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Inter-City Jazz Songbook Project
Students choose a city with famous musical highlights and create a tourist brochure.
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Time in Jazz
Students examine time and meter in the jazz idiom. They analyze Take the A Train and Take Five. They research websites featuring Ella Fitzgerald and her music.
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Lady Sings the Blues
Students explore women and music in the 20th century. In this music instructional activity, students study the relationship between literature and music through The Color Purple and music by Ethel Waters, MA Rainey, Bessie Smith, Billie...
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What Is Cool?
Students compare versions of the song, "So What," recorded by Miles Davis and Marcus Miller. They explore the Ken Burns Website to discover more about Davis and journal their thoughts about him and his music.
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Dizzy Gillespie
Students compare and contrast two songs by Dizzy Gillespie and identify elements of bebop. They construct a Web page about Gillespie and his music.
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Red, White, and Blue Notes
Students explore the history of major American music genres. Then, through mock radio shows, students examine the distinguishing features of each genre and how each has changed throughout the years.
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Storytellers: Bruce Springsteen
Students study rock and roll with the music of Bruce Springsteen.
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Romare Bearden
Students identify artwork by Romare Bearden and to explain his techniques. They look for cut and pasted papers and images, paint, ink and pencil designs, shapes and spaces and the rhythms therein. They listen to music by looking at...
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Dave Matthews Band - Lesson 3
Students discuss the impact of cultural diversity in the world around us, how it shapes conflict and unity, and relate the music of Dave Matthews Band to these societal issues and their own experiences. The compare Dave Matthews music to...
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Dance: Personal Soundtracks
Students create a musical autobiography. For this fine arts lesson, students explore the emotions that music can express by listening to and discussing a variety of music. Students construct a personal timeline and a collection of music...
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Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story - The Birth of Soul
Students analyze various kinds of music. In this music lesson, students listen to music clips to determine the kind of music each clip is then they participate in a class discussion about the music and prepare a presentation.
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A World of Taste--Louisiana Gumbo
Students discover the multicultural contributions to New Orleans gumbo through participation in cross curriculum activities. In this multicultural diversity and New Orleans history instructional activity, students shade regions of a map...
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Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition: Corridos
Students create and perform Corridos which are oral tradition ballads. In this Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition lesson, students interview family members using a predetermined list of questions. In addition, students...
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Jazz: Expression through Improvisation
Students watch a video on improvisation. They improvise original melodies over given chord progressions. They develop criteria to evaluate the merits of improvisational performances and apply the criteria in their personal listening and...
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Blues Improvisation
Students practice playing and improvising while playing the 12 bar blues. They practice compositional skills, evaluate and perform musical pieces focused on the blues.
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Emotion Painting
Budding artists explore the nature of emotion through artistic expression. They discuss feelings, colors, line, and design, mix colors and then create an emotive piece that expresses a singular emotion. There are three cross-curricular...
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Can You Hear a Story?
Students gain an understanding of relationships between music and language arts. They analyze a story and create a musical composition that reflects and enhances the story. The musical accompaniment will be produced in a book on tape.
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The Great Migration
Students explore how migration to Harlem created a new life for African Americans. In this cross curricular lesson, students illustrate maps showing the migration, paint murals representing African American life in the South and...
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Bud, Not Buddy
Fifth graders read the book Bud, Not Buddy and participate in activities that generate understanding of the Great Depression. In this realistic fiction lesson, 5th graders read about a boy who grew up during this time. Students...
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VH1 Fan Club Dave Matthews Band
Students study how the music of Dave Matthews Band is based on jazz, blues, bluegrass, rock and roll, and rap.
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Lesson 12- Quincy Jones:What Makes an American Master?
Students study the life of Quincy Jones and research black music for selected decades of the 20th Century. They discuss the qualities that help one create and sustain a successful career. They design a timeline of what their future...
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VH1 Road to Fame: Harry Connick Jr.
Students are divided into groups of employees of a jazz radio station and a classical radio station. They role play their own broadcasts.
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A Night in Tunisia
Students discuss musical instruments common to jazz and compare several songs by various artists. They identify musical grooves common to jazz music. They compare a string quartet to a traditional jazz group.