Website
PBS

Pbs: American Roots Music

For Students 9th - 10th
If teaching a unit about the history of popular music in America, this PBS web site supporting their four-part TV broadcast of a few years ago would make a great resource. Includes lesson plans and oral histories too.
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs: The Blues Classroom

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Access the educational resources developed by a Seattle-based museum to supplement the PBS documentary series "The Blues." Includes background essays on the blues; biographies, video clips, and sound clips from the series; a blues...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs: American Roots Music: Lesson One: Finding the Story in the Song

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this lesson plan, students will identify and discuss themes expressed in song lyrics, analyze the social use and historical meaning of a song, and write a verse of a song drawing on contemporary events.
Article
PBS

Pbs: American Roots Music: Historical Background

For Teachers 9th - 10th
What is American roots music? The term "American roots music" may not be a familiar one, and requires some explanation. At the beginning of the 20th Century, the term "folk music" was used by scholars to describe music made by whites of...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs: American Roots Music: Lesson Two: Desegregating the Airwaves: Blues on the Radio

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson deals with the emergence of the blues as a form of popular music on the radio, beginning in Helena, Arkansas in 1940. Students will understand and discuss the relationship between technological and social change, discuss how...