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) Teachers show us what will be the activity for the cultural week

I felt excited
b) I realized that I had to dance in front of everyone

I felt anxious
c) My mates and me practice during weeks to do a good performance

I felt tired
d) My group win the competition

I felt euphoric

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. For this reason, it was that we did not hesitate to present our choreography with
this song. In addition, my group of friends knew how to dance, and they liked to be in the rehearsals that we did for the choreography.

The big day has come to present our work to our teachers and colleagues. I was very nervous, because despite having practiced so
much, I was afraid of forgetting or making a mistake in any of the steps. However, behind all this was my insecurity about the way I
danced. However, and thanks to my friends, this was put aside, and we decided to begin the presentation of our work. To my surprise,
when we finished the presentation, it had been very good, so much so that they did not even vote to see which choreographer
presented the grade in the cultural week, everyone had liked our choreography.

Finally, our choreography was taught to each of our classmates in the classroom and we presented it successfully in the cultural week.
I think that time was the only moment where I saw our group so united with a common goal. From that time, I have the experience of
never being intimidated by the lack of skills, since everything in this life can be learned. Nowadays, every time I listen to the song, I
remember those weeks of hard work and it still amazes me how we managed to get 40 people to learn the same choreography. This
experience taught me that with the help of music and dance many things can be achieved, even if it represents trust in ourselves.
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?
The son is significant because is the son that remind me my grandfather and her taste for the boleros. And my storie is about an
afternoon with my grandfather

3. When did the story take place? How old were you?
It takes place in my current house, that was in that moment the house of my grandparents. 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) When I realized that I don’t have nothing to do

I felt depressed
b) I found a task, order our music.

I felt blissful
c) My grandfather saw musical videos for first time

I felt nostalgic

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?

STORY 2

It was a normal day like any other in 2016. I had been living on the farm for a short time with my grandparents, after having a life
made in Bogotá and having to leave it lying around. Therefore, I was going through difficult times, where I felt lonely and
overwhelmed. So, at that time there were times where even depression reigned, since, from living in a city, starting to live in the
country is a strong change for anyone. In addition to this, we did not have internet, perhaps that was the strongest blow, therefore, all
the time I was looking for things that would distract me.

This is how one day, I began to order our entire music library. My dad loves music, but he has never been very orderly, therefore we
had hundreds of discs with music videos but no names. So, I decided to start seeing one by one what was the content of each disc and
start marking it or putting it in its corresponding cover. At one point, I came to a DVD where you could see songs from the genre of
boleros with their respective video. At that moment, I could feel my grandfather's curiosity aroused.

My grandparents were humble farmers, therefore, they had never had the opportunity to have the typical things that people usually
have in cities, such as DVDs, televisions and others. So, when my grandfather could see that boleros started playing and could see the
singer or representative videos of the song on the screen, he immediately caught his attention. At that moment, when he approached
me, he was not very aware that it would be one of the best afternoons I would have with my grandfather. And there we were, all
afternoon talking about music and boleros, and listening to the wonderful lyrics that boleros have. However, there was a song that
impressed me, called Oscar Agudelo's “La cama Vantage.” This song has sad and moving lyrics that remind us of how ephemeral life is.

With my grandfather I learned many things. He was a very wise man with exquisite taste in music. That afternoon I was able to really
meet my grandfather and share a beautiful moment, which will always be in my memory. My grandfather died some time later, but
whenever I listen to the song I mentioned above, I remember his face admiring the music videos. In this way I prefer to remember my
grandfather, someone smiling and lover of music.