Overview
The path begins in the early 1900s, with lessons on the rapid development of technology, and the Great Migration. It then moves into the development of Rock and Roll in the 1950s, taking as a focus the birth of the “teenager,” post-war immigration, McCarthyism, segregation and “white flight” into the suburbs. Lessons based in the 1960s discuss music’s relationship to a variety of social movements: Civil Rights, feminism, and anti-war counterculture. Such issues continue to be explored in the two lessons on the 1970s, which examine female singer-songwriters, and the rise of the black pride movement. The final three lessons take as a focus America in the 1980s and early 1990s, looking at the phenomenon of the inner city as it relates to Hip Hop, and censorship.
Lessons
lesson:
The Blues and the Great Migration
How did the Great Migration spread Southern culture, helping to give the Blues a central place in American popular music?
lesson:
The Birth of the Microphone
How did the development of microphones in the 20th century change the way people make and listen to music?
lesson:
Birth of the American Teenager
How did teenagers become a distinct demographic group in the 1950s?
lesson:
Latin Music in Postwar New York City
How did the growth of New York City’s Latino population in the 1940s and 50s help to increase the popularity of Latin music and dance in American culture?
lesson:
The Sound of the Suburbs
How did the music of the Beach Boys reflect the suburbanization of postwar America?
lesson:
The Beat as an Object of Celebration and Concern in Segregation-Era America
How has “the beat” been an object of both celebration and concern in the history of popular music?
lesson:
The Music of the Civil Rights Movement
How did popular music reflect the values of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and help the movement convey its message?
lesson:
Soul Music and the New Femininity
How did Aretha Franklin represent a new female voice in 1960s popular music?
lesson:
Multitracking in the Countercultural 1960s
How did The Beatles’ use of cutting edge recording technology and studio techniques both reflect and shape the counterculture of the 1960s?
lesson:
The Rise of Black Pride
How did Social Soul reflect a new vision of African-American identity in the late 1960s and early 1970s?
lesson:
Female Singer-Songwriters in the Early 1970s
What did the success of the female Singer-Songwriters of the early 1970s reveal about the changing roles of women in the United States?
lesson:
Sampling: The Foundation of Hip Hop
How is the re-use and re-purposing of existing music at the heart of the Hip Hop recording experience?
lesson:
Mainstream Metal, Parental Advisories, and Censorship
How was Heavy Metal involved in the 1980s controversy surrounding the creation of parental advisories for “offensive” music?