Night of the Rapping Dead

Watch and listen to Night of the Rapping Dead, written and performed by Claudia Brant and the kids of Charnock Elementary!

ASCAP Residency @ America SCORES

Through a national partnership with ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), SCORES poet-athletes across the country are getting the chance to work with a noted song-writer to write an original song and sing it at a recording studio.

Last week, fourth and fifth graders at Charnock Elementary worked with song-writer Claudia Brant to write and record their own song. Claudia showed up on Wednesday to teach the kids about the structure of a song and the process that goes into writing one. Then the kids voted on a subject, title, and genre for their song. At the end of the day, they agreed to write a pop song about zombies entitled "Night of the Rapping Dead".


The following day, Claudia returned with her guitar and spent a two-hour session helping the kids write verses, a chorus and even a short rap for their song. Both Claudia and the kids showed enthusiasm while writing the song, and were excited with what they had come up with. After assigning parts and running through the song a few times, they were ready to record.











Yesterday after school, the kids took a bus to a recording studio in West Los Angeles to record their new song. Over the weekend, Claudia had created a music track, and sang over it so the kids could get a feel for what their song would sound like once finished. They split up into their groups and took turns recording their own respective parts, with Claudia's four year-old daughter Nina joining in with one of the girls groups. Even though it was a long day, the poet-athletes worked hard and stayed focused to make sure each part was perfect. At the end of the day, they heard a rough cut of what they had just accomplished and couldn't be more proud. Now they can't wait to receive a copy of the cd!

Claudia Brant has worked with a number of well-known artists from Carlos Santana to Kenny G. In 2009 she won a Latin Grammy for a song she co-wrote called "Aqui Estoy Yo", which was awarded "Song of the Year". America SCORES LA would like to thank Claudia and ASCAP for everything they have done for us!

At the end of the month, Toby Gad, another ASCAP artist will lead a similar program at Braddock Elementary.

To listen to songs from last year's ASCAP Residency, CLICK HERE. And to read the lyrics for "Night of the Rapping Dead", scroll down.



Night of the Rapping Dead

I was looking out in the night
I saw a monster and it gave me a fright
It started dancing until it bled
It was creepy, slimy, green and red

Pre-Chorus
One brain, two brain, three brain, four
All the bloody creatures are back for more

Chorus
Zombies, zombies
The cemetery kings
They eat all the living things
Zombies, zombies
Stuck in my head
Tonight's the night of the rapping dead

I feel goosebumps, I have nightmares
They wear spiders in their blue hair
Someone call the military
Oh boy, this is scary

Rap
I just wanna go home, I just wanna be safe
I wish my momma was here to get them out of my face
Halloween is over but yet they still chase
If they don't disappear, I'll spray them with mace

Charnock Elementary Celebrates Dr. Seuss

Today, in celebration of Dr. Seuss, Charnock Road Elementary hosted its 5th annual Read Across Charnock. This is an event where teachers and volunteers take time to read Dr. Seuss books to groups of students in their classrooms. LA SCORES' own David Joseph participated in this event. "Dr. Seuss bridges generational gaps. It's fun to share books that I had growing up with students and see that they continue to be exciting," says David. Volunteers were escorted to classrooms by members of the student council and read out-loud old classics like The Cat in the Hat Comes Back and You're Only Old Once. Afterward, they enjoyed snacks and refreshments with the student council. Read Across America is a nationally observed event to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday, which was on Tuesday, March 2nd.




Fun Facts About Dr. Seuss:

• He was born Theodore Seuss Geisel on March 2, 1904
  
• His parents were German immigrants who owned a brewery
• In college, he was editor-in-chief of a humor magazine, but when he got caught violating rules of the prohibition, he was forced to resign. However, he continued writing for the magazine under the name "Seuss"
• During WWII he joined the US Army as commander of the Animation Department of the First Motion Picture Unit
• In response to the rising level of childhood illiteracy in 1954, an editor from Houghton Mifflin created a list of about 350 words he thought first-graders should be able to read. He challenged Dr. Seuss to pick 250 words from that list and write a book that "children can't put down" using only those words. The resulting book was called The Cat in the Hat.
• UCSD's Geisel Library is named after Dr. Seuss

Read the Wikipedia article on Dr. Seuss