Parachute Jump Song
Magdalena Liendo
After your jump is when you can really start thinking about what music will go best with what you have been doing. Skydiving for the first time is an experience you will treasure forever, and it is highly recommended to invest in proper media of your jump. You will return to the video of your very first skydive for years and years to come, so making sure it has the right songs is crucial. There are some songs of dubious quality that have become connected to skydiving over the years. Here are the main offenders:
The EAA Oshkosh show is the only demo we do where all 12 members on the team attend and jump together...(free DC-3 jumps!)...It's not a 'skydiving song' but it's a tradition for over 25 years to break out into Love Potion #9 during climb to altitude
Dates back to the early 80's, when their were only 3 of us on the team...most of the guys don't even know 'why'.
Believe me, I've got all the on-line songbooks and all the stuff here, as well as original copies of what I guess was the first printed one (Poynter's).
What I'm trying to figure out is when skydiving songs more or less stopped being part of the culture.
(And Cardinal Puff, but that's for another time.)
HW
Set up for toddlers: With a small group you can do any of the same set ups mentioned previously. With a very large group I feel it is safer, and easier to manage, if children are on top of the chute. Ask grown ups to scoot back and spread the chute in the middle of the floor. This usually requires temporarily re-locating toddlers so I usually ask grownups to grab their children while we are spreading out the chute. I just move any stragglers myself. Once the chute is laid out, release the toddlers!
Any of the following songs and rhymes can be done with any age group, really, just judge your audience for how much they can handle. If there are children who seem nervous or you know have never experienced a parachute before you might try these adjustments:
-Ask parents to hold the chute high enough that adults can maintain eye contact with their child. While the chute is up you can ripple it gently while singing. You will only want to do one, maybe two short songs this way as grown up arms will get tired fast. This works especially well for babies on their backs.
Roly Poly I really like to do this with kids who are used to the chute as you can make some pretty forceful wind by lifting and lowering the chute fairly quickly. Just be careful not to knock over walkers with a gust! I usually ask them to sit for this song.
Wheels on the Bus This is a good one for standing so you can actually go round and round, open and shut (in and out), swish, swish (side to side) but you could do most those sitting as well. The up and down verse works especially well. Thanks, again Anne for this idea!
I use the parachute in every baby storytime and they LOVE it! The current favorite is the itsy bitsy spider, adapted to lift and lower the parachute. I have done it standing and sitting, and they love it either way. ?
Two of my kids used to enjoy parachute play at our local free community centre; this post has reminded me to take my littlest now that the older two are at preschool. ? Glad to have stumbled across your blog.
Hi Lisa- Thanks! I am really lucky that I not only have a large space but also a 24 ft parachute. I always bring the jumbo and my medium sized 12ft chute in the room with me. If the group is huge we use the jumbo and if not we use the smaller one. With the large group I do a LOT more instruction to the adults in the room to make sure we all stay safe. Basically just reiterate my opening spiel a couple times in slightly different ways. When we are past room capacity and have 90 people in the room (not uncommon), I often put the chute on the ground and have kids get on top of it instead of underneath. This way we can see them better and they love it just as much. Mostly the same rhymes and songs too. Does this help? How many are you getting? If you want, you are welcome to shoot me an email and we can talk it out some more. Peaceluvbks at gmail
Thanks for all the ideas. I use Ring a ring a roses, Zum gali gali, Round and around and around we go and Down up, down up, bouncing about like a ball. I have a 16 handle parachute and most children like to to go underneath although some enjoy holding the handles.
