Rap Workshop 101A course by Alex Judge

Weeks 1+2“East Coast Hip Hop”

Originated In NYC, 1970’sMulti-Syllabic RhymesWordplay and MetaphorsAggressive BeatsExample: “Can I Kick It”- A Tribe Called Quest (1990)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFe6LEcZ9p8

Weeks 1+2 cont.“West Coast Hip Hop”

-All about the bass-Example: “California Love”- 2Pac, ft. Dr. Dre

(1996)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUB86wHz658

Weeks 1+2 cont.“Southern Rap”

-”The Dirty South” style-Horns, Snare Rolls, Slow Southern

Drawl-Example:

SpottieOttieDopalicious- OutKast (1998) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXmqauitBkM

Week 3“Empire State Of Mind” Project

-Designed to “get the students’ feet wet” in the wonderful world of rap music, students are to compose one verse to be recited to the song “Empire State of Mind”, by Jay-Z, ft. Alicia Keys. The subject matter of the song is your school.

Compositions will be shared among students in class, at the end of the week.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr1QYKbFG8c

Week 4“Drum Beat Verse Project”

-Using the “Studio Lite” app, students are to record 32 measure verse over a drum track of their own creation. The focus of this week is to provide the students with a tutorial on how the program works,

and to allow students experiment with voice recording and drum beat making.

Week 5The focus of this week is to write and record verses for the drumbeat project. These verses will be performed in front of the class at the end of the week.

Week 6“Jam With Chrome Project”

-The purpose of this project is to incorporate rap music in the ensemble setting, through the use of Jam With Chrome. I will do this by dividing the

class into five person ensembles, where four people will be instrumentalists, and one person will be a rap soloist. Instruments and rap artists will be swapped frequently.http://www.jamwithchrome.com/

Week 7“Jam With Chrome Networking Project”

-This project is designed to take the same premise as week 6’s class, but have mixed ensembles with another class that is similar, across the country. This allows for students to get different feedback than ever before.

Week 8“Bass Line and Drum Beat Project”

-Using “Studio Lite”, students are to write and record a 32 measure verse that includes just a drum beat and bass line of their creation. Subject matter must be tasteful, but can be of their own choosing. This week will include a teacher led tutorial on the program, and time for students to experiment with the program on possibilities.

Week 9“Bass Line and Drum Beat Project cont.”

-The focus of this week is to allow students time to compose and record their verses.

Week 10“Positive Rap Battle”

-In this project, students will be assigned a rap battle opponent at random. The catch is, however that it is a “positive” rap battle, where the opponent has to write a verse that says only nice things about their opponent. The instrumental track will be selected at random, form a group of teacher composed Garage Band Loop Tracks.

Tracks vary in tempo, instrumentation and intensity. The focus of this week is preparation.

Week 11“Positive Rap Battle” cont.

-The focus of this week is the actual execution of the Positive Rap Battle, which was in its preparation stages during the pervious week.

Week 12“Synth Melody, Drumbeat, and Bass Project”

-Using “Studio Lite”, students are to write and record a 32 measure verse that includes a drum beat, bass line, and one synth line of their creation. Subject matter must be tasteful, but can be of their own choosing. This week will include a teacher led

tutorial on the program, and time for students to experiment with the program on possibilities.

Week 13“Drum Beat, Synth Melody, and Bass Project cont.”

-The focus of this week is to compose, and record the verses for this project.

Week 14“Mixlr Broadcast Concert”

-This assignment involves students broadcasting all of their creations up to this point, on the live broadcasting music sharing site, Mixlr. For the pre-recorded tracks, the voice track will be stripped, so that the songs can be recorded live. The focus of

this week is to work on stripping the vocal tracks, and practicing for the concert.

Week 15“Mixlr Broadcast Concert” cont.

-This weeks focus is solely on the Mixlr concert broadcasts.

