| Subject Areas |
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Art and Culture
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Music |
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History and Social Studies
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U.S. History - Other |
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| Time Required |
| | One or two class periods for lessons 1, 2, 4 and 5; several class periods for listening activity in lesson 3.
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| Skills |
| | listening to and interpreting music
observation and description
gathering and interpreting information
brainstorming
information gathering
map reading
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| Date Posted |
| | 4/17/2002 |
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Music from Across America
Introduction
In this unit, students listen to a variety of popular, traditional
and ethnic American music, from the evocative sounds of Native
American drumming to the lively sounds of zydeco music from
Louisiana. To develop their listening skills, students use worksheets
to record their impressions about the music they hear. In addition
to learning about musical instruments and the geographic and
cultural context of music, children are encouraged to think
about and express their personal responses to music.
The learning activities presented in this unit are appropriate
for students in Kindergarten through grade 5. A range of ideas
are provided to help extend this lesson for students in higher
grade levels or who are more advanced.
Learning Objectives
After completing the lessons in this
unit, students will be able to:
- Identify the "families" of musical instruments and the
typical sounds of each.
- Recognize several styles and genres of American music.
- Begin to comprehend the rich diversity of American music
and how music reflects community and culture.
- Understand how emotions are expressed through music, and
how music evokes emotion in the listener.
Guiding Question:
What can
we learn from listening to music? What does music tell us about
the instruments and people who create it? How does music make
us feel?
Preparing to Teach this Lesson
You may wish to work collaboratively
with your school's music teacher to present this lesson to students,
if appropriate.
Log onto the PBS
Mississippi River of Song Project, available through EDSITEment.
For background about this project, you may want to read the
introduction
by John Junkerman, Director of the River of Song Project.
Or peruse Music
Along the River for an overview of the scope and variety
of music presented in the project.
(Note: Listening to the music requires RealPlayer software,
which can be downloaded without charge at the River of Song
Project. See Audio/Video
Instructions for complete details.)
Preview the following artists and their music to choose musical
selections to use with this lesson. Click on Audio/Video to
hear a sampling of music from each artist. As you preview the
music, you may want to make note of background information,
videos and photographs of the musicians you will want to share
with your students when you teach this lesson.
Please note this is just a small sampling of the musical selections
available through EDSITEment. For more selections, explore River
of Song and see additional resources in Extending
the Lesson, below.
If appropriate technology is available, you may wish to have
students work in small groups for the listening exercise in
Lesson 4. Each group should be responsible for listening to
one of the musical selections and completing the worksheet for
that selection. Groups should begin by reading the background
information available on the musicians who recorded their selection.
They should then listen to the selection several times, discuss
the music and fill out the reflection worksheet. When all groups
are done, each group should present its selection to the class
and explain its responses to the worksheet.
Print and review the Student Worksheet provided with this lesson.
Make copies so you will have one worksheet per student for each
musical selection you plan to play. You may wish to model for
students the process of listening to a musical selection and
filling out the worksheet.
Note: Two worksheets are provided with this lesson in PDF format.
One is designed for students in grades
K-2, with questions that do not require written answers;
the other is designed for students in grades
3-5 and incorporates more challenging activities. The worksheet
for grades 3-5 could also be used with younger students if you
with to extend the lesson. (Download
Adobe Acrobat Reader®)
Suggested ActivitiesLesson 1: Meet the Instrument Families
Lesson
2: What Sounds Does Each Family Make?
Lesson
3: Exploring Music and Movement
Lesson
4: Let's Listen to the Music!
Lesson
5: Sharing the Joy of Music
Extending
the Lesson
Lesson 1 Meet the Instrument
Begin by explaining that students will listen to different kinds
of music and learn about musicians and the instruments they
use to play it. You may want to introduce this topic by asking
students what instruments they or members of their family play
and what other instruments they know about. As students answer
these questions, write the instruments on the chalkboard, categorizing
them by musical family:
- Percussion: drum, xylophone, woodblocks, tambourine, gong,
cymbals, triangle, rattle, etc.
- String: guitar, violin, viola, cello, etc.
- Woodwind: clarinet, flute, oboe, etc.
- Brass: trumpet, trombone, tuba, French horn, etc.
