We Rock!

John and Teresa have teamed up once more for the fifth issue of the year. This time, the focus is on pride, teamwork, and accomplishment. What a great song to use for graduation! Of course, it can also be used for any occasion that warrants similar celebration, such as sporting events or any team-based activity. In fact, any time your students have made great strides (or are about to), this song can help to inspire.

We have deliberately written the song in either unison or octaves. The lower part is optional as always, but we thought it would be more comfortable for your changed, changing, or lower voices. Hopefully, this will encourage those young men to join in as well.

"We Rock!" is a very energetic rock tune (what else?) with a heavy emphasis on electric guitars. We think that the Performance/Accompaniment CD (or Cassette) is very cool and appropriate for the performance of this song. And while you may feel that the young rocksters in your crowd could do justice to a live performance of it, you will want to take a peek at the bass line at measure 17. It is doubled on guitars on the recording. If you don't have players who can quite cover this line, you could have your live players play along with the recording, filling in and beefing up the sound as they go. That way, if they have to do any alterations at measure 17, the line is still solidly there.

Alternatively, if you want to add theatrical fun to the performance and you don't have any real live players, consider adding "air guitars." You could use inflatable ones or just have your players pretend (as they often do, no doubt). They could also play "air drums," if they'd rather.

The lyrics at measure 17 may remind you a bit of the whole character emphasis we have been writing about this year. We figured you would be okay with the reinforcement in yet another song. And by the way, if you're doing the musical revue From The Inside Out, you might consider adding this song to it. (The entire revue was included as part of the first three issues of this year's Music K-8. Go back and check it out if you missed it.)