‘It’s a Rap!’
On Monday, May 28th and Tuesday May 29th, our Fifth and Sixth Class students were treated to wonderful Rap workshops by professional rapper and musician Garry McCarthy. Having performed some of his own witty, edgy lyrics to his snappy beats (enthralling our students), Garry set about organizing each class in devising, performing their own raps which he then recorded. You can hear their delightful work on this website. Garry encouraged our enthusiastic students to use clever rhyming, lively beats and the latest in modern ‘hip’ vocabulary and humour. The students worked in small groups to create one verse for the whole class rap. Garry introduced his recording equipment to the students and they were impressed! You can hear the three raps, Such a Big Change, Although We Are Going Our Separate Ways, and Creativity on this website. Every girl got the opportunity to ‘don’ the headphones and ‘rap’ into the microphone. Then, she got to listen to the recording of her voice. There were many squeals of delight. All agreed that it was fantastic fun – a truly creative experience! We will have wonderful memories of Garry and the days we spent happily rapping in the school Halla.
A note on Garry
Garry delivers music workshops around Ireland and has appeared on RTE on a number of occasions. He encourages students to remain true to their accent and identity when expressing themselves through their raps.
‘Soon we’ll be moving away
But first, we’ll tell you what we do every day.
Monday is English, Irish and Maths.
Tuesday is PE, out on the grass.
Wednesday, we’re upstairs on the computer.
Thursday, we’re still carrying on like troupers.
Friday means treats. We deserve the best!
Five school weeks are all we have left.
Such a big change from feeling big to small,
I wish we didn’t have to go
Going to miss you all!’
Verse 1 of Rap Such a Big Change written by Rang 6 (Rang Paula Ui Riordain) five weeks before leaving Scoil Mhuire.
Some comments from our students
‘It was a great experience. I love to rap but only to myself but when Garry came, I had a chance to let my rapping spirit out and plus now we have some new rap song to listen to!’ (Fifth class student)
‘Amazing, cool, inspiring Garry made us feel like stars’ (Fifth class student)
‘I really enjoyed going into groups to make raps and record them and Garry made it really fair because everybody got to say one line each from their rap’ (Sixth class student)
