Karaoke in the U.S. History Classroom
Background
The word Karaoke means empty orchestra from the Japanese Kara = empty and Oke (short for Okesutora) = orchestra.
Karaoke tracks are without lead vocals. The lead vocals are provided by the performer singing the Karaoke song through a microphone.
The song is played in the background and the words displayed on a television screen.
Singing Karaoke songs is a stimulating and fun activity that can be exploited to teach almost anything to learners of all ages and levels.
Assignment
Option 1: Write a song about a topic related to U.S. History and perform it in class. I have several CD’s in the classroom that contain karaoke songs. The lyrics must be performed to the tune of one of these karaoke song tracks, or a karaoke song track you have at home. You may write and perform the song individually, as a duet, or as a group of three. Keep the Lyrics clean and school appropriate.
Option 2: Find the Karaoke version of any song about U.S. History and sing it in class without re-writing the lyrics. However, you must include a written analysis of the lyrics. You may perform the song individually, as a duet, or as a group of three. Keep the Lyrics clean and school appropriate. (Some songs about U.S. History include American Pie, Ohio, Sweet Home Alabama, Fortunate Son, We Didn’t Start the Fire, Blowin in the Wind, James K Polk. Southern Man, The Last Resort, A Month of Sundays, I Saw It On TV, Buffalo Soldier, etc.)
Hint: Can’t find the karaoke version of a song you want to perform? Try downloading Audacity (a free software download) and use it to remove the lead vocals from your music file (it doesn’t work 100% of the time!). Just follow the directions below:
*LAUNCH THE AUDACITY SOFTWARE PROGRAM, AND FOLLOW THESE STEPS CAREFULLY.
1. Import a stereo recording, then click on the track pop-up menu. (It’s the black down arrow over the Mute & Solo buttons on the left side of the track.) Select “Split Stereo Track”.
2. Select the entire lower track (the right channel). One way to do this is to click in the area around the mute/solo buttons.
3. Choose invert from the effect menu.
4. Use the track pop-up menus again (They are the black down arrows over the Mute & Solo buttons on the left sides of each track.) Select “Mono” for each of the 2 tracks.
5. Listen to the results by pressing the play button. In most cases the vocals will be completely gone or drastically reduced!
6. Highlight both tracks: Choose the Edit menu, then Select, then ALL. Then quick mix the tracks: Choose the Project menu, then Quick Mix.
7. Save your new song without vocals to a file using the “EXPORT AS WAV” option from the FILE menu. (see below if you want to export files in the MP3 format) For the vocals to be completely removed, the song must be in stereo and the vocals should have been recorded directly in the center of the track. If there is still an echo from the vocals, they were probably not recorded in the center of the stereo, so no software will be able to completely remove them.
Assessment
Write or Analyze song 50% grade + perform the song 50% grade=100%
