Spanish “Music” Project

Teaching and learning in Sarah Cartmill’s Spanish classes at Marcellus Senior High School took on a very rhythmic flavor during the month of February as students presented their Spanish “Music” projects. Each Spanish student researched a Spanish music performing artist and then presented a project that gave an overview of biographical information, musical/artistic influences, and honors/awards. Using technology that utilized the classroom “SMARTboard” and a variety of audio/visual power point innovations each student presented their projects to their classroom peers. Each project was presented both orally and visually in Spanish. Major artistic influences such as European, African, Indigenous, and Caribbean were spotlighted as students articulated the significant contributions of artists such as Thalia, Jose Guardiola, Pau Dones, and Jurabe DePalo . Each presentation culminated with an audio/video demonstration of the artist in performance. Joseph Isgar and Angela Pugliese presented on Tito Puente, an acclaimed Latin jazz and salsa musician who is often referred to as the King of the Timbales. Timbales are shallow single headed drums that were invented in Cuba. Isgar and Pugliese culminated their presentation with an actual performance that highlighted Puente’s music. Cartmill’s classroom was filled with the jazzy sounds of Puente’s music as Isgar on Trumpet, Pugliese on Saxophone, and Marcellus Senior High School band director Michael Cirmo on Timbales performed Ran Kan Kan.