PEMDAS (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally)

As you may or may not know, "PEMDAS" stands for "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally." And what does that mean exactly? Well, it is a very handy acronym to help math students remember the Order of Operations (a.k.a., the Triple "O"). These math operations are, in order: parentheses, exponents, multiplication and division, and addition and subtraction.

Acronyms have proven to be wonderful tools for remembering important facts – like Every Good Boy Does Fine for remembering the line notes of the treble clef, and My Very Excellent Mother Just Made Us Nine Pizzas for listing the planets in order from the sun. And when you combine an acronym with music, you have an extremely effective learning device. This is a song that you will definitely want to share with the classroom and math teachers at your school, as it is a great tool for cross curricular teaching and learning. It's yet another way you can show your colleagues the power of music.

The recorded accompaniment track for this song is very fun, featuring rhythm section, winds, strings, and a really cool trumpet solo played with a Harmon mute. The melody is easy to sing (and reinforced with instruments throughout on the recording), and the lyrics simply repeat so that the Order of Operations will really stick once the song is learned.

Many thanks to longtime Plank Road singer Stephanie Brown (and now a math teacher!) for the idea of setting the Order of Operations to music.