Careful with that axe, Eugene

Sitting in math class and we hear screaming from down the hall.  Not "someone is attacking us" screaming, just loud yelling.  Figured it was the special ed department.  Didn't really disturb my class too much.  We all looked up, laughed a bit, and moved on.

Come to find out that it was another math teacher who, with a class full of low performing students, tried a little primal scream therapy on a day when they were actually working pretty hard but struggling with a concept.  It worked.  They loosened up and then went back to work.

I, however, took the opportunity to expose my students to some different music.  I usually play a mixture of classic rock, country, and classical, being careful to select music that will not distract and will be school appropriate.

On that day I played Careful With that Axe, Eugene.  I told them that the screaming reminded me of a song, told them it was Pink Floyd, and set it going.

Which then reminded me of how good the first disc of Ummagumma (pronounced with long u sounds and short a sounds).  The second disc is absolute crap and in digging around as to the whys and wherefores I found a note that mentioned that each artist was given 1/4 of a record to do whatever they wanted.  Result, Ummagumma Disc 2.  Disc 1 is, however, good enough that I went out and bought a vinyl copy of the album, just to listen to the first half.  I suspect that I will never take the second disc out of its sleeve.

Takeaways: Some students thought it was really funny; some students thought it was really good; I reminded myself of some of the outstanding music that is out there.