IN THE STYLE OF“Gangnam S tyle” by PSY
Objective: Students will be able to Perform the song “Gangnam Style” by PSY and demonstrate awareness of the viral affects Social Media plays in the Music Industry • Perform a modern pop song used in film, tv, commercials and radio • Discover how an artist can rise to fame through social media
“Gangnam Style” Song-ography Gangnam Style ( ) is a 2012 dance pop single written and performed by Korean pop singer Park Jae Sung, better known by his stage name PSY. Since the release of the song and its highly entertaining music video in mid-July 2012, the video has gained more than 8 million views in the span of two weeks and spawned numerous parodies and copycat YouTube dance videos.
Procedures 1. Ask students if anyone has heard of or can demonstrate “Gangnam Style.” (The dance is performed by doing a paradiddle with your feet, in place. In a horseback riding stance, jump on each foot in this pattern with hands crossed at the wrists extended in front of you: R L RR L R LL and repeat.
2. Discuss how the Korean singer, PSY, used a funny dance and catchy song to gain over 8 million hits in it’s first two weeks on YouTube. Facilitate an open discussion on what other songs students believe have benefited from the YouTube phenomenon known as “going viral.”
3. Print/Handout or Display the “In The Style of GANGNAM STYLE Chord Chart” and have the class begin with acoustic guitar.
4. Demonstrate how to “Slide up to the B” using just string #6 (the string closest to the chin) as shown in the “How To Gangnam Style Video” from the Weekly Riff, also available on The Hang. This is done for the majority of the song.
5. Using Power Chords (as demonstrated in the “How To Gangnam Style Video” demonstrate how to play the G, A, B and F# Power Chords (String 6: Frets 3,5,7 and 2).
6. Have students perform both sections of the song slowly and separately. Once able to combine, introduce a guitar solo selecting one student (or one group of students) at a time to perform a B Minor Pentatonic Solo starting on the 7th Fret as shown on the “In The Style of GANGNAM STYLE Chord Chart”.
8. Have one student try to play the one finger bass line on an electric bass (hint: it uses the same notes as finger #1 on the guitar). The accompanying “In The Style of GANGNAM STYLE Bass Chart” shows the rhythmic patterns and finger placement on frets 2,3,5 and 7.
9. Differentiate the class into an additional group, which will create the rhythm using the “In The Style of GANGNAM STYLE Drum Chart”. This can be done on a drum kit but can also be done using hand percussion or an improvised hand-and-body-drum-kit as shown in the “How To Gangnam Style” Video.
10. For performance, have students lead an audience by demonstrating the accompanying dance while playing the song as a “Modern Band” complete with all the above instruments. Rock on!
LKR Core Values 5th Stream of Music Education & Music Acquisition Theory
National Standard for Music Education Addressed 1 Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
District Standards