This week Hongqiao had special visitors from Norway. They taught a traditional Norwegian folk song to our year 5/6 students at the character education assembly and visited with students in 4A during their music class on Tuesday.
Ingrid and Else Brit, retired music teachers from Norway, were guests of Tammy Reddinger (Music Teacher) for the Qing Ming Festival holiday. During their stay they traveled to Luoyang and Xi’an to learn about the long history here in China in addition to exploring many parts of Shanghai.
While in Shanghai, they graciously agreed to teach a folk song and share information about their home and family in the northern part of Europe.
Ingrid and Else Brit taught the children a song called “Per Spelmann” which is about a young boy who bartered his cow for a violin. After much practice, Per discovered he loved the violin and playing music brought him and others much joy! What a nice connection for our students to associate with the violin program.
Else Brit also demonstrated a couple of folk tunes on her harmonica and jaw harp. Both instruments are traditional folk instruments in many countries.
Because Ingrid and Else Brit were visiting on Tuesday afternoon, students in class 4A also enjoyed learning the folk song and the traditional dance to “Per Spelmann”.
It was a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn a little Norwegian culture and the Norwegian ladies were most impressed with how quickly the children learned their song in a new language.
Primary Music Teacher – Tammy Reddinger