Time Travel through Music

May the Fourth be with you!

This week, in honor of Star Wars Day—May 4th—students in 6th and 7th/8th grade chorus are invited to board the Millennium Falcon and travel to a galaxy far, far away—and listen to some of the most famous pieces of the epic movies’ memorable scores composed by John Williams.

Carly Spaeth-Walsh, choral director of John Jay Middle School, doesn’t miss an opportunity to engage her students. She’s been regularly supplementing the songs her chorus students are learning with fun photos of herself and her newborn son in a different settings along with links to the music of that movie, era or composer. 

Listening to John Williams, the Beatles, and more

  • Star Wars
  • Abbey Road
  • Disney
  • Backstreet Boys
  • Lilo and Stitch

So far, they’ve listened to the film scores of classic Disney movies, Harry Potter, the Lion King, and Saturday Night Fever as well as time-traveled to the era of the Beetles, the 90s, and even taken a road trip across the US. 

“I was looking for creative and fun ways to engage students during distance learning that were not assignment based,” said Spaeth-Walsh. “This exposes them to different musical genres that we wouldn’t get to tackle if we were in the classroom.”