Gramma’s Pajamas
Price range: $7.00 through $20.00
When the tickly lace on Gramma’s pajamas causes her to giggle all night, nobody gets any sleep! Although she tries drinking hot milk and counting sheep as solutions to remedy her insomnia, nothing seems to help. The bluegrass-style accompaniment of Gramma’s Pajamas supports singers as they use their expressive singing skills to present this humorous tale.
Syncopated rhythms and quickly moving lyrics provide a good challenge for singers with a few years of experience. The lively feel of the music and the humour of the story make this a fun, light addition to concert programs and vocal recitals.
Listen to the Donna & Andy performance track:
Listen to melody + accompaniment:
Download Includes:
- Vocal score
- Lead sheet
- Director/piano score
- Lyrics
- Accompaniment – with melody guide
- Accompaniment – piano
- Donna & Andy band – instrumental track
- Donna & Andy – performance track
- Teaching Tips
- Cross-curricular activities
- Colouring page
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Gramma's Pajamas
Follow along with the lyrics as you listen to the accompaniment with melody guide for Gramma's Pajamas.
Gramma's Pajamas is one of 12 songs from the award-winning song collection "Dinosaurs, Dragons and Me". Donna Rhodenizer has written these songs in a variety of styles and skill levels for singers from ages 5-12+.
Learn more about this fun collection for elementary-aged kids, choirs and solo vocal students. The 123-page book provides the vocal score, full score and separate lyrics pages for 12 songs. Enjoy!
Please note:
Purchase audio tracks separately for the e-book version and Amazon print copies.
Print copies purchased (in North America) from the Donna & Andy website include the CD (24 tracks).
Stream or Purchase from many streaming sites including:
Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon, Pandora, Deezer.
The Dinosaurs, Dragons and Me CD (Donna & Andy performance and instrumental) tracks (24) are available for download or physical CD on this website.
11 Cross-curricular activities are provided in the PDF download extending the focus of this song to other subject areas including:
- Fine arts: music, visual art, design
- Language Arts
- Math
- Science
- Social Studies
- Technology
Teaching Tips
Introduce the song
- Invite students to share a favourite story about their grandmother.
- Discuss the story of this song.
Find the syncopated rhythms.
Clap the rhythms.
After the teacher claps the rhythm (bar by bar, or in short phrases) have the students echo. This rote approach helps students connect what they hear with the rhythms they are reading.
Explore intervals (octave jumps) and notes affected by accidentals.
Expressive Singing
Use dynamics, facial expression and clear diction to sing expressively as you present this humorous story to your audience.
What emotions will you convey as you sing?
Humor, frustration, exhaustion, etc.
Performance Presentation
Plan what you will do during the instrumental interlude.
- Add hand clapping or foot stomping
- Pantomime Gramma wearing her lacy pajamas and giggling
- Add props like a glass of hot milk or a toy sheep
Download (pdf), print and have fun colouring this page while you listen to the song Gramma's Pajamas.
Gramma's Pajamas
I grew up in a rambling farmhouse that included two kitchens and two living rooms. This “double house” setup accommodated my grandmother who lived with us for my whole life. It was great to be able to slip over to Gram’s kitchen for a treat or a snack when Mom’s mealtime options didn’t appeal to our taste buds. Gram also usually had a treat or two, including “store boughten” cookies. We considered this a treat, but her homemade chocolate chip cookies were also delicious and certainly worth eating.
Upstairs, a common hall connected all the bedrooms. My bedroom was across the hall from Gram’s. Sometimes Gram snored and it was loud enough that I could hear her from across the hall. Of course she denied being responsible for this nighttime din, but one afternoon when she was napping, my sisters and I crawled on hands and knees into her room to record her magnificent snoring. We presented the evidence to her later. She insisted it wasn’t really her and that we had just made up the recording ourselves.
When I first started writing this song, Gram’s snoring was the inspiration. However, my Gram was a proud and proper lady, and would have been mortified to have anyone know that she snored. So, I replaced the snoring details with lyrics about Gramma giggling from being tickled by the lace on her pink nightie and Gram’s reputation was left intact. Until now, I guess!
This song took a long time to write. I had the idea for the first line of the song in 1992. I couldn’t seem to figure out how I wanted the song to go, and the chorus and melodies for the verses kept getting mixed up. I would work on it and then put it away without completing it. In 2005, we (Donna & Andy) began planning for our Dinosaurs, Dragons and Me CD. I knew the bluegrass style of the song would be a fun addition to our CD and I decided to put on a real push to finish it. The musicians we hired to create the bluegrass instrumental track brought the music alive and the result is one of my favourite tracks on the CD. Sometimes song writing takes a long time. I am glad I kept my scraps of notes and didn’t throw them away. In this case, I think the thirteen-year wait was worth it.
When you have enjoyed singing this song with your students - please drop by again and leave a Review on this page. Thanks!
Included in this
12 Song Collection
Send us your video of Gramma's Pajamas and perhaps we can post it here.
| License | Single User License, Classroom / Studio License, Treble Choir License |
|---|---|
| Context | Choir – Elementary, Choir Repertoire, Classroom Songs, Expressive Storytelling Songs, Small Group Class, Song Collection – Dinosaurs, Dragons and Me, Vocal Solo, Choir – Unison, Cross-curricular Activities |
| Topic | |
| Level | |
| Voicing | |
| Vocal Range | A3 – C5 |
| Duration | |
| Composer | Donna Rhodenizer |
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