Weeks 16-21“Live Instrument Collaboration Project”

-Collaborating with a wind instrumentalist, electric bassist, and a drum set player, students are to compose a complete rap song with two verses and a chorus that is about a national level political issue of their choosing. Songs will be recorded using Garage Band Software (tutorial on teacher recorded video), and upon completion, they will be sent to national youth political advocacy organization, TakingITGlobal. http://www.tigweb.org/

Weeks 16-21 cont.“Live Instrument Collaboration Project” Bench-Marks

-Week 16: Groups assigned, instrumental parts are composed (mostly will be simple re-occurring

ostinato loops).-Week 17: Rap verses and chorus are written, instrumental parts are honed and mastered.-Week 18: Catch-Up and Rehearsal-Weeks 19-21: Recording, Production, and

Sharing/ Sending Recordings

Weeks 21-28“Full Song Project”

-Using the Studio Lite app, students are to compose and record a full song (four verses and and a chorus) that is on a tasteful subject of their choosing. The song must include at least four different instrumental tracks, and incorporate something “different” during the chorus.

Weeks 21-28 cont.“Full Song Project” Bench-Marks

Week 21: Teacher Tutorial and Examples, Initial Experimentation.Week 22: Continued Experimentation, Initial Instrumental CompositionWeeks 23 + 24: Instrumental CompositionWeeks 25 + 26: Lyrical CompositionWeek 27: RecordingWeek 28: In-Class Sharing

Week 29“Mixlr Broadcast Concert Part 2”

-Now that the two major songs have been composed and recorded, it is time to once again share them with the world through Mixlr! As was the case last time, the performances will be completely live, so the instrumentalists will have to be present for the performance of the live instrumental track, and the voice track will have to be stripped from the other one.

Weeks 30 + 31“Mix Tape Project”

Students in this assignment are to upload all of their recordings on to iTunes, and create a mix tape. This mix tape will come complete with album art, a track list, and an audio book. Students will be given multiple copies of this mix tape, for them to distribute as they wish.

Week 32“Freestyle Unit” Part 1

In this introduction to the unit, students will participate in a “speed dating”-like activity, during which they will have 2 minute conversations with one another. The catch is… they have to stay on beat with a metronome, and there can be no pauses for lengths longer than five clicks. Halfway through the week, the metronome will be substituted with the same pre-recorded loop tracks from the “Positive Rap Battle”.

Week 33“Freestyle Unit” Part 2

-The purpose of this week is writing. Students will write a list of “safety lines”, that they can use to rescue themselves, when the inevitably run into trouble. Current events, metaphors, and wordplay are all good subjects for “safety lines”.

Week 34“Freestyle Unit” Part 3

During this week, students will be working on Garage Band, to create loop tracks. These tracks will be used in week 35, during the final part of this unit. At the end of the week, a CD, of all of the students’ loop tracks will be provided, so they can get used to their general “flow” over the weekend.

Week 35“Freestyle Unit” Part 4

During this open “freestyle jam session”, if you will, many different real-life scenarios will be placed in a hat, and selected at random, to be the subjects of students’ freestyles. Instrumental tracks that were created during week 34 will also be selected at random.

Weeks 36-39“Final Subway Concert Preparation”

This course will conclude with a final concert at a unique venue: a subway station! I came up with this idea, because I feel that a weakness with non-traditional music education is the limited live performance opportunities. Because of this, I wanted to bring music to a place where large ensembles physically cannot fit. This concert will also serve as a fund raiser for the school music program. During this week, vocal tracks will be stripped from recordings, and all songs learned throughout the year will be practiced.

Week 40FINAL SUBWAY CONCERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AdvocacyNational Standard # 1 (Singing)National Standard # 2 (Performing on Instruments)National Standard # 3 (Improvising)National Standard # 4 (Composing)National Standard # 6 (Listening/Analyzing)National Standard # 7 (Evaluating)National Standard # 8 (Relationship Outside Arts)National Standard # 9 (Relationship History/Culture)