Overview

These lessons trace the history of the Blues, from its origins in the rural Mississippi Delta to its present status as an international genre. The collection covers Country Blues, The Blues and the Great Migration, and the Electric Blues. It then traces the influences of The Blues in Early Rock and Roll and the British Blues Boom. The collection additionally contains lessons focusing on how the Blues inspired The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and early Heavy Metal groups.

Lessons

lesson:
The Blues: The Sound of Rural Poverty

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How do the Country Blues reflect the challenges of sharecropping, racial injustice, and rural poverty in early 20th-century African-American life?

lesson:
The Blues and the Great Migration

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History, STEAM

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 Electric Guitar

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: CTE, Science, Social Studies/History, STEAM

How did the electric guitar transform Blues music from the 1940s forward?

lesson:
The Influence of Rhythm and Blues

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

What did R&B bring to early Rock and Roll, and how was early Rock and Roll different?

lesson:
The American Blues in Britain

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music

In what ways did American Blues affect English musicians in the early 1960s?

lesson:
The Rolling Stones: Giving America Back the Blues

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did the early Rolling Stones help popularize the Blues?

lesson:
Jimi Hendrix: Introducing Hard Rock

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, General Music

In what ways did Jimi Hendrix help create a new "Hard Rock" sound while retaining a connection to the Blues and R&B of his past?

lesson:
The Roots of Heavy Metal

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, General Music

What are the musical and cultural roots of Heavy Metal?

lesson:
The Impact of the Electric Guitar

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: CTE, General Music, Science, STEAM

How did the electrification, amplification and design of the guitar facilitate its emergence as a dominant instrument of popular music?