A 12-piece primary source packet sets the tone for a study of the role women played in the origins, development, and impact of blues music. Legends like Bessie Smith, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Mamie Smith, and Ida Cox are featured, as are...

Jazz, Blue Grass, Hip Hop, Swing. Gospel, R&B, Ragtime, Disco. So many music genres born in the USA. After reading an article about the fate of New Orlean's Jazz after Hurricane Katrina, class members investigate the life cycles of...

Watching Great Performances’ Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Chicago launches an investigation into and discussion of how the electric guitar and guitarists have changed the sound of the blues over time. An engaging way to...

How did jazz influence Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man? Class members read some of Ellison's non-fiction writings about blues and jazz, listen to records, watch videos, and engage in student-centered discussions. They then produce podcasts...

Here's a collection of unit plans for middle school musicians. Topics include the mbira, opera, rhythm and culture, music in Africa, music in the movies, music theory and notation, blues and jazz, and the ocarina. Definitely worth a look.

Singing, clapping, moving up and down with the melody, it all sounds like a great music lesson plan. Kinder-musicians sing three different songs to practice memory, speaking, and movement skills. They'll move to the melody, build memory...

High schoolers examine blues music. In this music genres lesson, students discover details about the history of the musical genre and compositional techniques. High schoolers then compose melodies of their own with 12-bar blues chord...

The story behind the Star Spangled Banner sets off this singing and music lesson. Emergent singers study facts about Francis Scott Key and his famous song, they then discuss and practice singing the first verse paying close attention to...

Learners identify the musical form of the 12-bar blues. They identify a problem from the "Farming in the 1940's" section and compose a 12-bar blues song. make comparisons between problems of the 1940's and today.

A 67-page packet provides instructors with a complete course in the history of Jazz. Lessons look at the roots of jazz in early 20th century African American communities in the southern United States and continues to the New Orleans...

Students explore Folk Music in Iowa. For this folk music lesson, students discuss different types of folk music and how it relates to life in Iowa. They take the tune of a song and write their own lyrics to describe their life. 

Explore the extraordinary creatures of the ocean! Learners create Florida Blue Crabs (imitation of course) using blue paint and their hand prints. This is a cute supplementary project perfect for an ocean-themed unit or preschool...

The third activity from the Amani Project has youths create a Mood Meter. The colorful meter, divided into red, yellow, blue, and green squares, lets participants indicate not only how they are feeling but also permits them to indicate...

Students learn the basic elements of blues and different lyric structures.

Students examine the history of blues music and discover how it relates to the music of today. As a class, they listen to the drum songs of Africa and compare it to the use of drums in pop music today. Using the internet, they research...

Eighth graders analyze lyrics from songs from a variety of genres. In this musical analysis lesson, 8th graders write an essay about their life plans in which they discuss the lyrics of U2's song, "One." They tell how the writings of Dr....

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.

Students culminate a humanities project by improvising music to accompany a video of a particular era in US history.

Students examine the patriotic songs of the 1940's and compare them to those of today. They identify elements that classify a song as patriotic, listen to several examples and complete Venn diagrams contrasting different examples.

Students study the sounds of New Orleans jazz, its origins, and its influences. In this jazz music lesson, students listen to various jazz songs and discuss the songs. Students use the worksheet 'Jazz: the Universal Language' to study...

In need of a quick art project to chase away those winter blues? In just six steps you'll know how to instruct learners on creating winter scenes using crayon resist. 

Students choose a city with famous musical highlights and create a tourist brochure.

Students explore the effect that a particular culture can have on popular music. They develop their own music groups, each representing a style of music and a historical culture and perform their group's concert for the class.

Students examine relationships between music and color, emotion and imagery, listen to different passages of music, and visually depict what they hear.