I use this version
Zum gali gali
Zum gali gali
Now the wheel is a turning
Zum gali gali Zum gali gali
Zum gali gali
Now the wheel is a turning
Zum gali gali Zum gali gali
Sung to the tune of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", the song tells of a fatal training jump of a rookie paratrooper whose parachute fails to deploy, resulting in him falling to his death. Each verse describes the man's death and the subsequent condition of his body in the aftermath. The chorus mimics the chorus in The Battle Hymn of the Republic, replacing the lyrics "Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on." with "Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die! He ain't gonna jump no more."[2][3]
The song is a cautionary tale on the dangers of improper preparation of a parachute jump.[4] The protagonist does almost everything right but forgets to hook up his static line which would automatically deploy his main parachute. Upon discovering this error during the jump, he deploys his reserve chute in bad falling position. He becomes entangled in the parachute's canopy and risers, falls uncontrollably, and dies upon impact with the ground. American parachute rigs during World War II stored the reserve parachute in a belly bag, so deploying it in a bad falling position could easily lead to an accident similar to the one described in the song. "Risers" are the four straps that connect the suspension lines of the parachute canopy to the parachute harness.
The song is associated with all current American airborne units, including the 82nd Airborne Division, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, the 101st Airborne Division and 11th Airborne Division, and the 120th CTS (United States) as well as British airborne units. It is known as "Mancha Roja" (Spanish for "Red Stain") in airborne units from multiple Latin American countries. In Spain it is called "Sangre en las cuerdas" ("Blood on the lines").
WWII veteran Vincent Speranza was recorded singing the chant in 2019; the video has more than one million views on YouTube as of December 2023.[5] Speranza later recorded his own version of the chant.[6]
However, if you do not have a Parachute, you can use a small blanket or towel. These tracks are also great for children to do using their own version of a parachute. For example, use a dancing scarf for parachute tracks.
"Activities involving both music and movement can be helpful for children to develop physically, cognitively, and emotionally. This album combines various musical styles with developmentally appropriate activities such as loco-motor activities, crossing the midline, body part identification, and self-expression to name a few. Rock out to these songs in a gym, a classroom, or at home!"
Your instructor will want to be able to communicate all sorts of things to you. You will review landing procedures together once your parachute is open, and then you will obviously do the real landing at the end of the jump. Communication is especially key for this part of the skydive. Your instructor may even just need to say something as mundane as asking you to shift your weight a certain way.
That minute of freefall felt gloriously long, but then as quickly as I had jumped the parachute was up, and instead of throttling towards the earth at speeds that made my eyes water and my mouth go dry, we were suddenly floating gently below the clouds. At times it felt like we were headed out to sea, but the instructor knew what he was doing and expertly steered us back to landing.
Congratulations Alex, that looked amazing! I did a skydive in Tuscany of all places, and felt very similar to you prior to leaving the plane! We jumped from 15,000ft and it was one of the best things I have ever done. I would love to do a jump in Hawaii as well, the scenery looked incredible ?
Giselle would never jump out of a perfectly good plane. I on the other hand went skydiving with my Mom for her 50th birthday. something she wanted to cross of her bucket list. It was awesome and so much fun!! ?
Sarah and I just jumped in Playa del Carmen and it was pretty much the awesomest thing ever! It gives new understanding when watching other peoples videos. Yours looked equally awesome with an additional awesomeness added for the extra long free fall (you can tell how jazzed I am by the jump from my excessive use of the word awesome).
Great video, the photo at the end is fantastic.
As a solo skydiver, I have to tell you to try it solo. There is nothing like it.
Being in control of yourself is so rewarding when you are up there.
"It's nice that it's starting to get warmer outside," Rut declared to her granddaughter Per before the attempt, praising the sunny spring day and the cloudless sky: the perfect weather to enjoy a parachute jump.
Over the many years of parachute training there has been many songs created for the pupils to sing to keep their spirits up, whilst conducting this, sometimes dangerous parachute training. Here are some examples:
This is an odd collection of songs composed and sung by he parachutists whilst undergoing training at RAF Ringway Aerodrome. These songs have been collected together by CSMI Grant, APTC, 9th Bn, Parachute Regiment. The actual words have been slightly changed in order to suit home consumption, but nevertheless the general idea is still there.
"Action Stations and Go are two commands very well known. The former speaks for itself, and Go will haunt many parachutists long after their parachuting days are over, Yelled in a loud voice, heard over the roar of the a engines, and whoop-- he is lying on the slipstream with just another jump to his credit.
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