Bringing the distinctive D.C. sound of go-go into the classroom.

Teaching for Change is honored to work with D.C. area schools and the authors of The Beat! Go-Go Music from Washington, D.C. to develop lessons and share teaching ideas for infusing the history and music of go-go in middle and high school social studies, language arts, math, music, and/or D.C. history classes, and to bring renowned go-go performers into D.C. classrooms.

"Go-go has stayed true to time-honored cultural scripts such as live call-and-response, live instrumentation, as well as its locally rooted fashions, slang, dance, distribution and economic systems. Simply put: Go-Go never sold out. There is a grit and texture to the music that gives voice to the communities where it was created." –Natalie Hopkinson

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May 31: Sweet Cherie at Johnson Middle School

May 31, 2016 / Mykella Palmer

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Sweet Cherie did a go-go workshop with 6th-grade students at Johnson Middle School. The students entered the library excited to meet Sweet Cherie. Students were asked if they had been to a go-go before. One student shared how his older brother had taken him to a go-g0 and that he loved the experience. After describing her own history with go-go, Sweet Cherie asked the students to make some go-go beats on the tables.

Students kept the beat while Sweet Cherie played some popular songs on her keyboard. At one point, a student goes up and began to sing along to the surprise and delight of his classmates. Another student played a song on Sweet Cherie’s keyboard while she backed him up with a go-go beat. The visit was funded by Office of the Chief of Schools of DCPS.

categories / 2016