Uno

The original idea behind Uno was to have a simple song that taught counting from one to ten in Spanish. As we know, music is a wonderful way to teach an idea. It allows for repetition of material, and more important, it gives the information a melody which makes the learning more memorable and more fun. When John actually set out to write the piece, he quickly discovered that verses of four numbers sounded nice, and well, ten doesn't evenly divide by four. So, he wrote "Uno" to teach counting from one to twelve instead.

The piano part is very simple, but it doesn't keep the pulse that the accompaniment recording does. You can play the bass line for the first eight measures, but after that, the piano is more supplemental.

If you want to give your students simple hand instruments (shakers, claves, guiro, etc.) they could keep time with their instruments. You may want to experiment with that option. Of course, by using the recording (which is free with this issue for subscribers), you will get the benefit of a full rhythm section and authentic Latin percussion.

Please note that the Spanish words are spoken after they are sung. We thought that saying each word after singing would reinforce the correct pronunciation. (It's also a little clearer and easier to understand the spoken numbers than the sung numbers in many cases. Since we are attempting to help students learn to pronounce foreign words, we figured that was an important distinction.) We have also included a handy dandy pronunciation guide to help you teach your students how to say each word. Have fun counting!