Mr. Stephan's Music App class writes the Blues

Nov. 15, 2020

By Dina Ingram

Mr. Harold Stephan shares in his Music Apprecation class, students learned about the Blues as a form of African-American folk music. After studying the format and structure of the Blues, students were asked to compose original Blues lyrics. They were to base their lyrics on their experience so far at Stuyvesant, imagining the faculty as the "landowners" and the students as the “sharecroppers”. Here are some examples of their work.

Period 8 Music App

“The PE Blues” by Andrew rafael Said, Ty Anant, Randy Sim

PE got me all them pains

It don’t matter, we never get no gains

PE won’t get me no moneys

PE can’t even get me no honeys

All the grades are random

I don’t wanna be a part of this desperandum

Get me out of this place

I put my arms over my crying face

Period 9

“Geometry Blues” by Benjamin Lillis, Elaine Wong, Bill Chan

I don’t understand it, how should I format my proofs

Yeah, I don’t understand it, how should I format my proofs

I want to throw my computer off a roof

Looking at a shape trying to find its congruence

I’m looking at a shape trying to find its congruence

I feel like I need some positive influence

My computer doesn't let me type my congruence symbol

No, my computer doesn't let me type my congruence symbol

I need to draw it in, I need my fingers to be nimble

Looking at these problems has got me feelin’ blue

Yeah, geometry has got me feelin’ blue from my head down to my shoes

“I Just Wanna Pass Geometry” by Isabella Chen, Lisa Li, Lily Lin

Middle school geometry was simple shapes and equations

Now in high school, there’s just a ton of memorization

So many theorems, postulates, and definitions

It’s affecting the state of my mental condition

Every night I stay up doing homework

All of this is makin’ me go berserk

I’m fed up with this class

My only hope is to pass

Art & Tech Departments

Return to blog