For years in the French classes of York Middle and High School, a musical tradition has been taking place every spring. French Students at York have undoubtedly been acquainted with La Manie Musicale at some point in their language-learning careers (and, more recently, the Spanish and German classes have adopted a similar annual event to get in on the idea.) The concept behind Manie Musicale is simple, consisting of a March Madness-style bracket in which students vote for songs– exclusively by French-speaking artists– that they enjoy the most. Songs are selected every year by a committee of educators, and the bracket is often used as an opportunity for teaching the language. But what is possibly most remarkable is the amount of astounding global success that the event has reached since its founding.
French teachers Stephanie Carbonneau, who is still teaching French at York Middle School, and Michelle Fournier, teaching at Falmouth Middle School, organized this iteration of Manie Musicale in 2017. In its first year, only the two schools the teachers taught at participated, averaging 88 votes per song matchup. However, after reaching out and connecting with schools nationally and internationally, the event slowly grew– by 2019 Manie had 47 states and 6 different countries participating, averaging 6,759 votes per matchup. Last year, over 6,210 schools played along in all 50 states, 12 provinces and territories, and 37 different countries; they averaged 155,763 votes per matchup!
Madame Perkins, French teacher at York High, speaks on this tremendous growth: “I personally have participated in this Manie Musicale for probably about 10 years. I used to make something myself where I would choose the songs, and I think a lot of teachers maybe did this before too, where they’d come up with their own songs. But, the Manie Musicale that Madame Carbonneau and Madame Fournier started has really taken off to amazing success.” She states that “it’s a lot of fun to see what participants across the country and across the world think about this music too.”
So, why has this bracket competition captivated so many classrooms across the globe? Perkins states that she teaches La Manie Musicale because she thinks “music is something that speaks to a lot of people.” She claims that “everyone has their own taste in music, but almost everyone likes some type of music, and can get excited about music in general,” which makes the event something that is easy for students to connect with– “I think it’s just something that students can relate to,” she says. When teaching foreign languages such as French, getting engagement and kinship between languages allows students to better understand what they’re learning about, which may be why Manie has become so popular among French educators internationally. Perkins elaborates by saying that she likes how “it gets students interested in not just music, but also the artists and where they come from, and a lot of these artists come from all over the French-speaking world,” suggesting that there is also an inter-cultural appeal.
This year’s lineup features quite a few songs by artists who have appeared in the event in years prior. Notably, French rapper Black M, winner of 2017 and 2018’s brackets, is reappearing with his song “Simandou”, and Corneille, 2022’s champion, is back with “Seul au monde.” Congolese artist Gims is also a recurring member of Manie, having won the competition in 2019– this time, his song “Sois pas timide” is in play, which reached number 1 on the French album charts after its release. Madame Perkins notes that she enjoys Gims’ song, but that she also likes “Mizik” by Guadaloupean artists WeRe-VaNa and René Geoffroy.
As of now, “Sois pas timide” by Gims and “Minimum ça” by YouTuber Dr. Yaro have made it past the first rounds of the competition. Manie Musicale will fully conclude by April 8th to announce its 2025 champion– until then, the playlists for all participating songs are up on Manie’s official website. Even if you aren’t voting for anything yourself, they’re still worth a listen, if the worldwide popularity of this tournament is any indication! At the end of the day, it’s an impressive feat that a York teacher has managed to reach such a great number of people with this event, and even more so that it’s helped students globally enjoy language learning by connecting over music.
