Teach it… Backwards!

Hot Cross Buns. Easy song, right?

You probably learned it on the recorder as an elementary music student back in the day. So, shouldn’t Hot Cross Buns on the ukulele (using the notes C-D-E) be easy too? Wrong! I introduced this song to my second graders thinking, “they know it,” “even the weak music readers can learn it by rote” and “it’s a simple song…” However, I soon realized that it wasn’t as simple as I originally thought. Many of the students struggled with playing the open E string and then moving to the second fret D on the C string. It was essentially a multi-step process that they weren’t ready to, well, process.

On the spur of the moment I just suggested,

“let’s try this backwards instead!”

The class thought it was a great (and funny) idea, so we started tackling it again. They could easily play the open C string and then add the second fret to make the D. It was a one step process since they were staying on the same string. Seeing it become much easier, I gave them the challenge of learning the whole song backwards, and they were excited to do it. Once they could steadily play the song backwards, we flipped it around. And guess what? They got it! They had already spent lots of time reading the D and practicing pushing on that second fret, that it came much easier the second time around. Teaching a song backwards will definitely be a strategy I use in the future!