This came from our music teacher at St. Ignatius Elementary in Detroit. I never saw her name in print, but I’d guess it was spelled something like Sister Atarata, though at the time, the phonetic spelling I saw in my head was Odda-Rodda. In any case, I suppose it was a good rhythmic sort of name for a music teacher. One of the many songs she taught us was a little ditty for helping us to remember our musical scale; that is, the eight notes that make up “Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do.” When singing the following 8-line song, simply use a repeated “Do” note for the first line, “Re” for the second line, and so on:
I have a little pussy
Her coat is silver grey
She lives out in the meadow
Not very far away
She’ll always be a pussy
She’ll never be a cat
For she’s a pussy willow
Now what do you think of that?
I don’t believe that one ever made it to “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Clearly, it was a more innocent time.
