From Swords to Guitars: Putting the Past to Music in English I
By Erin Cico
May 26, 2009
This spring the freshmen English class put a new spin on a classic Greek epic by creating a music video. After reading Homer’s The Odyssey, three groups of students revised song lyrics to fit the ancient tale of heroism and adventure. Once the songs were written, students added props, costumes, and choreography to create a 1-2 minute music video. During the video shoots, students performed multiple takes in front of their classmates as well as additional students and teachers wishing to observe.
Performing their spin on the “Power Rangers Theme Song” was Sammy
Prohaska, Scott Paseka, and Broc Vyhlidal. Rocking out to their
appropriately titled video, “Power Greeks”, they sported guitars
and jumped around the room pulling off various rock star stunts.
While they were filming, it was hard to believe that it was three
students performing and not Motley Crue.
The second group took the rap song “1980” and told the story of
Odysseus and his wife Penelope. Brooke Vanek and Justin Rasmussen
rapped the lyrics while Hannah Schaefer and Amber Booze performed
difficult choreography as they played the couple on their wedding
day. The highlight of this video though was the synchronized
“caterpillar” dance move from Brooke and Justin that opened the
video.
Katie Arp, Ryan Sousek, and Tanner Wesely took a childhood classic
and added the one element that makes the Odyssey a classic:
Violence! The annoying dinosaur credited with singing, “I love you,
you love me”, might be less than amused by the lyric changes made
by the group. Instead of singing about love, these students belted
out, “I hate you, you love my wife”, all while “slaying” each other
with prop swords. The conflict this group wrote about refers to the
suitors who try to woe Odysseus’s wife while he is away.
All three groups did an excellent job of capturing different themes
and elements from this epic, and they had a fun while doing it.
They worked hard to incorporate motion along with their words.
Because multiple takes were shot, editing is becoming a long
process. Ms. Cico will have these videos ready for viewing during
the summer and will give each participant a copy.
