Little Johnny Brown

“Little Johnny Brown” is an extraordinary African-American singing game, with lots of call and response, group interaction with the individual players, and opportunities for invention and improvisation.

Doug Goodkin, who is one of the top Orff educators and clinicians in the U.S., has this excellent introduction to “Little Johnny Brown” on his website. It’s a PDF file with images, a small score and discussion.

And some video segments are available: a recent performance and the older version seen on YouTube (above) led by the Georgia Sea Islands singer, teacher and author Bessie Jones.