17/8/08

Jonas Brothers SOS (Teaching Unit)






Introduction:

The song presented in this unit is related to our students' interests, since the group is a well-known one among teenagers. The level for this song will be for the last courses of secondary education, (Spain: 4th ESO and 1st Bachillerato). We will provide a brief description of the group and song and ask our students their knowledge about them. We will use the music video of the song instead of the cd song because following this methodology, we will provide an extra helpto the learners showing the paralingual elements of language such as: gestures, eye contact... and they can find out more meaning.

Procedures:

1. Activity:

The students will read the lyrics of the song and try to find out the missing words in the blanks. , In that way, we'll reinforce their vocabulary.

2. Activity:

We will listen/ watch the song twice. The first time for fun and enjoy the song and the video. The second time, when they're more familiar with the song will be the moment to fill in the blanks.

The teacher will check the missing words with the students and check the meaning of the new terms.

3. Activity:



Translation of the lyrics of the song in pairs, we try to group together fast finishers and slowlearners in the class, so they can help each other.


4. Activity:


Reading activity. We will read the Biography of the group and translate it with the students in class. We check their understanding with some specific questions about the text.

5. Activity:

Learners will write a brief passage about another favourite singer, using at least three of new expressions learned in with this song.
6. Final Activity: Debate
We will discuss about the main topics shown in the song by the group: love, relationships, drugs...

7. Evaluation:
The teacher will check at the end of the term or in any following test the acquisition of the new vocabulary including the new words seen in this song in a final test.
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Jonas Brothers - S.O.S. lyrics
Artist: Jonas Brothers lyrics
Album: Jonas Brothers
Year: 2007
Title: S.O.S.

Lyrics to S.O.S :

Told you I made dinner plans
For you and me and no one else
That don't include your crazy friends
Well I'm done
With awkward situation's empty
conversations

Oohh This is an S.O.S.
Don't wanna second guess
This is the bottom line
It's true
I gave my all for you
Now my heart's in two
And I can't find the other half
It's like I'm walking on broken glass
Better believe I bled
It's a call I'll never get

So this is where the story ends
A conversation on IM
Well I'm done with texting
Sorry for the miscommunication

Oohh This is an S.O.S.
Don't wanna second guess
This is the bottom line
It's true
I gave my all for you
Now my heart's in two
And I can't find the other half
It's like I'm walking on broken glass
Better believe I bled
It's a call I'll never get

Next time I see you
I'm giving you a high five
Cuz hugs are overrated just FYI

Oohh This is an S.O.S.
Don't wanna second guess
This is the bottom line
It's true
I gave my all for you
now my heart's in two
Oohh This is an S.O.S.

Don't wanna second guess
This is the bottom line
It's you
I gave my all for you
now my heart's in two
And I can't find the other half
It's like I'm walking on broken glass
better believe I bled
It's a call I'll never get


Biography"Music on Red Bull." Without hesitating, that's how 17-year-old Kevin Jonas describes the hyper-adrenalized sounds he's created with his two brothers, 13-year-old Nicholas and 16-year-old Joseph, on the Jonas Brothers' debut album, It's About Time. And it's no wonder since the boys' influences include an eclectic mix of artists ranging from the Ramones to the Jackson 5 to the Modern Lovers--all purveyors of tight, catchy anthems. After recently wrapping up a summer tour with Jesse McCartney, the Backstreet Boys and the Click Five, the Jonas boys got hooked on the rush of bringing a crowd to its feet (and didn't mind signing autographs for the throngs of excited fans waiting for them after each show). One thing is for sure, the Jonas Brothers are all ready to keep the momentum going strong. "We go crazy on stage!," says Kevin. "It's so much fun!"

Music always played a major part in the brothers' lives growing up in Wyckoff, New Jersey. Their parents are both musicians, so gathering around the piano for sing-alongs was an essential part of regular family bonding, yet each brother found his own musical calling in a different way.

The oldest, Kevin, who plays guitar and sings backing vocals, was home sick one day when he found a guitar and a "Teach Yourself Guitar" book lying around the house. "I spent the next three days learning how to play the basic chords," Kevin remembers. "That was about four years ago."

Nicholas, who shares lead vocals with Joseph in the group, began singing as soon as he could talk. "From the time I was two years old, I would wake up in the morning and start singing all the time, every second of the day," he says. Nicholas, whose voice has been compared to that of previous prodigies Stevie Wonder and Taylor Hanson, was "discovered" singing while getting his hair cut in a local barbershop. His poignant voice caught the attention of a woman in the shop who immediately referred him to a professional show business manager. Before long, Nicholas was performing on Broadway in shows like "Annie Get Your Gun," "Beauty and the Beast" and "Les Misérables.

Joseph's original plan, however, was slightly different than his brothers. He first dreamed of becoming a comedian and wanted to audition for sketch comedy shows. "But I was always attached to music and loved listening to different kinds of music, especially rock," he says. "And then I watched Nick on Broadway and I decided I wanted to sing and perform too." Following in his younger brother's footsteps, it didn't long for Joseph to land a role in Baz Luhrmann's Broadway production of "La Bohème."

