Squeeze Me Tight ... or Squeeze Me Gently

by Greg Crowther

This is another comparison of the left and right ventricles -- a slightly less didactic, slightly more poetic version of my "Right Heart, Left Heart" jingle.

Squeeze me tight ... or squeeze me gently.
I am your blood, and you've got plenty.
But reaching the brain is a tall, tall order,
And so your left side must contract more forcefully.

Squeeze me left ... or squeeze me rightly.
Right ventricle must squeeze less tightly.
The pressure's high in the aorta,
But rather low in the pulmonary artery.
But rather low in the pulmonary artery.

• MP3 (demo)

• sheet music (with melody play-back)

Songs like this one can be used during class meetings and/or in homework assignments. Either way, the song will be most impactful if students DO something with it, as opposed to just listening.

An initial, simple follow-up activity could be to answer the study questions below. A more extensive interaction with the song might entail (A) learning to sing it, using an audio file and/or sheet music as a guide, and/or (B) illustrating it with pictures, bodily poses, and/or bodily movements. The latter activity could begin with students identifying the most important or most challenging content of the song, and deciding how to illustrate that particular content.

(1) Do the left and right ventricles look different?

(2) What would be the consequence of pressure being as high in the pulmonary artery as it is in the aorta?