In my last two blogs, I explained the new game/contest we are playing in my most advanced class called “Speed Composing”. Basically kids have 30 minutes to write a minimum of 16 measures of music in a specific style. For more information on this game/contest, see my blogs Speed Composing and Speed Composing 2. The kids wanted to add “Latin” as a genre for the competition. I gave them three days to pick a specific Latin style and do the research on that style.
For the last three days, students who never come to the Lab any time but during class were showing up and asking for help. “Miss, is this Mambo”? “Can you play that samba bell pattern for me”? “How slow is Cha Cha Cha”? When it was time for class, they came running in to get a head start on the contest. Hey, I had a $15 iTunes gift card going to the winner! We had nine kids participate but not all of them did the research and used authentic beats. You know, add a shaker and a conga part then call that “Latin”. So, those were disqualified. This time, instead of the “applause meter” as a means of voting, the kids cast their votes for the winner on slips of paper.
Did they learn something? You decide. Hold your cursor on a name below and click to hear the music!
THIS MUSIC IS NOT PART OF THE CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE. ALL MUSIC IS PROPERTY OF THE COMPOSER AND SUBJECT TO ALL APPLICABLE LAWS. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO USE IT ALL OR IN PART, PLEASE CONTACT ME SO I CAN PUT YOU IN TOUCH WITH THE COMPOSER.