This is a wonderful catchy song from the carribean. There is a really great 4 person clapping game that goes with it too.
Anyway the words I learned at a workshop run by Doug Goodkin for this song never made any sense to me. But I did love the song as well as the clapping game.
No doubt a song like this has been passed person to person though many generations and do doubt the words have got changed.
Particularly as the song has crossed cultures as it was originally sung in the tropic and is now sung my me in Canada.
Four White Horses (words I learned from Doug Goodkin)
Four white horses by the river
Hey, hey, hey, up tomorrow.
Up tomorrow is a rainy day.
Come on and join our shadow play. Read the rest of this entry »
Jessica Vigars- Vocals and percussion
Joshua Engel - Vocals and Bass
Chris Cathraw - Drums
and Me singing and playing guitar
The band will play family oriented concerts and we have our first ones booked already at the famous Gladstone Hotel in Toronto.
If you and your family want to come please check here for tickets:
I thought it might be interesting to document the process of recording a song from start to finish.
Ok before you start recording you first need to have your song. For this process I am using the song “Some Like it Hot” a folk rhyme from England that was turned into a folk rhyme in Trinidad. I have been singing the song for a while and have adapted myself from the Trinidadian version. Then you need to get your musicians rehearsed. For the rehearsals you need sheet music I have been using a program called sibelius to do this. It is a nice music notation program which I have just started using and seems to work quite well. I made an arrangement that has drums, bass, guitar, and several vocal parts for the band to read in rehearsal and recording sessions.
This song will have the following instrumentation:
Drums
Bass
Guitar (several guitar parts 4-8 different tracks and sounds)
Voice (about 5 different parts)
Horns (probably 3-5 different saxophones and brass instruments though I might not use em)
Ok. I have heard a few versions of this great “repeat after me” song. One sung by Joel Exner (a former Rainbow Songs teacher) one sung by Alana Kurtis (another former Rainbow Songs teacher) and most recently this one sung by the staff of the Bayview Wildwood resort. Anyway if you know where this song came from or who wrote it or know other words please post them in the comments:
This is the words as sung by the staff of the Bayview Wildwoord resort.
The Moose Song (author unknown)
There was a great big moose (repeat)
Who liked to drink a lot of Juice. (repeat)
There was a great big moose (repeat)
Who liked to drink a lot of Juice. (repeat)
Wayo Wayo (repeat)
Wayo, wayo, wayo, wayo (repeat) Read the rest of this entry »
Recently I wrote music for and appeared in a new TV show called the “Jungle Room“. It is a reality show set in a daycare. I play “Mike” a musician who works with kids (a really big stretch for me). For those that are interested it airs now on TV Ontario Tuesday-Thursday at 6:45am and 1:45pm and I am in about a quarter of the episodes. Anyway I wrote a bunch of songs for the show and one of them was for their haunted house episode. It is perfect for Halloween so here it is:
Walking in the Night (Mike Whitla 2007) courtesy of Rainbow Songs Inc. and Sinking Ship Entertainment
1. I went walking in the night.
Then I saw such a scary sight.
I saw a witch standing there with a big black hat.
And at her feet was a scary black cat.
So I run and I run to get back to my house.
And I hide in my bed like a scared little mouse.
2. I went walking in the night.
Then I saw such a scary sight.
I saw an owl in a tree it could see me too!
Then all it said was hoot hoot hoot!!
There were bats all around and a grey wolf howled.
And the sound he made was just like OWWWWW!!
3. I went walking in the night.
Then I saw such a scary sight.
I saw a ghost standing there, it shrieked and squealed.
But I’m not afraid ‘cause that ghost ain’t real.
It’s my friend with a sheet, I can be one too.
Now I am the ghost and I’ll scare you!!
Now I am the ghost and I’ll scare you!! Boo!!
So I’ve formed a band. It features: