Grade: High
lesson:
The Homestead Act featuring Cowboy Songs collected by John Lomax
How did the Homestead Act of 1862 impact growth and development in the American West, and what is meant by the term “crossroads of culture” in the context of the American West?
lesson:
Native Americans and Westward Expansion featuring Redbone
What were the experiences of Native Americans during Westward Expansion and how did the U.S. government use music and other aspects of culture to force assimilation on Native Americans?
lesson:
Late Reconstruction featuring The Jubilee Singers
Who were the Jubilee Singers and how do their experiences reflect the final years of Reconstruction in the United States?
Student Edition:
Riot or Rebellion? Asbury Park in the Summer of 1970
What factors led up to the Asbury Park Riots in New Jersey in the summer of 1970?
lesson:
Early Reconstruction featuring the Hyers Sisters
What did the career and artistic work of the Hyers Sisters reveal about life for African Americans during the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Post-Reconstruction?
Student Edition:
The Origins of Disco
lesson:
The Origins of Disco
What are the cultural, economic, and geographic origins of Disco and how has the genre been presented, remembered, and represented in popular culture?
lesson:
The Transcontinental Railroad featuring Work Songs Collected by John Lomax
In what ways did the Transcontinental Railroad contribute to the physical, cultural, and musical growth of the American West in the late 19th Century?
lesson:
Plessy v. Ferguson featuring Bert Williams
Who was Bert Williams and how does his life represent an American experience during the rise of Jim Crow laws and the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson?
lesson:
Bystander Intervention: Making Spaces Safer for Everyone
What is Bystander Intervention and how does it make music spaces and other public gathering places more safe, accessible, and fun for everyone?
Student Edition:
Black Radio and the Civil Rights Movement
lesson:
Black Radio and the Civil Rights Movement
How did Black radio empower Black Americans, aid the Civil Rights Movement, and influence U.S. society?
Student Edition:
ChocQuibTown- Embracing Cultural Identity through Colombian Rap
Student Edition:
Chicana Punk and the Chicano Movement
Student Edition:
1950s American Society and Conformity
Student Edition:
The Zoot Suit: Style and Swing in the Wartime Economy
Student Edition:
Brazilian Music and Culture in the United States
Student Edition:
Lydia Mendoza: Tejano Life and Music on the Mexico/Texas Border
Student Edition:
Westward Expansion and Country Music’s Hispanic Influence
Student Edition:
Mi Gente: Fania Records & New York Salsa Music
Student Edition:
Contemporary Latin Artists and Activism
Unit Plan:
Latin Music and Culture in U.S. History
Through ten lessons, students will explore different people, music, events, and places that helped shape Latin music and culture in the United States. Students will discover how Latin Music like Salsa, Latin Rock, Tejano, Bossa Nova, Swing, and Chicana Punk reflect the experiences of Latin people living in the...
lesson:
Mi Gente: Fania Records & New York Salsa Music
What is Fania Records, and how does it reflect the history of Spanish-speaking Caribbean communities in New York City?
lesson:
Brazilian Music and Culture in the United States
What is the influence of Brazilian music and culture in the United States?
lesson:
Chicana Punk and the Chicano Movement
What is Chicana Punk, how does it relate to the Chicano Movement, and how did it transform the Punk music scene?
lesson:
1950s American Society and Conformity
How did the presence of Latin American artists challenge the image of 1950s American society seen in popular media?
lesson:
Intersectionality and Punk Music in the 2020s
What is intersectionality, and how do musicians in the Punk music scene navigate life at different intersections?
lesson:
Lydia Mendoza: Tejano Life and Music on the Mexico/Texas Border
How does Lydia Mendoza’s Tejano music connect to the history of Texas and the influence Mexico has had on that state?
lesson:
Contemporary Latin Artists and Activism
How are contemporary Latin artists pursuing activism and promoting positive change in their communities?
lesson:
The Zoot Suit: Style and Swing in the Wartime Economy
What was the cultural, social, and historical significance of the zoot suit during the period of World War II?
lesson:
Mountaintop Removal Mining in Appalachia
What is mountaintop removal, how does it affect the environment and people’s health?
Student Edition:
Student Activism and Music During the Civil Rights Movement
Student Edition:
Music of the Civil Rights Movement
Student Edition:
Latin Music and Puerto Rican Migration to New York City
lesson:
Student Activism and Music During the Civil Rights Movement
How did activism by Black students challenge Jim Crow segregation during the Civil Rights Movement, and what unique role did music play as an organizing tool?
lesson:
Latin Music and Puerto Rican Migration to New York City
What is the history behind Puerto Rican migration to New York City in the 1940s and 1950s, and how did Puerto Rican migration affect American Popular Music?
lesson:
Music of the Civil Rights Movement
How did music advance the goals and inform the tactics of the Civil Rights Movement?
lesson:
Westward Expansion and Country Music’s Hispanic Influence
What was Westward Expansion, and what effect did it have on American Popular music?
lesson:
Steve Aoki and Growth Mindset
How can our brains be shaped by our mindset, and how has a growth mindset helped Steve Aoki become one of the most successful DJs and record producers in the world?
Unit Plan:
Life Songs: Telling Your Story Through Music
Life Songs is an intergenerational media project organized into a four lesson unit plan. The unit concludes with students presenting their Life Songs Interview - a recorded interview led by the student with an adult who shares how music shaped their life. For classrooms without the ability to create and...
lesson:
Post-production: Editing and Finalizing Your Life Songs Interview
How do you use editing to create a final media product?
lesson:
Production: Conducting Your Life Songs Interview
How do you conduct and record an interview?
lesson:
Pre-production: Preparing for Your Life Songs Interview
How do you prepare for a successful and insightful interview?
lesson:
Music Tells Our Story
What role might music play in a person’s life, identity, and community?
Student Edition:
The Black Origins of Punk
lesson:
The Black Origins of Punk
How did the bands X-Ray Spex, Bad Brains, and Death define Punk on their own terms?
lesson:
The Juke Joint: Where Oral Literature Comes Alive
What role do Blues lyrics and juke joints play in Black American literature and life?
lesson:
The Crossroads as a Literary Symbol
How have writers, storytellers, and musicians explored the crossroads as a symbol in their work?
lesson:
Writing Personal Narratives and The Harlem Renaissance
How do Langston Hughes, Gladys Bentley, and Louis Armstrong effectively write personal narratives about living during the Harlem Renaissance?
lesson:
Identifying and Resisting Jim Crow with Words and Songs
How have works of literature and music by Black Americans shared an empowering theme of identifying and resisting Jim Crow?
Unit Plan:
Math and Music: Algebra Featuring Mickey Hart
Math and Music: Algebra Featuring Mickey Hart is a lesson collection aligned to 7th to 9th grade math standards that invites students to explore the mathematical and scientific principles of sound and music. In this 4-lesson unit, students: Conduct hands-on activities to discover the physical principles of sound waves, and...
lesson:
The Science of Sound
What is sound, and how are its characteristics explained scientifically?
lesson:
The Mathematics Behind Sound
What are the mathematical variables that give a sound its particular quality, and how can these variables be measured, visualized, and calculated?
lesson:
Musical Ratios
What role do ratios play in the Western musical concepts of rhythm and harmony?
Student Edition:
Segregation and the Founding of Asbury Park
lesson:
Part 3: Asbury Park from the 1970s to Today
What social issues continue to confront Asbury Park today, and how are activists tackling them?
lesson:
Part 2: Riot or Rebellion? Asbury Park in the Summer of 1970
What factors led up to the Asbury Park "Riots" in New Jersey in the summer of 1970?
lesson:
Part 1: Segregation and the Founding of Asbury Park
What does the founding and early history of Asbury Park reveal about practices of segregation in the Northern United States?
lesson:
Second Wave: Women’s Rights and Music in the 1960s
What was second-wave feminism, and how did music contribute to the movement?
lesson:
Signature Style in Art and Album Covers
How have visual artists worked with musicians without compromising their style?
Trace It Back:
Margo Price
Trace It Back:
ChocQuibTown
Trace It Back:
LADAMA
Unit Plan:
Civic Environmentalism
Civic environmentalism is a collective action to address critical environmental issues and implement solutions through democratic processes that will result in an improved and sustainable community. Through six lessons, students identify, analyze, and explore specific details and events related to the origins of the environmental movement in the United States...
Student Edition:
The United Farm Workers Movement through Music and Poetry
Trace It Back:
Alice Bag
Student Edition:
Afrofuturism and Flying Africans
lesson:
The United Farm Workers Movement through Music and Poetry
Who is Dolores Huerta, what role did she play in the United Farm Workers movement, and how is she recognized today?
Student Edition:
A Veteran’s Soundtrack to the Vietnam War
lesson:
A Veteran’s Soundtrack to the Vietnam War
How did popular music amplify the voices and experiences of Americans serving in the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam War?
Student Edition:
Toby Keith and The Chicks: Songs and Words during the War on Terror
Student Edition:
What is Cultural Appropriation?
Student Edition:
The Music Behind the Red Power Movement
Student Edition:
Indigenous Music: From Wounded Knee to The Billboard Charts
Student Edition:
Music and the Berlin Wall during the Cold War
Trace It Back:
Bonnie Raitt
Trace It Back:
The Chicks
Trace It Back:
Nina Simone
Student Edition:
Art, Music, and the AIDS Epidemic
lesson:
Toby Keith & The Chicks: Songs and Words During the War on Terror
What were the different reactions to songs and comments by Country musicians about the September 11th terrorist attacks versus the Iraq War?
Student Edition:
Third-Wave Feminism: Women’s Rights and Music in the 1990s
Trace It Back:
Janelle Monáe
Student Edition:
9/11: Country Music Responds
Student Edition:
Kanye and Katrina: Environmental Racism in New Orleans
lesson:
Swing Down: Afrofuturism & Flight in the Black Imagination
What is Afrofuturism and what are some of the cultural traditions and historical events that inspired and reinforced it?
Trace It Back:
Drake
Student Edition:
Lost Friends
Student Edition:
Signature Style in Art and Album Covers
Student Edition:
“Y’all Better Quiet Down”: Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ Pioneers
Student Edition:
The Journey to Marriage Equality in the United States
Student Edition:
#Blacklivesmatter: Music In A Movement
Student Edition:
Funk Upon A Time: The Beginnings of Funk
Student Edition:
“Alright” and the History of Black Protest Songs
Student Edition:
Business with the Grateful Dead
Student Edition:
The Ethics of “Sampling” in Art and Music: A Classroom Trial
lesson:
Business with the Grateful Dead
How did the Grateful Dead’s business practices create a dedicated fan culture and ensure the financial success of the group?
Student Edition:
Apollo 11 & Gil Scott-Heron
Student Edition:
How a Bill becomes a Law: The Story of the MLK Holiday
lesson:
The Birth of Hippie Culture in the 1960s
How did the Grateful Dead reflect new ideas about life and society in the 1960’s?
Student Edition:
Who is Lizzo?
Student Edition:
Supporting Sobriety in a Musical Community
Student Edition:
Recording the Human Voice
lesson:
Supporting Sobriety in a Musical Community
Who are the Wharf Rats, and how do they exemplify the practices of sobriety, peer support, and community building within a musical fan culture?
Trace It Back:
Mitski
Trace It Back:
Thundercat
Student Edition:
Who Is Mavis Staples?
Student Edition:
The Reclamation of the Cowboy
Student Edition:
Celebrating Community With Poetry
Trace It Back:
Betty Davis
lesson:
The Reclamation of the American Cowboy
How has the image and history of the American cowboy been reclaimed in the 21st Century?
Student Edition:
Gen Z Environmental Activists
Student Edition:
Greta Thunberg, Music, and the Climate Crisis
Student Edition:
Confronting the Climate Crisis
Student Edition:
Science and Civics of the Flint Water Crisis
Student Edition:
The Indigenous Roots of Rock and Roll
Student Edition:
DAMN.: The Art and Importance of Storytelling
Student Edition:
The Roots of Hip Hop
Trace It Back:
Kate Bush
Student Edition:
Who Is Prince?
Student Edition:
Beat Culture & the Grateful Dead
Student Edition:
Who Is Amy Winehouse?
Student Edition:
The Evolution of Sound Recording
Student Edition:
What Is Sampling?
Student Edition:
Design A Distortion Pedal
lesson:
Calculating Pitch
How do musical instruments produce different pitches, and what variables allow you to calculate the pitch of an instrument?
Trace It Back:
Chance the Rapper
Trace It Back:
Gary Clark Jr.
Trace It Back:
H.E.R.
lesson:
Women’s Perspectives in Country and Tejano Music
How did female Country and Tejano artists approach the issues of feminism and Women’s Rights in the 20th and 21st century?
Trace It Back:
Rosalía
Trace It Back:
Amy Winehouse
Trace It Back:
Selena Gomez
lesson:
Greta Thunberg, Music, and the Climate Crisis
How have musicians helped spread climate activist Greta Thunberg’s message?
Trace It Back:
Prince
lesson:
How a Bill Becomes a Law: Legislating the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
How does a bill become a law in the United States of America?
Trace It Back:
Nicki Minaj
Trace It Back:
Dua Lipa
Trace It Back:
Camila Cabello
Trace It Back:
Beyoncé
Trace It Back:
Billie Eilish
Trace It Back:
Ariana Grande
lesson:
DAMN.: The Art and Importance of Storytelling
How do Kendrick Lamar’s album DAMN. and the work of photojournalist Gordon Parks tell stories that bring attention to social issues?
Trace It Back:
Tame Impala
Trace It Back:
Gorillaz
Trace It Back:
Mavis Staples
Trace It Back:
P!nk (aka Pink)
Trace It Back:
Big Freedia
Trace It Back:
Lizzo
Trace It Back:
Kesha (aka Ke$ha)
Trace It Back:
Selena
Trace It Back:
St. Vincent
Trace It Back:
Lana Del Rey
Trace It Back:
Jamila Woods
lesson:
Deadheads and Reagan’s America in the 1980s
Who are the Deadheads and how did their lifestyle contrast with the conservative values promoted by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s?
lesson:
Loudspeakers, PA Systems, and the “Wall of Sound”
What is a PA system, how does it work, and how were the Grateful Dead pioneers in live sound technology?
lesson:
Jerry Garcia, Addiction, and Intervention
How can you help someone struggling with addiction?
lesson:
Beat Culture and the Grateful Dead
How did beat writers like Jack Kerouac influence the Grateful Dead’s music?
lesson:
Counterculture in the 1960s
How did the counterculture movement of the late 1960s challenge traditional American behaviors and values, and how did the Grateful Dead reflect these changing views of life and society?
lesson:
The Original “Going Viral”
Could a musical group “go viral” before the internet?
lesson:
Confronting the Climate Crisis
How can society lower the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere?
lesson:
“Y’all Better Quiet Down”: Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ Pioneers
How did Black and Latinx people in the LGBTQ+ community take initiative in the Stonewall Inn rebellions, Gay Liberation Movement, and in the preservation of LGBTQ+ history?
lesson:
The Science and Civics of the Flint Water Crisis (High School Version)
What is the Flint water crisis, and why did it occur?
lesson:
The Journey to Marriage Equality in the United States
How did same-sex marriage become legal in the United States?
lesson:
Art, Music, and the AIDS Epidemic
How did the LGTBQ+ community creatively respond to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, and protest government inaction in addressing the epidemic?
lesson:
“Seneca Falls, Selma, Stonewall”: The Stonewall Riots in the Fight for Equality
What were the Stonewall Riots, and what role did they play in ongoing struggles for LGBTQ+ equality in the United States?
lesson:
Third Wave: Women’s Rights and Music in the 1990s
What was Third Wave Feminism, why did it occur, and how did musicians address some of the movement’s demands?
lesson:
Blues, Poetry, and the Harlem Renaissance
How does Langston Hughes’ Blues-inspired poetry exemplify the ideals of the Harlem Renaissance?
lesson:
Debating the Apollo 11 Moon Landing
What was NASA’s Apollo program and why was it controversial?
lesson:
#BlackLivesMatter: Music in a Movement
How have musicians responded to the Black Lives Matter movement?
lesson:
Distortion: The Sound of Rock and Roll’s Menacing Spirit
What is distortion, and how did it become a desired guitar effect in Rock and Roll?
lesson:
Musical Reactions to the Vietnam War
How were American’s divisive opinions over the Vietnam War articulated by musicians in the 1960s and early 1970s?
lesson:
Music and the Berlin Wall during the Cold War
What was the Berlin Wall and how did music respond to what it symbolized?
lesson:
9/11: Country Music Responds
How did Country musicians’ responses to the September 11th terrorist attacks speak to the feelings of some Americans after the tragedy?
lesson:
Kanye and Katrina: Environmental Racism in New Orleans
What was Hurricane Katrina, and how did Black Americans articulate the frustrations they felt in its aftermath?
lesson:
“Alright” and the History of Black Protest Songs
How have Black artists throughout the 20th century used music to speak about racial injustice in America?
lesson:
Cleaning up the Plastic Beach (Middle School/High School Version)
How is plastic made, how does it affect our marine environments, and how can plastic waste be eliminated?
lesson:
Celebrating Community with Art and Poetry (High School Version)
What different types of communities exist, and how do the people in our communities impact us?
lesson:
“Glory” and the Continuing Civil Rights Movement
How does Common and John Legend's “Glory” signal Civil Rights movements of the past and the present?
lesson:
New Perspectives on The Great Gatsby’s Daisy Buchanan
Does Lana Del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful” help humanize Daisy Buchanan of The Great Gatsby?
lesson:
Designing Album Covers with Color Theory
What is the science behind color theory, and how is it used in fashion and album cover design?
lesson:
Drawing to Music
How might visual artists use music as a tool for inspiration, and how might sound be reflected through art?
lesson:
Reagan and the Cold War: A Document-Based Question
Did President Ronald Reagan’s Cold War policies serve to heighten or to reduce tensions with the Soviet Union?
lesson:
Hometown Documentaries
How can music help tell the story of your hometown?
lesson:
The Vietnam War: A Document-Based Question
In what ways and to what extent did the Vietnam War change American culture, society, and values?
lesson:
The Civil Rights Movement: A Document-Based Question
In what ways did the Civil Rights Movement mark a turning point in United States history?
lesson:
Debating Dylan’s Nobel Prize
What are the arguments for and against Bob Dylan receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature?
lesson:
Fame and Judgement in “Funny”
How might Tori Kelly’s song “Funny” speak to the potential pitfalls of “superstardom,” and how does it relate to past songs written about the subject?
lesson:
Who is “Us” in P!nk’s “What About Us”?
Who is the ‘us’ in P!nk’s song “What About Us?”
lesson:
The Music and Poetry Behind the Red Power Movement
What was the Red Power movement, and what role did Folk and Country music play within it?
lesson:
Negotiating Native Identity through Art, Poetry and Music
How have Native American musicians, poets, and visual artists negotiated their identity, and what role does physical space play in these negotiations?
lesson:
Debating Cultural Appropriation
What is cultural appropriation, how does it affect Native American communities, and should it be regulated by law?
lesson:
The Indigenous Roots of Rock and Roll
What does Link Wray’s biography say about how Native Americans lived in the first half of the 20th century, and what role did Wray’s upbringing have on his music?
lesson:
Indigenous Music from Wounded Knee to the Billboard Charts
In what ways did the music of Native Americans mark them as outsiders from the developing narratives of “American-ness” in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and how did the federal government attempt to use music as a tool to force assimilation?
lesson:
Designing a Band Logo
What is a logo, what are the elements of effective logo design, and how have musicians and bands used logos to brand themselves?
lesson:
“See You Again”: How We Mourn with Music
How does music help us remember people we are close to, or those we have lost?
lesson:
Heroes and Mortals in “Something Just Like This”
Who are the gods and superheroes referenced in “Something Just Like This,” and what are the connections between them?
lesson:
“Here”: Managing Peer Pressure and Anxiety
In what ways does Alessia Cara’s “Here” defy popular music conventions, and what does the song say about peer pressure in youth culture?
lesson:
Sun City: A Musical Force Against Apartheid – Part 2
What was South African apartheid, and how did musicians unite to challenge it?
lesson:
Sun City: A Musical Force Against Apartheid – Part 1
What was South African apartheid, and how did musicians unite to challenge it?
lesson:
The Beatles Work Towards Success
How did The Beatles' rigorous work schedule during the years 1960-63 build their strengths as performers, as musicians, and as a band?
lesson:
The Beatles and Teen Culture
How did the Beatles’ image as a “rock band” affect young people in America?
lesson:
The Teamwork Behind the Beatles
How did the input of manager Brian Epstein and record producer George Martin help The Beatles develop and refine skills that aided the band in presenting their music and personalities to a mass audience?
lesson:
From the Stage to the Studio
What caused The Beatles to cease touring in 1966 and how did the innovative music they then created during their subsequent immersion in the recording studio both reflect and influence the world at that time?
lesson:
The Beatles, a New Kind of Star
How did The Beatles establish a new paradigm for the image of "the star," and how did that image support their global success?
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 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:
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:
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:
Recording and Producing the Voice
How have singers responded as advances in studio recording techniques have enabled increased technological “perfection”?
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 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:
World War II and the Shrinking of the Ensemble
How did wartime restrictions and other factors cause popular music ensembles to shrink in size during the 1940s, helping to set the stage for the small “combos” of Rock and Roll?
lesson:
“Hound Dog” and 1950 Race Relations
How does the story of “Hound Dog” demonstrate music culture’s racial mixing as it differed from mainstream American life in the 1950s?
lesson:
“Twist and Shout” and Post-War Britain
What role did cover songs like “Twist and Shout” play early in the Beatles's career, and how did their experiences growing up in post-WWII Liverpool and performing in Hamburg nightclubs help them to develop as a professional musical ensemble?
lesson:
“Blowin’ in the Wind” as a Rallying Cry
How does the song “Blowin’ in the Wind” use poetic devices to communicate an open-ended yet powerful message about the human condition, without ever losing its historical specificity?
lesson:
The Gospel Origins of “Chain of Fools”
Essential Question: How did Aretha Franklin’s foundation in Gospel music influence her recording of “Chain of Fools,” helping to establish a Soul sound and bringing black culture into mainstream America?
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 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:
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 Beatles and American Segregation
How did the Beatles take a stand against segregation while touring America? And what did it mean for popular music culture?
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 Birth of the Microphone
How did the development of microphones in the 20th century change the way people make and listen to music?
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:
Jimi Hendrix: Introducing Hard Rock
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 Influence of Rhythm and Blues
What did R&B bring to early Rock and Roll, and how was early Rock and Roll different?
lesson:
Introducing Glam Rock
How was Glam Rock a reaction to the "seriousness" of popular music at the time?
lesson:
Introducing New Wave
What did Punk Rock provide that opened the door for New Wave acts? And what are some among the defining attributes of New Wave?
lesson:
The Emergence of Folk Rock
What is Folk music? To what extent did Folk Rock sustain the spirit of Folk music?
lesson:
Dan Penn
How did black artists and white songwriters and musicians interact in the Soul era, and what contributed to that interaction?
lesson:
The American Blues in Britain
In what ways did American Blues affect English musicians in the early 1960s?
lesson:
Considering the Future of Rock and Roll
How is Rock and Roll's power, at least in part, a result of its being born on the margins of society?
lesson:
Thematic Lesson: Love Songs
Why is the Pop song such a common medium for expressing feelings about love, and how do individual songs relate to their historical moments?
lesson:
The Musical Roots of Doo Wop
How did Doo Wop develop as a musical genre?
lesson:
Singer-Songwriters and the Environmental Movement
How did the singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 70s address the concerns of the environmental movement?
lesson:
Radio Before Rock and Roll
How did radio influence American life in the years before the birth of Rock and Roll?
lesson:
Assembling Hits at Motown
How did Motown Records in Detroit operate during the 1960s?
lesson:
Glam: The Return of the Teenager
How was Glam Rock part of a new teenage culture in the 1970s?
lesson:
The Rise of the Electric Guitar
What factors led to the rise of the electric guitar as the dominant symbol of Rock and Roll?
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:
Artists Protest McCarthyism
How were musicians and artists affected by McCarthyism in 1950s America?
lesson:
Bo Diddley: The Grandfather of Hip Hop?
How were Bo Diddley’s recordings an anomaly in relation to 1950s Pop music, and how is his rhythm-driven sound and self-presentation a precursor to Hip Hop style?
lesson:
Funk Asserts Itself
How did 1970s Funk respond to African-American life in the decade following the Civil Rights movement?
lesson:
Soul Music and the New Femininity
How did Aretha Franklin represent a new female voice in 1960s popular music?
lesson:
The Memphis Sound and Racial Integration
How has Memphis music culture provided one example of art’s capacity to challenge the racial boundaries that have so often structured American life?
lesson:
Music and Political Movements
How did Sixties Soul help give voice to the Civil Rights movement?
lesson:
Gospel Music and the Birth of Soul
How did Gospel influence American popular music?
lesson:
The Birth of the Electric Guitar
How did the electric guitar transform Blues music from the 1940s forward?
lesson:
The Who’s Generation
How did the Who represent “My Generation” in mid-1960s England?
lesson:
The Sound of Blue Collar Detroit
How did Rock and Roll serve as an expressive tool for the working-class youth of Detroit?
lesson:
Rhythm and Blues Hit the Airwaves
How did Dewey Phillips and Hunter Hancock help bring Rhythm and Blues music to mixed race audiences?
lesson:
Ritchie Valens
How did Ritchie Valens meld traditional Mexican music and Rock and Roll?
lesson:
Chuck Berry
Why is Chuck Berry often considered the most important of the early Rock and Rollers?
lesson:
The Roots of Progressive Rock
How did Progressive Rock’s incorporation of classical traditions and countercultural values help to forge a unique Rock genre in the late 1960s?
lesson:
Italian-American Vocalists Before Rock and Roll
How did the careers of Italian American vocalists in the first half of the 20th century reflect the experiences of Italian American immigrants and attitudes toward them in the wider American culture?
lesson:
The Roots of Country Rock
How did Country Music influence Rock and Roll and the musicians who made it?
lesson:
The New York City Underground
How did New York bands interact with the city's art scene to create something new?
lesson:
Protest as Event
Since the 1960s, how have artists used musical events to promote change?
lesson:
Dylan as Poet
How did Bob Dylan merge poetry with popular music?
lesson:
Liverpool: The Birthplace of the Beatles
How did growing up in post-WWII Liverpool influence the Beatles?
lesson:
Birth of the American Teenager
How did teenagers become a distinct demographic group in the 1950s?
lesson:
The Impact of 1960s Antiwar Music
How did antiwar protest music provide a voice for those opposed to the Vietnam War?
lesson:
The Musical Roots of the Surf Sound
What is the Surf sound and where did it come from?
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:
Seventies Soul: The Soundtrack of Turbulent Times
How did changes in the Soul music of the early 1970s reflect broader shifts in American society during that time?
lesson:
The Sound of the Suburbs
How did the music of the Beach Boys reflect the suburbanization of postwar America?
lesson:
Car Culture in Postwar America
How did car culture intersect with and inspire Rock and Roll?
lesson:
Punk as Reaction
How was Punk Rock a reaction both to the commercialization of Rock and Roll and to the social climate in late 1970s Britain?
lesson:
Folk Music, Rock and Roll Attitude
How did Bob Dylan’s early experiences with Folk and Rock and Roll music influence his songwriting?
lesson:
How to Study Rock and Roll
How can teachers help students analyze and understand Rock and Roll?
lesson:
Rock and Roll and the American Dream
What is the American Dream and how did Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash personify its ideals?
lesson:
Divergent Paths in the 1990s: Gangsta Rap and Conscious Hip Hop
How did Gangsta Rap and Conscious Hip Hop respond to the social and political conditions of the 1990s?
lesson:
Dion and the Teen Idols
What role did the so-called "teen idols" of the late 1950s play in bringing Rock and Roll into mainstream American culture?
lesson:
Rock and Roll Goes to the Movies
How did movies help to introduce Rock and Roll culture to mainstream audiences in the 1950s?
lesson:
The Roots of Hip Hop
What are the roots of Hip Hop?
lesson:
Beatlemania
What were the factors that contributed to the rise of Beatlemania?
lesson:
The Rise of Disco
How did Disco relate to the sentiments and social movements of the 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:
Dancing the Twist on Television
How did teen dance shows and the Twist influence American culture?
lesson:
The Rise of the “Girl Groups”
Were the Girl Groups of the early 1960s voices of female empowerment or reflections of traditional female roles?
lesson:
The San Francisco Scene, 1967
Why did nearly 100,000 young people descend upon San Francisco in 1967 for a “Summer of Love"?
lesson:
The Blues: The Sound of Rural Poverty
How do the Country Blues reflect the challenges of sharecropping, racial injustice, and rural poverty in early 20th-century African-American life?
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?
lesson:
The Roots of Heavy Metal
What are the musical and cultural roots of Heavy Metal?
lesson:
The Emergence of Grunge
What was Grunge and where did it come from?
lesson:
The Rolling Stones: Giving America Back the Blues
How did the early Rolling Stones help popularize the Blues?