ENGLISH VIII, Group: ________ UNIT 3 – MUSICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY OUTLINE

Name ____________________________________ Date _________________

Musical Autobiography Project

Outline

The first step of this project was a pre-writing activity where you thought about the importance of different music in your life, why it’s
meaningful or special to you and about specific songs that have special memories for you. The next step is to decide which of those
stories will be appropriate to turn into written personal narratives and an oral presentation where you tell about the stories behind
why these songs are special to you. Use the following questions to help you.

What songs and stories that you thought about in the pre-writing exercise are particularly good stories that you might like to spend
time writing about and share with the class?

Why are those stories the most interesting or meaningful ones to you?

Which two are the best stories that you can use for this project? Please keep in mind the topics that are prohibited for this project.
1. When I was in tenth grade and with my classmates did a choreography that was so difficult but everyone in the grade learn and was
a good performance

2. When my grandpa teaches me to love boleros and we was all the afternoon in the living room listening music and saw musical
videos.

Explore these two stories in more depth using the questions below to start forming your ideas for the project.
STORY #1

1. What is the song that is connected to this story? who performs or performed it?
The song is Boom and it is performed by Major Lazer and Moti.

2. What is the connection between the song and the story? Why is that significant?
This song was the musical theme that my mates and me use to do the choreography for the performance in the cultural week in our
school. It is significant because we practice every week during a month and half and was very important due to the group start to be
more connected.

3. When did the story take place? How old were you?
The story was in the year 2016, at my school in Puerto Tejada town when I was 15 years old.

4. What happened in the story and how did you feel? List the events and your feelings. Add more if you need to.
a)

I felt…
b)

I felt…
c)

I felt…
d)

I felt…
e)

I felt…

5. What aspect of the song was meaningful or got your attention, the music, the rhythm, the lyrics, or something else? How can you
describe that meaningful aspect of the song?
The rhythm of this song is very attractive to listen. When I listen the song, I want to dance and start to move from side to side.

6. How did the song make you feel at the time that you heard in in the story? How does that same song make you feel now when you
listen to it?

7. How do you want to introduce the story to the reader?

8. What emotions do you want the reader to feel? How can you achieve that in your storytelling?
STORY 1.
It all started in a dance class at school. I was the new student, and I didn't have a tight-knit group of classmates because I was still
adjusting. The dance class was a very overwhelming place for me because I am from Bogotá, and its people dance horrible, they have
no rhythm, the spice of the people of the Pacific. So, because I had been in that new place for a short time, I had not yet learned to
dance. Therefore, when dance class started, I became the most introverted person and felt like hell because of the shame I felt.

However, with the pass of the time, I conformed a solid group of friends. I didn’t know to dance, but I have friends and the shame
disappear. For these reasons, when in the final work of the dance class was a performance, one of my best friends, Daniela, propose
that my group were one of the candidates to propone a choreography and enter in the competition for the best choreography to
present in the final event of the year. I don’t know why, and although I was very nervous, I said yes, in part because the objective was
to enjoy with our friends. And that was the plan, with my mates and friends were going to plan a choreography without thinking in
win.

During weeks, we practice for presenting the choreography to our classmates and teacher. We saw a performance of two dancers of
USA that did a choreography for one song that was the favorite of my best friend and me. This song is called Boom and is performed
by Major Lazer and Moti. In that moment, Daniela and I were literally obsessed with that song because have a real good melody and
makes us feel animated in the breaks of the classes.
STORY #2

1. What is the song that is connected to this story? who performs or performed it?

The song is “La cama vacia” and the singer is Oscar agudelo

2. What is the connection between the song and the story? Why is that significant?

3. When did the story take place? How old were you?

4. What happened in the story and how did you feel? List the events and your feelings. Add more if you need to.
a)

I felt…
b)

I felt…
c)

I felt…
d)

I felt…
e)

I felt…

5. What aspect of the song was meaningful or got your attention, the music, the rhythm, the lyrics, or something else? How can you
describe that meaningful aspect of the song?

6. How did the song make you feel at the time that you heard in in the story? How does that same song make you feel now when you
listen to it?

7. How do you want to introduce the story to the reader?

8. What emotions do you want the reader to feel? How can you achieve that in your storytelling?