John Burroughs Middle School held a rap concert on March 14, and the result was, well, as sweet as a mathematical constant that represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, or pi.

Mr. Q-U-E (right) challenges Mr. D to a battle during one of the goofier moments of the performance at John Burroughs Middle School last week. (photo by Aaron Blevins)

Hosted by the school’s Prime Club, the concert featured Mr. Q-U-E and Mr. D, of Music Notes Productions. The two travel the country performing math concerts for students as young as kindergarten. Their songs, such as “Pi”, “Circles” and “PEMDAS” (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally), seemed to resonate with John Burroughs students.

“Some kids need to be engaged in a different way, so sometimes music is what grabs their attention,” said teacher Olga Maye, who helped organize the event along with the Prime Club.

Through DonorsChoose.org, the school funded three assemblies so that all of the students could attend. Maye said the concert corresponded with lessons the students were learning in the classroom in a fun, visual way.

“It was just nice to have a math concert on such a big math holiday,” she added.

Mr. Q-U-E said the performances originated from a school in South Central Los Angeles. He said his students were bored one day in 2007, so he rapped for them. Two years later, Mr. Q-U-E. and Mr. D were touring the country.

“They go crazy,” Mr. Q-U-E said of the students’ reaction to their performances. “Especially when a teacher is already using our resources — our CDs and DVDs. It becomes even more special.”

He said John Burroughs has been trying to get Music Notes to perform for approximately two years.

“So this is a big day for them,” Mr. Q-U-E added.

Mr. D, a teacher at Los Angeles Academy Middle School, said that capturing the students’ attention is half the battle of teaching.

“Once you get a kid motivated and interested in learning, the rest if easy. It’s almost a natural thing,” he said.

The two rappers are assisted by Mr. P, the co-founder of Music Notes. Also a teacher, Mr. P works behind the scenes to support the productions.

“We’re all working together to make school fun for our students,” Mr. Q-U-E said.

Prime Club, which meets once a week during lunch to do math activities, was pleased to host Music Notes. Eighth-grader Sandy Lee, 14, said the club decorated for the event and helped raise money. Fellow eighth-grade student Heily Monterroso, 13, said the club sold snacks during a recent parent conference.

Lee said the majority of people only know pi as a symbol (π). The concert helped students understand that pi serves an important mathematical purpose, she said.

“Especially with the raps and the music, I think it’s good to tell them and inform them both educationally and musically,” Sandy said. “We also enjoy it a lot too.”

She helped introduce Mr. Q-U-E, who began the concert with an a capella rap, referring to himself as “Mr. Q, Mr. Rational, Mr. Mathematical, Mr. International.” During the piece, he proclaimed, “If you don’t have drive, you’ll never have a chauffeur.”

Mr. Q-U-E took the stage solo for the first few songs. He discussed superheroes, and how they seem to be confused about one simple thing: that underwear goes on the inside. A photo of Superman popped up on the screen behind him.

“Superman? Come on, Superman,” Mr. Q-U-E said, explaining that the Man of Steel doesn’t understand the concept of the order of operations, the order in which a student should simplify different operations, like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and so forth. “He looks crazy. When you don’t know the order of operations in your math class, your work looks crazy. It looks crazy just like this.”

Before introducing Mr. D, Mr. Q-U-E told the audience that it is important to ask for help when they are having problems. For example, he was having problems writing a song one day, so he reached out to Mr. D, who helped him finish the song, “Integers”.

Later in the set, they selected four students to work out a math problem near the stage. If the students answered the question correctly, they would be entered to win a prize, which turned out to be a Music Notes CD. The question was, 12(-5). The answer: -60. Two of the four students got the question right. The other two forgot the negative sign. All four were given a band directly from the artists’ wrists.

Mr. D and Mr. Q-U-E ended the show with one of their most popular songs, “Homework”. The song started by the performers singing, “If you did your homework then say I did my homework,” and asking John Burroughs students to respond, “I did my homework, I did my homework.” They did so while waving pieces of loose-leaf paper in the air. Mr. Q-U-E performed the first verse.

I want to do a good job, so I’m gonna work hard

I do my homework every day, yep every day, I don’t play

I do my homework on the bench, while my friends play

I do homework in the kitchen, then I stuff my face

After the concert, the performers signed autographs and took pictures with the students, some of whom left the auditorium while singing, “I did my homework. I did my homework.”