- Keyboard: piano, organ, harpsichord
As you categorize the instruments, draw students' attention
to the key features of each family of musical instrument as
suggested below. Once they are familiar with these features,
allow students to decide which family an instrument belongs
to. As part of this lesson, you may want to discuss the following
questions: How are instruments in a family "related"? What traits
do they share? Do they look alike in any way? How is a family
of musical instruments similar to and different from a family
of people?
- Instruments in the percussion family make sounds when
they are struck, shaken or scraped. This very large family
includes instruments of many sizes (from huge kettledrums
to tiny bells) and many different types of materials including
wood and different metals.
- Instruments in the woodwind family make sounds when players
blow air into them. Some woodwinds have a reed that vibrates
when the player blows into the instrument, setting the air
inside the instrument in motion to create the sound. Although
they are called "woodwinds," these instruments might be
made from metal or even bone.
- Instruments in the brass family also make sounds when
players blow into them. To set the air in motion, players
"buzz" their lips together to create vibration and get the
air inside the instrument in motion. These instruments are
usually made of brass.
- Instruments in the string family have string stretched
over them and make sounds when the player plays the strings
in different ways. Depending on the instrument, the player
may draw a bow across the strings or pluck or strum the
strings with his or her fingers.
- Instruments in the keyboard family have keys and make
sounds when the player strikes the keys.
Lesson 2 What Sounds
Does Each Family Make?
Begin this lesson by talking about the key traits of each
musical family and summarizing them on the chalkboard. If
possible, show and play an example of an instrument from each
group. Ask students to share their impressions about the look
and sound of each instrument.
As preparation for this lesson, you may want to invite students
to bring instruments to play for the class. After a student
demonstrates an instrument, ask the class to decide which
family it belongs to. Again, ask students to share their impressions
about the look and sound of each instrument.
As you talk about each instrument, ask students where they
have seen and heard it played (parades, concerts, musical
theater events, etc.). Ask students to use descriptive words
to characterize the sounds each family of instruments makes.
(Young students may be best able to describe the instruments'
sounds in terms of the feelings they evoke -- happy, sad,
angry, etc.) As students respond to these questions, write
their answers and descriptive words on the chalkboard with
the corresponding instrument family.
Lesson 3 Exploring
Music and Movement
If you have enough space in your classroom, gather the
students in a large circle. As an introduction to listening
to and interpreting music, play several of the musical selections
listed below and let the students improvise their own movements
to the music. Talk about how and why the music inspires movement.
Lesson 4
Let's Listen
to the Music!
In this lesson, students will listen to the same musical
selections as in Lesson 3 -- this time with more background
on the artists who made the music, and with the goal of listening
carefully and thinking critically about the music. Distribute
copies of the student worksheet (for grades
K-2 or grades 3-5)
[links to pdf of the worksheet], providing every student with
a copy for each musical selection you plan to play. Review the
worksheet activities with students, reminding them they will
need to listen carefully as the music is played.
If you're using the worksheet for grades
K-2, let students know that activities two and three ask
for their ideas and opinions so there are no "right" or "wrong"
responses. (Note: With young students, questions can be discussed
as a class, with answers posted on a class worksheet.)
If you're using the worksheet for grades
3-5, let students know they will be able to answer the first
three questions by listening to the background information you
give before playing the music (or by reading website content
if they are working independently or in groups at a computer).
You may wish to use a wall map in the classroom to show students
the origin of the music and help them locate it on the worksheet
map. To answer the remaining questions they will need to listen
carefully as the music is played. Remind students that questions
5 through 8 ask for their ideas and opinions so there are no
"right" or "wrong" answers for these questions.
Play one or more of the musical selections listed below for
the class. These suggestions may be helpful in presenting the
music to your students:
- To introduce each selection, supply key facts provided
below or read aloud the background information about the
musicians provided on the website. If you can, gather students
around the computer to see video clips and photographs of
musicians available on the web pages.
- Play each selection several times as students complete
their worksheets. After worksheets are completed for each
selection, lead a discussion that encourages students to
share and talk about their answers and responses to the
music.
Chippewa
Nation
This Native American group from northern Minnesota uses contemporary
powwow drumming style, mixing Ojibwe rhythms and songs, to
express their heritage and connection with each other and
with the natural world.
Skal
Club Spelmanslag
This Scandinavian fiddle orchestra from Minnesota plays traditional
Swedish and Norwegian dance tunes to entertain audiences and
keep their Scandinavian heritage alive.
