Lin-Manuel Miranda came to my attention when he rapped about Alexander Hamilton. Miranda is the Tony award-winning star, writer, and composer of In the Heights — and he has what we call in the business “mad skills.” For tonight’s nerdy kid-friendly goodness, here’s Miranda dropping educational pronunciation-related rhymes on PBS’s The Electric Company. If you have young kids, get them to the computer now. (He’s accompanied by Shock, a regular The Electric Company, who’s a surprisingly good beatboxer.)
Silent E is a Ninja
This is just wonderful. A couple of smart dudes rapping, Miranda’s got a cape, then rolling around on the ground while beatboxing?! These guys win at life. Super catchy.
Behind the scenes of Silent E:
The Hard G
Dueling Mirandas, hard and soft, represent the G. Soft G is not only a better rapper, he’s the rapper you’d take home to meet Mom.
More context regarding the issue of the Hard G from Danny Rebus.
Bossy R
On the nuanced interaction between the letters A, E, O, and R.
Hard and Soft C
“Soft C is also nice at the end of words like rice or twice. It sounds like an S but take my advice: sometimes you need a soft C to add that spice!”
More!
If you watched the behind the scenes video for “Silent E is a Ninja,” you might dig the rap battle between a hotdog and an apple in a Western setting. (See also: part 1 and part 2, giving context.)
