The song that pre-k students will perform at the spring concert is entitled Pre-K Shuffle.  The inspiration of Pre-K Shuffle is the boogie woogie walking bass  to Chuck Berry’s song called Johnny B Good.  In music a walking bass is a bass accompaniment generally consisting of unsyncopated notes of equal value, usually quarter notes (known in jazz as a “four feel”). Walking bass lines are used in rock, blues, rock-a-billy, r&b, gospel, latin, country, and many other genres.  The structure of a walking base line comes out of the 12 bar blues form.  In a blues song this 12-bar cycle gets repeated over and over through the course of the tune.  Walking basslines use a mixture of scale tones, arpeggios, chromatic runs, and passing tones to outline the chord progression of a song or tune.

12 Bar Blues Form

The blues can be played in any key. In whatever key you are in, 12-bar blues uses the same basic sequence of I, IV, and V chords. It is most easily thought of as three 4-bar sections – the first 4, the middle 4, and the last 4 bars.

The first 4 bars just use the I chord – I, I, I, I.

The middle 4 bars go IV, IV, I, I.

And the last 4 bars go V, IV, I, V. Then you repeat the whole thing again.

The chords in the 12 bar blues form is constructed from specific notes in a scale.  The Pre K Shuffle is composed in a C Major Scale.  The pitches in a C Major Scale are as follows:  C D E F G A B C.  The sequence of these pitches corresponds with a numeric order.  For example C is the first pitch of the scale so its number would be 1.  D is the second pitch in the scale, so its number would be 2.  This sequential pattern continues to the last note of the scale.  The diagram below show a 12-bar blues form in C Major.  Roman numeral I represents a C Major Chord (C, E , G).  Roman numeral IV represents an F Major Chord ( (F, A ,C), and roman numeral V represents a G Major Chord (G, B, D)

                                                           C   D  E   F   G   A   B   C

                                                             1   2   3   4    5   6    7    8 (1)

Pre-K Shuffle 

Verse One: 

 There’s a new dance in town

I think you ought to know

You have to move your body

From your head to your toes

It can be lots of fun

It can bring on a smile

You can dance with your friends

And have good time

Chorus

It’s called the shuffle, the pre-k shuffle

It’s called the shuffle, the pre-k shuffle

It’s called the shuffle; It’s called the shuffle

The pre-k shuffle

Verse Two:     You can do in the schoolyard

You can do it on the beach

You can do it in your dreams

When you’re fast asleep

You can do it with your mom

You can do it with your dad

You can do it when you’re happy

You can do it when you’re sad

 Repeat Chorus

It’s called the shuffle, the pre-k shuffle

It’s called the shuffle, the pre-k shuffle

It’s called the shuffle;  It’s called the shuffle

The pre-k shuffle

Call                                                                        Response

Hey (Child’s Name)                                             Yeah!

 Hey (Child’s Name)                                            Yeah!

 Do you know how to shuffle?                          Yeah!

 Let me see your shuffle                                     Child’s dances his or her shuffle

Repeat Chorus 

Please click on following link to hear to music accompaniment to Pre K shuffle.   Please play it at home so you can help your child practice singing the song.