Gotta Have The Music

This bluesy, hard swingin' tune is perfect for your distinctly music-centric performances during Music In Our Schools Month. Of course, you don't have to limit it to that purpose, especially since it doesn't reference the occasion by name. You might also just want to delight in singing with your students about our mutually favorite subject! However you use it, we think you'll agree that this tune is fun, catchy, and on point topically. We do indeed "gotta have" the music.

If you have a chance to play the instrumental tracks from our Performance/Accompaniment recording for your students, they will be treated to a phenomenal performance by our terrific studio gang, not to mention the ear candy of Paul's jazzy arrangement. Plus, you never know when you have a young jazzer in your midst locking in on inspiration you play in your classes!

While the song is not difficult (it's all unison), it does require a bit of interpretation for the best results. We call it "triplet intensive" because swing rhythms are based on a triplet undercurrent, and sometimes, like in this song, they are pronounced. Once they get those threes going in their heads, it should come pretty easily for most. Consider starting out by just chanting "1-2-3, 1-2-3" over and over to a steady beat, then plugging it into the audio before singing. And remember that eighth notes are sung like broken triplets, which is indicated by the parenthetical notation next to the style marking at the top of the music. When in doubt, just listen and imitate. Our performers on the recording give a great stylistic demo. Once yours have it, let them fly. You can also take the opportunity to further explore swinging, jazz, and so on, but we leave that to you. For our purposes, just be sure they sing out with energy and passion.