National Humanities Center
Teaching The Great Gatsby: A Common Core Close Reading Seminar
The 41 slides in a professional development seminar model how to use close reading techniques to examine the many layers of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In addition to passages from the novel, slides provide biographical...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Smithsonian Jazz: Duke's Music Class
Learn about jazz from the master, Duke Ellington. Three activities explore his role as jazz composer, orchestra leader, and pianist.
Other
Federal Focus Jazz Band: Traditional Jazz Style Guide
A stylistic breakdown and analysis of traditional jazz. Distinguishes between the different types of this unique genre.
John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Musical Harlem
The Kennedy Center's ArtsEdge offers a great unit for introducing jazz to young scholars. Its use of Harlem as the "glue" which binds together elements such as jazz history and jazz terminology, makes it particularly effective for the...
Other
Jazz Improvisation Primer
An info-packed lesson on jazz improvisation and jazz history. Very useful for musicians aspiring to play in the jazz idiom.
PBS
Pbs: The Story of Jazz
A supplement to a ten-part film series on jazz, this resource describes the growth and development of jazz music from the gritty streets of New Orleans to the Lincoln Gardens on Chicago's south side, where Louis Armstrong first won fame,...
Other
A Passion for Jazz
This resource is dedicated to all topics related to jazz music, such as jazz history and jazz theory.
Other
Joy2 Learn: Jazz With Wynton Marsalis
Take a tour about jazz with jazz musician Wynton Marsalis. Through video segments, you'll learn about the trumpet, the history of jazz and key famous jazz legends.
York University
York University: African Canadian Online: Music
African-Canadian music encompasses the West Indies, Africa, the United States, South American and the Maritimes. This excellent reference resource provides information about the many kinds of music and the talented individuals who make it.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Smithsonian Jazz
Smithsonian Jazz is home to several online exhibits, an interactive "Duke Ellington class," recordings, publications, oral histories, and similar resources.
PBS
Pbs: Jazz Is About Freedom
One of the objectives in this lesson plan focus on how jazz contributed to the political awareness of the American public concerning lynching. Using Billie Holiday's anti-lynching song Strange Fruit, young scholars will learn about...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Jazz and Ww Ii: A Rally to Resistance, a Catalyst for Victory
Lesson plan that teaches the roles that jazz music and jazz musicians played in the war effort and that demonstrates the effect that the war had on jazz in America.
Other
Oculus Magazine: Early Jazz
Written for an audience accustomed to rock, this is a good history of Jazz, from the late 1800's, when the form supposedly took shape, to recommended recordings and books.
Library of Congress
Loc: Photographs From the Age of Jazz
This William P. Gottlieb Collection from the Library of Congress contains over 1600 photographs of celebrated jazz artists and documents the jazz scene from 1938 to 1948.
Other
American Forces Press Service: Interest Grows in Music Pioneer James Europe
Article from the U.S. Department of Defense commemorating James Reese Europe for both his contribution to the 369th Infantry Regiment in World War I and his place in jazz history before and after the war.
Other
Down Beat: John Coltrane
Biographical information, photos, and a discography of jazz great John Coltrane, whose work in the 1960s included excursions into free jazz.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: A Brief History of Jazz!
A lesson plan that helps learners explore the roots of jazz music and some of the important jazz musicians in history.
Scott Alexander
Red Hot Jazz: Louis Armstrong Orchestra
Includes brief history of Louis Armstrong and his orchestra, a photo, and a complete discography list.
Other
Down Beat: Cecil Taylor
A detailed site containing information in the following sections: photos, biography, and archived news articles about avant-garde pianist/composer Cecil Taylor.
Other
Down Beat: Albert Ayler
A detailed article containing the following sections: biography, discography, photos, and news articles about Albert Ayler.
PBS
Pbs: Biography of Dizzy Gillespie
This PBS biography about trumpeter and jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie includes photos, multiple audio features, and links within the text to other famous musicians.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Jazz Origins in New Orleans Pre 1895
Read about the origins of jazz music as it began in New Orleans before 1895. With its unique history and culture, New Orleans provided many opportunities for the development of jazz to thrive and grow.
PBS
Pbs: Jazz Music and the Crisis Over School Desegregation
Working in cooperative groups, your young scholars will learn how jazz musicians expressed the Civil Rights era in their music. This lesson focuses on the Civil Rights movement in Little Rock, Arkansas. Also, they will learn to about the...