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Because It’s Chemistry

by Tiffany Getty - June 11, 2015

About two months ago, I decided to try to spice up the curriculum to my 11th grade chemistry class, by attempting to write a song parody to Disney’s Frozen “Let It Go.” The name of my song was “Chemists Know” and it was about a topic called stoichiometry (calculations of chemical quantities, such as the mole quantity). I bought an mp3 version of the song and recorded over. It was not a great recording – but the kids loved and started singing it all around the school. Their enthusiastic response to this song got me thinking…could they actually write a chemistry song?

So I proposed a crazy idea to my 12th grade (second-year) class, since the class was much smaller and they have a lot more chemical knowledge (than the 11th grade class). I gave them an option for the end of the year: take a final exam, or, write a chemistry song parody. The decision was unanimous (writing the song parody). The stipulations were as follows:

1.) Students had to work individually, or in a pair

2.) The person/pair who had the best song would get to record their song (I could only choose one song to record because the end of the year was very close), and receive a small prize

3.) If they all pulled this off, during their final exam time slot – they would get to learn about the chemistry of homemade ice cream (and basically have an ice cream party).

There were six songs submitted, and the one I chose to record was titled “Because It’s Chemistry” (a song parody of “Shut Up and Dance with Me” by Walk the Moon), and it was written by Jordan Butters and John McKelvey. My rationale for picking this song was:

1.) They got a couple of really important chemistry topics in their song (in terms of the lyrics vocabulary)

2.) I liked the fact that song they chose is “catchy”, and also that is popular right now.

Recording the Song

I was out of school for a couple of days, so I sent the kids down to the band room with a microphone and my laptop. I offered to buy them an mp3 karaoke version of the song – but they insisted they wanted to play their own instruments and record their own version of the song. I let them roll with it, and prayed that when I returned to school that they had something (anything at all) recorded on the laptop I gave them.

When I returned, I literally teared up, when I heard the song they recorded. I was blown away with their talent, and their ability to execute a very difficult task … not to mention that it was actually a good song!!! I was also thrilled that they recruited two band members (who are not in my class!) to help them out.
In the song recording: Jordan Butters is the singer, John McKelved is playing drums and the marimba, Ally Hepp is playing saxophone, and Keegan Reifer is playing the bass clarinet.

The Music Video

After the song was recorded, I posted it to the student portal of all my classes (12th grade, and 11th grade). My 11th grade students loved the song so much, they asked me if they could make a music video to it! I was thrilled, but we had to work fast – there were only about 5 days of school left, and I could only record their video on their own time (I couldn’t do during school, they would have to come in after school if they really wanted to this). To my surprise, they came in after school and recorded the video.

The kids came up with the script for the video (I simply took direction from them, since I had no clue what I was doing!), and recorded it. They had a great time, as did I. I actually felt like a student, since this type of thing is not my specialty!

Credits:

Writing: Tiffany Getty

Produced by Vogt Media

 
 
 
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