Mania Musical or March Music Madness in Spanish class. This also includes the evolution of the many brackets, including Mania musical de mujeres, and a bracket for elementary!
It is about that time of year that everything is all Mania Musical or March Music brackets. This is my sixth year doing an all-class March music bracket competition. I know there are MANY variations by many different teachers who are desperate to spice up a dreary time of year.
You all know I have been posting about using authentic music for years, way back to my original ideas of música miércoles & baile viernes in 2014, I love using authentic music in class!
First, here are my previous posts, so you can see the evolution. It was not always a fancy astrobrights board for mania musical. I have learned a few things in the last few years. Here is our bracket evolution starting with now and going back to the start:
Mania musical over the years
- Brand New Mania Musical 2021!! – all current songs
- Brand new 2021 Elementary Mania Musical! – for younger students or more conservative schools
- Mania Musical 2020 (Winner – Querer Mejor)
- bracket for younger students 20! By request, I created a new bracket for upper elementary, middle or conservative high school Spanish. It has options of full 16 songs or a 1/2 8 song bracket for classes that do not meet as often. Also, the bracket contains songs from a variety of years, as recommended by elementary Spanish teachers. It is not included in the growing bracket, since I figured there would be two different audiences of teachers who would be interested. Finally, Get it here! or get the new 2021 bracket here!
- 2019 current at the time. (Winner – Loca)
- Mania musical de Mujeres 2018 – The 2018 bracket was all about the ladies! All songs are from female singers or groups with female leads, to tie in with Women’s History Month. (Winner – Asi Soy – from the Greatest Showman)
Older mania musical brackets
- Hispanic Heritage – To mix up the fall, we did a Hispanic Heritage bracket with one song from each Spanish-speaking country. (Winner fall 2017 – La Gozadera)
- March Bracket 2017 – Then my hs assistants were less particular and the actual bracket was not up to my OCD standards. (I have to learn to Let It Go…plus I am not sure who won that year).
- Music Bracket 2016 – Next I added an organized slide show for more organization (Winner – Danza Kuduro – Don Omar)
- April Bracket 2016 – Then, due to a switch of Trimesters, many did not get to vote in round 1, so we kept up the same bracket & just put in new songs (Winner – Waka Waka – Shakira)
- Music Bracket 2015 – Finally, my 1st bracket was quickly drawn on a chalkboard. (Winner Juntos – Juanes)
A Tradition Each year
If this is something you would like to do in class multiple years download the growing Bracket Bundle here. It is updated to include 7 separate brackets (March 16, April 16, March 17, March 18, March 19, March 2020 & Brand New 2021! The new one includes an editable slide show with embedded videos, brackets & bulletin board for each. If you already have it, make sure to download the new version. My plan is to keep adding my brackets each year to this bundle.
How I Implement March Music Brackets in Spanish Class
For logistics, we are using the resources found in my Brand New Mania Musical 2021. It includes all Google editable resources including a slideshow with artist nationalities and embedded videos, Pretty Digital bracket, NEW Google Forms for round 1 voting, large and small bulletin board printouts, and Youtube playlist.
Starting in March all classes watch and vote for one pairing each day. (Or you can start whenever you would like!) Then they will vote via Google form if I am on top of it, with this free voting form or old-fashioned tally on the board. Finally, to keep it easy for a department of one, all classes have the same bracket, and as a school decides who wins and moves on. This way on the giant bulletin board we can all follow along with who is winning.
I post the playlist, bracket, and voting forms on Google Classroom. It is a class starter or brain break, students will vote each day. We usually start by watching them as a class at the start of class or as a brain break. Once we have moved past round one, students could re-watch them on their own if needed and vote. Additionally, in later rounds, we could go deeper with songs as well if time allows.
I post the playlist, bracket, and voting forms on Google Classroom. It is a class starter or brain break, students will vote each day. We usually start by watching them as a class at the start of class or as a brain break. Once we have moved past round one, students could re-watch them on their own if needed and vote. Additionally, in later rounds, we could go deeper with songs as well if time allows.
How other teachers use them
I know many other teachers do something similar and each has its own twist. You could do the whole bracket in a couple of days if needed. I personally like to spread it out to give some life to a dreary time of year in Iowa. Some teachers also go much more in-depth with later songs, learning about the artists, analyzing the lyrics, researching for projects, and more. For me, it is just a class starter or brain break to mix it up. Finally, if you are using my bracket, please post them as you go on social media and tag (new account) @mis.claseslocas so we can compare!
To close, If you are doing something similar for March Music Brackets, please share your bracket in the comments & I will add them here!
- Ben Ashby Locura de marzo
- Spanish Plans 2020 Bracket (the Godfather of March Music brackets)
Originally posted 2.5.18 – updated 2.24.19, 1.24.20, 1.23.21 & 2.28.21
So . . . important question. Do you show the official videos to your students in class? I just watched "Lo Malo" and I don't think I could show that one in class due to the suggestive dancing.
I usually download free best ringtones at https://ringtonescloud.com/
Very nice post. Thank you for sharing. You can download more free ringtones at https://ring320kbps.com
Hi!! I'd like to know if you have Mania Musical de Mujeres for 2020?
Above you can see I have a 2020 bracket, but it is not specifically women. The only year I made one just with women was 2018
Hi! I have the bundle for the March Music Mania, I thought you have one only with women like the one from 2018. =(
Hi, this sounds like fun but I still don't get the gist of the activity. Where can I find instructions or some sort of detailed explanation? Thanks.
I used your bracket in 2019 and it was so much fun for my kiddos! A lot of them started adding Spanish-language music to their personal playlists. Thank you for doing these!
Hola! Gracias por todos los recursos. Estamos haciendo Mania Musical 2021 y encontramos un error. Tainy (Agua) no es mexicano, es puertorriqueño.
muschas gracias! I just fixed it!