Sounds
of Blackness
This 30-member ensemble from Minneapolis, Minnesota plays
the entire spectrum of African-American music, from work songs
and spirituals to reggae and jazz, to communicate African-American
pride and self-reliance and to give something back to the
community that originally produced their music.
Karl
Hartwich and The Country Dutchman
This popular band from Wisconsin plays polka music, developed
by German immigrants, for people to dance to. (The thumping
bass sound of the tuba and the German concertina are distinctive
to this music.)
The
Bob Lewis Family
This family from Illinois plays popular bluegrass music to
entertain audiences throughout the Midwest. Singing and clog-dancing
add to the lively sounds of this group's string instruments.
St.
Charles High School Band
(Note: Choose video to see this band performing music.) This
St. Louis area marching band plays everything from Sousa marches
to modern show tunes, using its distinctive brass sound to
display its school spirit during parades and football games.
Sunshine
Drum Group and Eugene Redmond
Drummer Sylvester "Sunshine" Lee and the poet Eugene Redmond
from East St. Louis, Illinois, combine African drumming traditions
and poetry to instill pride and a sense of history in the
younger generation.
Geno
Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie
This popular Louisiana musician plays button accordions and
the piano accordion, reflecting the traditional zydeco music
of the Creoles in everything from old-fashioned waltzes to
blues and soul hits.
Lesson 5 Sharing the
Joy of Music
For this collaborative, take-home activity, provide
several extra copies of the worksheet for each student to take
home. Assign students the task of choosing any musical selection
of their choice for members of their family to listen and respond
to. (Students could choose a tape or CD, or even music from
radio or television.) Ask students to bring the completed worksheets
back to class and to be prepared to present an oral summary
of this activity. Some of the questions they might answer for
the class include:
- What musical selection did you play?
- hy did you choose it?
- How many people in your family listened to it?
- Did they know which family of instruments created the
music?
- Did everyone like it?
- Did this music make everyone feel the same way?
- Does your family feel the same way about this music as
you do?
To extend assessment of students' learning through this lesson,
you may wish to add the following questions:
- How does your feeling about the music compare or contrast
with one family member's feelings?
- What instruments do you think you heard? How do you know?
- Which group of musicians that you listen to in class might
play this song? Why do you think so?
Students also could be asked to choose a song that represents
their heritage or culture to share with the rest of the class.
Extending the Lesson
Use one or more of the following ideas to expand children's
understanding of this topic:
Connecting Music and History
Any of the songs featured in this unit can be used in conjunction
with a history lesson on the same subject. For example, songs
by Chippewa
Nation may be used with they study of Native American
history and culture. This type of listening activity could
serve as the "hook" or motivation for students at the beginning
of a new unit of study.
Create Musical Storybooks
Set aside specific times to listen to a variety of music in
your classroom. Use the worksheets from this lesson for each
listening session and have students compile the worksheets
to create personal musical storybooks. You may wish to allow
class time during each session for students to write stories
or illustrations about the music they hear.
Bring Music into Your Classroom
Invite students to play an instrument they are learning for
the class. If you play an instrument, share your talents with
your students. Or make arrangements for amateur and professional
musicians to come to your classroom to play for your students
and to talk about and answer questions about their instruments.
Link Music and Maps
You may wish to review River
of Song for music that makes connections with curriculum
topics and geographical areas in the U.S.A. you are covering
with your class. Or, work with students to pinpoint on a map
the hometown of the musical groups you study.
Find More Ideas for Using River
of Song
The
River of Song Teacher's Guide provides activities related
to each episode of "Mississippi: River of Song," a Smithsonian
Institution series for public television and radio. You may
be able to adapt some of these activities for your elementary
students.
Further Explore America's Rich
Musical Heritage
Look for more musical selections to play for your class at
The
American Folklife Center, available through EDSITEment.
The archive collections of music at this site include: Omaha
Indian Music; Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier (Virginia's
Appalachian frontier); Hispano Music and Culture of the Northern
Rio Grande (northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado); Blues,
Gospel and the Fort Valley Music Festivals (music from Georgia,
Tennessee and Alabama); and Southern Mosaic (folksongs from
the southern United States).
Selected EDSITEment Websites
Standards Alignment
View your state’s standards
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