Music - An International Language

Written on 7/27/12

One of the newer young teachers at MBI is a very motivated woman nicknamed Bella.  Today she was to work with the choir groups.  The girls' group would have a competition on Saturday.  They needed to have a good final practice today.  It would turn out to be the boys’ practice day as well, however their competition wouldn’t be until Sunday.  Since the visiting and observing of classes, by now, seemed to be a decision left up to Nancy and me, I decided to spend time with the choir classes.  The first thing necessary was the finding of a space to use.  A room was found, but needed to be cleared and cleaned.  Sound equipment was brought in and set up.  Students and teachers struggled with the equipment.  Only some of the mics worked consistently. 

These girls were ready to begin before
the remainder of the choir arrived.

I checked in to see how the competition went when I saw the girls two days later.  I learned that the girls took a second place.  Very nice job, Ladies!

The piece begins with a traditional,
melodic sound, but mixes in a little
beat-boxing and catchy rhythm.

The boys' choir group's competition is
not eminent, so they goof around a bit
more than the girls.

Because I am American, and these teens listen to and know how to sing many American songs, they serenaded me with a couple of familiar favorites.  My students will really connect with them. 



After spending much of the morning with the choir groups,
I realized that they know some songs my own students would
recognize.  They agreed to sing one on video for my students
and write out the lyrics.  (I agreed to show it only to my students.)

Perhaps one surprising thing for me this day was that the music the students and teachers chose was fun and foot-tappingly addictive.  Since I agreed to show the videos only to my students, I won't post them here, but you can find the American songs they sang at these links:  Second Hand Serenade, Fall for You, and Adele's, Someone Like You.