Songs of the Civil War

The Woody Guthrie song,"I Ain’t Got No Home in This World Anymore" invites upper graders to engage in lyric analysis. They use the lyrics to answer five analysis questions to determine a social meaning to the song. A suggested answer...

A reading comprehension learning exercise traces the history of musical theatre. It starts with ancient Greece choruses and continues through the ballad and comic operas of the Renaissance, the operettas of Britain, France, and Germany,...

General music students learn about the history of popular American music by creating and performing a one-act musical. After researching and creating an American Musical timeline, class members write a song with lyrics using Jam Studio,...

Complete with territory maps, photos, and interesting anecdotes, this video covers the major events of American History, roughly from 1754 to 1865. Plymouth and Jamestown are mentioned in the beginning of the video, but the speaker...

Authors write about what they know, and that does not exclude songwriters. Invite partners to explore the story behind a song. They analyze and discuss the lyrics, conduct research online, create a poster, and put together a two-minute...

Critical thinkers compare the impact of visual versus aural perception in how they comprehend artistic intent. They consider the meaning of a set of pop lyrics first by reading them, then by listening to them orally, and finally viewing...

Investigate poetry and song lyrics with your class. They will identify poetic elements in their favorite modern music. Then they will play their song choice aloud for their classmates.

The class listens to and reads lyrics from popular songs that explore themes of self-esteem, body image, and eating disorders. The song interpretations will serve as a jumping-off point to deeper discussion on the issues, culminating in...