In the Art Room: Art Will Rock You! An Art History Song

Hi, friends! This past weekend, I went all crazy and decided to write an Art History Ballad to the tune of Queen's We Will Rock You. You see, I've had this Rockin' Art History Wall in my room for ages...but I always thought it'd be fun to have a song to go with it. If you follow me and my art teacherin' adventures here, you've seen some images of my magnificent (ahem) song writing attempts. This week, after our sketchbook time, and right before our painting adventures, we took a 5 minute trip to the Art History Wall and I taught my third and fourth graders the first two stanzas (is that what they're called?) of the Art Will Rock You song. I managed to film a class of third graders singing the song and chatting for a hot minute about the art history the song covers. I had to keep it short and sweet as we had a lot of other things to pack into our hour together. 

My sincerest apologies for my voice. And that jib-jab in the middle. feel free to just scroll on to the end to catch the second half of the song. 

I did do a lil reno on the wall this summer as the purple papers were looking a lil faded. 

The first portion of the song is about Rock Painting followed by Ancient Egypt. Here are the lyrics if you'd like!

This one was so much fun to write...I wish the others had come as easily. A songwriter, I am not!

A lil tricky to sing, as you'll notice in the video. We'll get it!

The next portions of our song will include the Ancient Greeks and Romans. I'll be teaching a little more of the song each week...at least, that's the plan. With it only taking 5 minutes, I think it will go well. I did have a couple extra minutes at the end of a first grade class this week and we did it too! They loved it! All that stomping and clapping was a hit with the kids. 

I'm not totes in love with the lyrics for the Romans and Greeks so they are kinda a work in progress. If you've got suggestions, I'll take 'em!

And if you decide to use this in your art room, I'd love to hear from you! You can always comment here or shoot me an email. I'll be sure to update the blog with more of the song as it comes along. And, if you'd be so kind, if you do use this, please share this blog post with your friends so they can as well. Thanks!