Overview
TeachRock has partnered with PBS, Higher Ground, and Show of Force to create materials that bring the eight-part, Emmy and Grammy nominated Soundbreaking series into K-12 classrooms. The standards-aligned lessons are tailored for students in social studies, language arts, geography, science, and general music classes, and feature rich educational resources, including the interactive Soundbreaking TechTools that allow students to experience firsthand the technological breakthroughs explored on screen.
Lessons
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:
The Ethics of Sampling
What makes a work of art “original,” and how does the use of “sampling” technology in Hip Hop challenge perceptions of “originality”?
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 Evolution of Sound Recording
How did multitrack recording technologies enable musicians to create a form of music that could only be realized in the studio?
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:
Rhythm as a Representation of People and Place
How does “the beat” of popular music reflect the histories of multiethnic populations and places?
lesson:
Producing the Sounds of a Changing South
How did the recordings Sam Phillips produced at Sun Records, including Elvis Presley’s early work, reflect trends of urbanization and integration in the 1950s American South?
lesson:
The Many Roles of a Music Producer
What does a music producer do and in what ways does one hear the sound of a producer’s work in recordings?
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:
Recording and Producing the Voice
How have singers responded as advances in studio recording techniques have enabled increased technological “perfection”?
lesson:
The Impact of the Electric Guitar
How did the electrification, amplification and design of the guitar facilitate its emergence as a dominant instrument of popular music?
lesson:
Sound Waves, Analog Synthesis and Popular Culture
How did synthesizers allow musicians to create new sounds and how did those sounds reflect American culture throughout the 20th century?
lesson:
The History of Music Videos
How has the relation between sound and image shifted through the history of recorded music, and how did the rise of MTV bring that relationship to a culmination of sorts?
lesson:
How Records and Radio Shaped American Culture
How did changes in the technology of record manufacturing effect popular music, radio, and the people who consumed both?
lesson:
The Cassette Tape Offers New Possibilities
How did the cassette tape change the audience’s experience by allowing the listener to record, compile and disseminate music?
lesson:
Muddy Waters, the New Kid in Town
How did Muddy Waters’ music change after he moved to Chicago, and what does that say about the relationship between place and self-expression?
lesson:
The Leadership Skills of a Music Producer
How do successful music producers practice positive leadership skills?
lesson:
Learning Rhythm through Gospel
How can Gospel music help students identify the musical concepts of beat, meter, backbeat, subdivision, and syncopation?
lesson:
100 Years of Dance
Why might people dance, and how have dance trends changed in America since the 1920s?