Aiken Drum
Scotland
HISTORY AND SONG NOTES
Aiken Drum is a Scottish folksong, which originated in the early 1700s.
This song works well an interactive group instrument playing song, with the children contributing their ideas throughout. For Aiken Drum, we suggest that you stop at the end of each verse, and give the children opportunities to suggest different yummy foods that Aiken can be made of: perhaps his mouth is made out of a banana, or his ears are made out of cookies… You may notice in the score above that his “eyes were made out of apples” and that we offer several choices on the recorded version below, but these are merely suggestions. This is an opportunity to encourage the children to be creative. You can also draw a picture of Aiken on the chalk board or white board while the children sing the song, illustrating the various food facial features that the children envision.