The Spanish 7/8 classes and band at GEMS collaborated to produce a cover of the Spanish pop song, “Loca” by Alvaro Soler. With the help of Chris Gribnau, the music teacher and Laura Mathieu, the Spanish teacher, students performed both the music and words to create a music video. The process took weeks and involved a lot of hard work in transcribing music, practicing instruments independently, memorizing lyrics and recording separately until finally putting it all into a single music video. Students were surprised they were able to memorize words in a second language.
As with many pandemic projects, we ventured into new territory, pushed our comfort zones and learned a lot. Working on separate recordings presented the challenge of separate timing rather than emergent unison. Work ethic, positivity and overcoming shyness and nerves were all valuable goals. While not perfect, we see this project as a success and hopefully the beginning of future collaborative projects.
It is notable that some qualities of students in both Spanish and band include perseverance, open-mindedness, and resiliency.
7th Grade wisdom:
“I learned to speak more Spanish and some new words.” -Kaitlyn
“I learned that a lot of people were not comfortable singing but they still tried.” – River
“What I learned from working on Loca is that hard work can pay off and the end result can be better than you think.” – Alexis
“One thing I learned doing this project was working on my instrument again. Having a song to play made me want to practice my instrument.” -Leah
“From working on this project, I was able to step outside of my comfort zone and work with others. I didn’t feel confident in myself at first, but after practice, I was able to finish the project feeling more confident than at the beginning.” -Mattie
Some other words of wisdom from our 8th Graders:
“I learned to not be embarrassed, you just gotta go with the flow and not care what other people think. Practice lyrics and also just have a good time with it even though you may not want to because these are the times you will remember.” -Briana
“While working on the “Loca” project, I learned that singing in a different language is hard. Yes, we practiced and practiced but doing this was hard but so much fun.” -Raegan
“I definitely learned how to work in unison with my peers and remembering lyrics.” -Megan
“Some advice I would give is to not be shy, be open and make the best of it.” -Kenna
“I learned that you can pronounce words differently to match a beat.” – Cadien
Click here to watch the video!
This blog was written by:
Julie Conrad is currently Principal of Georgia Middle School and is a regular contributor to THE FWSU STORY. You can follow her on Twitter @JulieConradVT
CO-WRITTEN BY:
Chris Gribnau, GEMS Music Teacher & Laura Mathieu, GEMS Spanish Teacher
The FWSU Story 