of Castanets" at http://www.carmendevicente.com :"The castanets are a centuries-old, percussion instrument whose earliest recorded history dates to over 1000 B.C. and whose origin is attributed to the Phoenicians, a culture imminently commercial, who thrived in the countries surrounding the basin of the Mediterranean: Greece, Turkey, Italy, and Spain. However, over the course of history, it has been Spain that has conserved and developed their use and as such, the castanets are considered the cultural patrimony of Spain (they are considered the national instrument of the country). Thus, the castanets are usually used with the music that gives a Spanish color and character to that music."
Some of the fun children's songs we used castanets today for were "Walk all around" (which we changed to "click" all around".) This song reinforces basic rhythm and also incorporates a fun "freeze" time where everyone stops and silences their instruments! We also sang "Five little Monkeys" and the alligator was, of course, the castanet! We also did the name game, "I've got Five Little Fingers" and other fun songs.
Check out the videos below from our infant class today, and also the three's room!
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