Before forming their band, the Jonas Brothers had appeared together in a series of commercials for Burger King, LEGOS, Battle Bots and Clorox--to name just a few. But as time went on, they found themselves spending more and more time down in their basement, writing songs and practicing together as a band.

Meanwhile, Daylight/Columbia Records, after hearing Nicholas' incredible voice, began planning a solo record with him. And then fate intervened….

Nicholas and his brothers began submitting songs that they'd written together with the intention of having them appear on Nicholas' solo album. When the label became aware that Nicholas had musically talented siblings, a group performance was arranged. After a spectacular group audition was held for the label, the direction was clear. "All three of us were signed pretty much on the spot as the Jonas Brothers," Kevin says.

For the Jonas boys, the real fun began as they combined their musical abilities to write and record their debut album together, quickly realizing how lucky they were to have each other for both personal and professional inspiration. "It's awesome to have my brothers on stage and in the studio with me," explains Nicholas. "You have a security that everything is going to be okay, even when you mess up."

As Kevin puts it, "It feels like the most natural thing we could be doing. When we write a song we get in a triangle. I start playing the chords that we've chosen over and over and then we'll keep going around in a circle until we have figured out the lyrics for our song."

They're all particularly proud of their vocal chemistry as well. "Nicholas is the powerhouse vocal," says Joseph. "He's just got this young, soulful voice that catches everyone's ear."

"Joseph just has this really cool, smooth rock voice," Nicholas points out. "He really knows how to get the crowd going. Kevin is the one that holds us all together. Joseph and I are the singers and we take turns on keyboards, and percussion, but Kevin mostly plays the guitar and that's the part of the group that we need--he's the glue that keeps it together."

Joseph sees them all collaborating for years to come. "We're brothers so it's not like if we got upset at each other that we can be like, 'Well I quit.' They're still my brothers. We love to do this and we know we're going to keep doing for a very long time."

For It's About Time, the brothers had the chance to learn from the best by collaborating with some of the most accomplished writers in the industry including Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), Michael Mangini (Joss Stone), Desmond Child (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi), Billy Mann (Jessica Simpson, Destiny's Child) and Steve Greenberg (Joss Stone, Hanson). The Grammy-winning duo of Greenberg and Mangini, fresh off their success with Joss Stone's two acclaimed albums, produced It's About Time, drawing on the Jonas Brothers' unpretentious garage rock sound and affinity for hooky 70's British punk records.

Inspiration for the group's songs comes directly from the boys' personal experiences--from the highs and lows of dating to being on the road to having been given the opportunity to follow their dreams at such a young age. "A lot of it is about typical teenage love stuff like 'Oh, what am I going to do if I can't see her today?' It's not stuff that we don't know about," says Nicholas.

"There's been heartbreaks and there's been crushes so we know how it feels and can write about it," explains Kevin, but overall, the songs of the Jonas Brothers celebrate the joy of living and encourage people to feel good. "The album is meant to get people up and have fun and raise their energy," says Joseph.

"We decided to call the album It's About Time," Nicholas reveals, "because so many of our songs seem to deal with different aspects of time." Kevin continues the explanation of the concept, "There's '6 Minutes,' which is about how quickly you can run through the full range of emotions when you feel strongly about someone you just met. There's '7:05,' about etching in your memory the exact time a relationship ended, and, well, the list goes on."

Songs on the album that stand out for the boys include their tune "Time For Me to Fly," a catchy, fast track that is about "following our dream of making music" according to Kevin. "The song is about us working hard, playing music every night and trying to make things happen."

One of the more personal tracks on the record is the first single, "Mandy," which is about a girl that their mother, a sign language teacher, taught to sign so that she could pursue her dream of working with the hearing impaired. Nicholas, Joseph and Kevin each formed a special friendship with Mandy. "We were writing songs one day and decided we wanted to write about something really nice--so we wrote a song about Mandy," recalls Nicholas. "She's the nicest girl you will ever meet. She knows what you're thinking all the time."

"Don't Tell Anyone," one of the more emotional songs on the record, is about liking someone but not being able to admit it. "One Day At A Time" talks about how minutes seem like days after you find yourself on the wrong end of a breakup. "That's probably the darkest song on the album," says Kevin.

For now the brothers are just relishing in the experience of having other people hear their music live and making new fans one city at a time while they are on the road. "We've known for a while how it felt to be on stage, but we never knew how it would feel to have people love music that we've written and which we both play and sing. It's very gratifying when fans come up to us after shows and tell us how much they relate to our songs," says Joseph.

"We all have such passion for what we do and for our band," explains Kevin.

Nicholas adds, "It's crazy that one day I was singing Backstreet Boys songs in my basement--and just last week there I was onstage with them!! Our dreams have really come true and we're just so lucky."

1 comentario:

  1. Quite interesting, never much thought about performers getting ready, they make it seem so natural and easy. vocal tips for singers

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